''Two Comrades Were Serving'' (russian: Служили два товарища,

translit. Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...

''Sluzhili dva tovarishcha'') is a 1968 Soviet

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that wa ...

directed by

Yevgeny Karelov Yevgeny Yefimovich Karelov (russian: Евгений Ефимович Карелов; 12 October 1931 — 11 July 1977) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter known for comedy movies, war dramas and children's films. He was named Meritorious A ...

with a script by Yuli Dunsky and Valeri Frid. The film is about the

Russian civil war {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

, in particular, the battle for the

Crimean peninsula Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

Plot

Two

comrade The term ''comrade'' (russian: товарищ, tovarisch) generally means 'mate', 'colleague', or 'ally', and derives from the Spanish and Portuguese, term , literally meaning 'chamber mate', from Latin , meaning 'chamber' or 'room'. It may al ...

s and soldiers of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

, Andrei Nekrasov ( O. Yankovsky) and Ivan Karyakin ( R. Bykov) were sent by their regimental commander ( A. Papanov) on a reconnaissance mission to film the

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

s on the way into

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

(

Perekop Perekop ( Ukrainian & Russian: Перекоп; ; ) is an urban-type settlement located on the Perekop Isthmus connecting the Crimean peninsula to the Ukrainian mainland. It is known for the fortress Or Qapi that served as the gateway to Crime ...

). After filming, the engine on their airplane stalled and they were forced to land in unfriendly territory. As the culmination of a series of misadventures, the friends were going to be executed as spies by their own side. The Colonel appears in time to stop the firing squad. The second part of the film narrates the assault on Perekop and the

invasion of the Crimea. The film also features

Vladimir Vysotsky Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky ( rus, links=no, Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr sʲɪˈmʲɵnəvʲɪtɕ vɨˈsotskʲɪj; 25 January 1938 – 25 July 1980), was a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet, and actor ...

as Brusentsov, a cynical and disillusioned officer in Wrangel's Army. He shot Nekrasov down at the end of the film. Karyakin hums his friend's favorite song - "The bullet whizzed and aha!..". Vysotsky's character later shot himself during the Evacuation to Constantinople. The film's focus is the friendship between two decidedly different characters. Nekrasov is intelligent and war-weary, while Karyakin is simple-minded, yet idealistic and energetic.

Cast

Oleg Yankovsky Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky (russian: Оле́г Ива́нович Янко́вский; 23 February 1944 – 20 May 2009) was a Soviet and Russian actor who excelled in psychologically sophisticated roles of modern intellectuals. In 1991, he beca ...

as Andrei Nekrasov *

Rolan Bykov Rolan Antonovich Bykov (russian: Ролан Антонович Быков; October 12, 1929 – October 6, 1998) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, director, screenwriter and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1990). Early life R ...

as Ivan Karyakin *

Anatoli Papanov Anatoli Dmitrievich Papanov (russian: Анатолий Дмитриевич Папанов, links=https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Папанов,_Анатолий_Дмитриевич, translit=Anatoliy Dmitriyevich Papanov, label=; 31 October 1 ...

as regiment commander *

Nikolai Kryuchkov Nikolai Afanasyevich Kryuchkov (russian: Никола́й Афана́сьевич Крючко́в; 6 January 1911 – 13 April 1994) was a Soviet and Russian film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1932 and 1993. Selected fi ...

as platoon commander *

Alla Demidova Alla Sergeyevna Demidova (russian: link=no, А́лла Серге́евна Деми́дова; born 29 September 1936, Moscow) is a Russian actress internationally acclaimed for the tragic parts in innovative plays staged by Yuri Lyubimov in th ...

as Commissar *

as Alexander Brusentsov *

Iya Savvina Iya Sergeyevna Savvina (russian: Ия Серге́евна Саввина; 2 March 1936 – 27 August 2011) was a Soviet film actress who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1990.Nikolai Burlyayev Nikolai Petrovich Burlyayev (russian: Николай Петрович Бурляев; born 3 August 1946) is a Soviet and Russian actor and film director. Born into a family of actors, Burlyayev started his career in film and theatre when he was ...

as Sergey Lukashevich * Pyotr Krylov as chief of staff *

Rostislav Yankovsky Rostislav Ivanovich Yankovsky ( be, Расціслаў Іванавіч Янкоўскі, russian: Ростислав Иванович Янковский; 5 February 1930 – 26 June 2016) was a Belarusian actor. He was born in Odessa on 5 Febr ...

as Colonel Vasilchikov *

Roman Tkachuk Roman Denisovich Tkachuk (russian: Роман Денисович Ткачук; August 31, 1932 — January 10, 1994) was a Soviet theatre and film actor. Biography He was born on August 31, 1932 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), USSR. He grad ...

as White Guard officer * Nikolai Parfyonov as White Guard officer *

Juozas Budraitis Juozas Budraitis (born 6 October 1940) is a Lithuanian actor. He has appeared in more than 60 films and television shows since 1966. He starred in the Soviet film ''Wounded Game'', which was entered into the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. Budraitis ...

as member of Red Staff *

Veniamin Smekhov Veniamin Borisovich Smekhov (russian: Вениами́н Бори́сович Сме́хов; born August 10, 1940 in Moscow) is a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor and director. He was the winner of the Petropol Award (2000) as well as the ...

as Baron Krause

Production

The theme song was included on Lubeh's 1995 album, ''Kombat''.

References

External links

* * 1968 films 1960s war comedy-drama films Russian Civil War films Films set in 1920 Films set in Crimea Soviet black-and-white films Soviet war comedy-drama films Mosfilm films 1960s Russian-language films Vladimir Vysotsky {{1960s-USSR-film-stub