Soviet Military and Hollywood

[yolkin]

Thanks Tal!

OK, let's "name that award"?

His orders look interesting...for a fictional character.

[Tal Inbar]

Well...

First row:

Order of Lenin, Order of the October revolution, (probably) order of service in the armed forces of the CCCP, Order of glory (3rd class)

Second row:

Medal for victory over Germany, ? , (probably) 2 orders of BK 2nd class - well, this is the place that they messed up with the awards!

Tal

[Tal Inbar]

And Ramius's deputy, Kamarov:

[salyan]

Referring to the Red October photographs,

With these historical WW2 movies or other cold war movies, I try to overlook the many (and often painful) inaccuracies with respect to military regalia authenticity. I just try to enjoy the movie for its entertainment value.

However, being a "navy guy"...the biggest thing that bothered me about RED OCTOBER is the fact that the crew remained in their dress uniforms throughout the feature!! ..... K-19 was more accurate in this regard.

Side question: Does anyone have any favorites wrt WW2 features on the Russian Front? I have only seen the western productions for the most part...but I enjoyed "STALINGRAD." Although it focuses on a German unit perspective... I found it very sobering, yet enjoyable.

Dan

[scook17]

I've seen Enemy at the Gates some time ago, and STALINGRAD just last week. Both are interesting films. K19 is not available on DVD in the UK yet, so I'm considering ordering a US version. Is the film any good?

Kind Regards,
Shane Cook.

[salyan]

Shane,
K-19 is fairly entertaining, somewhat long... but worth the view (my opinion)
I am very familiar with the events surrounding the actual sub, so I was a little put off by it. Specifically, the tensions between the real CO and the XO of the sub did not exist in reality. It is true that the CO (Harrison Ford) was brought back on board to "get things in order" and put the sub to sea quickly. However, there wasn't a "mutiny" atmosphere as the director created.

The most sobering point (that the movie does portray) is how the nuclear engineering plant was rushed into the service, with a very inexperienced chief engineer.

Dan

[Ed Maier]

Dan,

I will cast another vote for "Stalingrad." I thought that was a verty good movie about the Eastern Front. I also enjoyed "Cross of Iron" although I do not watch it for historical accuracy. I just enjoy the movies.

Some Russian language films that I have enjoyed (and which you can get with English subtitles in the US) are the six-tape "Liberation" series. The name in Russian is "Osvobozhdenie." They are very interesting to watch and provide a different prospective to the war then you see from the western films.

There are some other very good Russians films ("The Cranes are Flying" was just on one of the local PBS Channels), but I rarely catch their names. I think that you can get a lot of these from Belle and Blade and there might be other places out there.

Maybe others can add to the list of good movies?

I hope that this helps,
Ed

[salyan]

Ed,
I have seen those "Liberation" videos you mention...very interesting.

This is off the topic of medals, but I have to mention a 8 part video documentary (series) worth seeing about "Mother Russia" and the Patriotic War. I can't recall the exact title (I am currently at work) but the series is narrated by Henry Kissinger. send me a PM is you want the exact title/production..

There are several original and "unintentionally" humorous clips in the documentary.
First - video clip showing Soviet soldiers rounding up German prisoners with attack dogs (shephards),...but one of the dogs accidently turns on a Russian soldier.
2nd - They show the Churchill/Stalin ceremony where Stalin is presented with a Knight's sword from the Queen...Stalin grabs the sword in scabbard upside down... sword slides out and almost slams into the floor (Soviet video quickly pans away for obvious reasons)

Seriously,..the videos are most invaluable because they show 1960/70s interviews with Zhukov, Rokossovsky and all the senior leadership, before they passed away

[otlichnik]

A short comment about my pet peeve. It is not bad costumes, although with the resources out now there is simply no excuse for that. What bothers me about almost every war movie about almost every war is that they insist on focussing on the actions of a few heros and perpetuate the myth, bought into even by many "arm chair experts" that war was about indivuals or squads when in reality everyone operated as part of a huge group.

I understand why this is done - budget and the hollywood mould which necessitates having a small handful of characters we can identify with. At least Enemy at the Gates does some attempt at large scenes and chooses a realistic scenario for dealing with individuals - a sniper "duel". I hated Saving Privae Ryan because it did the opposite - after the very nice landing scene it was basically another goofy 1950s-60s movies about the independent squad who saved the day!

There are other ways of making war movies. The Pacific war film Thin Red Line was excellent and of course the best for dealing with a battle in true scope is the huge 1960s Soviet War and Peace.

Shawn's Rant

[vikingraider1]

Just a few ramblings here....

Andrew Mollo did the uniform consultation for Dr Zhivago ( the TV series on ITV English TV) I think h was offered the Enenmy at the Gates job too but they were not paying enough apparently. It is funny that in 1942 they are wearing M1943 Gymnastoirkas!