Soviet Military and Hollywood

[Art]

Again, the wealth of free time I had this week amazed me. I contacted the seller who was listing these for the widow of the guy who worked on the film. Supposedly this is exactly what happened. It apparently it was cut from the final film.

Originally Posted by Taz

Yes,
That's no doubt what happened. When you think of it most of the film was shot aboard the subs so the most likely place to have seen them would have been near the start of the film.

Eddie.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Art

It apparently it was cut from the final film.

Hmmmmm... I've got Sean Connery's uniform for an Admiral of the Fleet from the film... $5000! Oh yeah, but that part was cut out in the final version, and no one remembers it. But you trust me, right? Right? Right???

--Dave

[yolkin]

Dave, you do have a point! However looking at the set, and how it matches Ramius' ribbon bars AND taking in consideration that the seller could provide an affidavit that this really comes from the estate of the Production Design fellow... I would say 80% sure that this is from the movie.


Of course the 20% is the skeptic in me just like the one in you.

Eric

[Esteban_cool]

About Dr. Zhivago, don´t you think that the documentation they used for military equipment and language was one of the good ones, having in mind the date? I mean, if that movie was made in 1965... Then the effort was awesome. I have seen 007 movies and the soviet equipment has deceived me. Those Spetsnaz badges...

Returning to the first, you can see that Bolshevik soldiers were using Mosin Nagants during the film, as well as Budenny Helmets. I also found that Yevgraf´s uniforms were very well made, altough I have little information on pre M43 uniforms. The propaganda posters lacked a little, since the real ones were much more than a B&W painting of Lenin and Stalin in a big red frame, as they showed.

BTW, the green uniform that Yevgraf wears at the dam is an M43? If so, It´s a very good one. I´d like to see if it is available.

Esteban

[otlichnik]

Esteban,

It is ages since I saw Dr. Zhivago but my recollection is that the uniforms were excellent. In particular the State Security uniforms of Yevgraf (? I think). He has some excellent 1930s stuff and then the M43 at the dam. As I recall they were all the proper colour including the blue piped M43.

This is incredible for the time (1965) given that the only things written about this in the West at that time were in military ntelligence books....

Shawn

[Al-muell]

I am not sure, but wasn't Dr. Zhivago made withsome "help" from USSR? I thing there was sth. like that in "special thanks to" credits section.

[paddywhack]

i saw a film called citizen x very very good film all about a child killer in soviet russia in the 70s 80s and 90s and the efforts to catch him but the main thing was not a private having the order of victory in a ribbion bar or a genaral with 20 Hero of the soviet union medals but the actuly total LACK of them!! i was a straining to find medals! the only one i could find was a hero of labour!! and the main cornal(??) in it had two accadamy(??) badges and that was it!!! (who was played by donald sutherland!!) fantastic film though!!!!!

[Esteban_cool]

Originally Posted by Al-muell

I am not sure, but wasn't Dr. Zhivago made withsome "help" from USSR? I thing there was sth. like that in "special thanks to" credits section.

This film was absolutely NOT made with USSR help. In fact, Pasternak´s book was forbidden by soviet authorities(they said that was "anti-soviet"), and when the staff asked permission to make the film in soviet lands, they denied them, so they had to film it in Spain and Finland when they filmed the snowy scenes(16 km to soviet frontiers!)

Nevertheless, they received russian help from a Hollywood Russian orthodox church and its choir, made up of immigrants(church scenes, documentation, priests, clothes and soundtrack(remember that we can see and listen several balalaikas on the film)) so that´s a reason for why this movie was so well made.

Esteban

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Esteban_cool

Nevertheless, they received russian help from a Hollywood Russian orthodox church and its choir, made up of immigrants(church scenes, documentation, priests, clothes and soundtrack(remember that we can see and listen several balalaikas on the film)) so that´s a reason for why this movie was so well made.

Back at that time, there were probably still immigrants that had taken part in the events of the book!

I had a chance to buy one of the uniforms from the movie. While it looked okay from a distance, it was pretty cheaply made, and really was very inncorrect up-close. I still thought about buying it but with the price ($200+ back in the early 90's) and some SEVERE mothing (like large parts missing!) I passed...

--Dave

[yolkin]

I was just flipping through channels, and was forced to stop because I saw a glimpse of twice-HSU stars on a uniform. Well I channeled back, and saw something that blew me away.

Janet Leigh was playing a character of Lt. Anna Marladovna, a MiG fighter pilot who defects to USA and turns out to be a Soviet spy. Anyway, in this one scene, she is wearing a concoction that is supposed to be the Soviet Sr. Lt. Air Force uniform, but the designers came NOT EVEN CLOSE.

Sure for 1950, this was believable, but for today's standards, this was a JOKE.

She was wearing:

On the right side of the chest - Order Red Star (5 inches wide), Guards Badge and an Otlichnik badge that were horribly constructed and looked like they "survived" a jet explosion.

On the left side of the chest - Two HSU Stars (2 inches wide each), and a two row of rbbon bars that were eclipsed by the gigantic HSUs.

Also, she spoke PERFECT ENGLISH, and that just ruined the whole experience for me.

Check it out for laughs.

I wish there were photos...

-Eric