The USSR is gone, but the famous series created at Soviet film studios remained. And if you want to freshen up your favorite childhood multi-part films or learn something new and interesting about them, we are pleased to present a selection of the 10 best Soviet TV shows filmed in the USSR.
10. The Adventures of Electronics (1979)
Genre: fantasy, children's, adventure
Movie Search Rating: 7.9
Rating IMDb: 7.6
Producer: Konstantin Bromberg
Music: Evgeny Krylatov
Who in childhood did not dream of finding an ingenious double robot who would get fives at school, do homework, and help parents? Alas, so far this is only available in Adventures of Electronics, one of the best children's science fiction series of all time.
For the sake of searching for Electronics and its human protégé, samples of many pairs of twins throughout the Soviet Union were sampled. As a result, the brothers Vladimir and Yuri Torsuyev were lucky. Already being adults, they slightly exploited the popularity of "Adventures of Electronics", creating together with singer Tatyana Mikhailova the trio "Garage of Syroezhkin". They performed bard songs, jazz and rock.
9. Midshipmen, go ahead! (1987)
Genre: adventure, history, melodrama
Movie Search Rating: 8.1
Rating IMDb: 7.5
Producer: Svetlana Druzhinina
Music: Victor Lebedev
The charismatic trinity - Sergey Zhigunov, Dmitry Kharatyan and Vladimir Shevelkov - who played the main characters, turned out to be not as friendly as in the movies. But who was worried when they appeared on the screens, brave handsome midshipmen who were looking for adventure, love and service to the Fatherland?
As in the case of many cult Soviet TV shows, the original composition of the "Midshipmen" was completely different from what we saw on the screen.
The role of Alexander Belov was to play Oleg Menshikov. As a result, he voiced Belov for Sergei Zhigunov, and Dmitry Kharatyan sang songs "for himself and for Sasha."
The owner of the "fly that is worth a lot" was seen in Yuri Moroz, but he refused because of the thesis.
And the son of Svetlana Druzhinina, Mikhail Mukasey, was approved for the role of a “bastrick”, but he became ill and the role passed to Shevelkov. By the way, Vladimir Shevelkov was unsatisfied with his game and participation in "Midshipmen" and the only one of the three who called his role an actor's failure.
8. Shield and sword (1968)
Genre: drama, military, adventure
Movie Search Rating: 8.1
Rating IMDb: 7.7
Producer: Vladimir Basov
Music: Benjamin Basner
The prototype of Stirlitz’s predecessor, Johann Weiss, was the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Alexander Svyatogorov, who led the operations to eliminate Kharkov’s military commandant General Georg von Braun and UPA leader Stepan Bandera.
According to lead actor Stanislav Lyubshin, Vladimir Putin liked the Shield and the Sword so much that it influenced his decision to join the scouts.
7. D`Artagnan and the Three Musketeers (1979)
Genre: adventure, musical, history
Movie Search Rating: 8.1
Rating IMDb: 7.9
Producer: George Jungwald-Khilkevich
Music: Maxim Dunaevsky
After showing this series on the streets of Soviet and then Russian cities, many small musketeers appeared. But none of them suspected that their favorite characters could be played by completely different actors.
For example, they wanted to invite Alexander Abdulov to the role of the brave Gascon, first to Yuri Solomin and then Vasily Livanov to the role of Athos, and George Martirosyan to the role of Portos.
In the role of the cutesy handsome Aramis, Lembit Ulfsak auditioned (played by Jacques Paganel in the 1985 series “Finding Captain Grant”).
The role of Milady could be played by Elena Solovey, and Constance - by Evgenia Simonova.
However, the "final" cast, approved for the main roles, coped with its task so well that for a long time became idols of not only children but also adults.
By the way, Count Rochefort still managed to defeat D`Artagnan, although not wanting to. During the filming of the Merlezon ballet scene at the Odessa Opera House, Boris Klyuyev, who played Rochefort, injured Mikhail Boyarsky. The sword of Klyuyev knocked out Boyarsky’s tooth and damaged the palate.
6. The Search for Captain Grant (1985)
Genre: Adventures
Movie Search Rating: 8.1
Rating IMDb: 8.3
Producer: Stanislav Govorukhin
Music: Maxim Dunaevsky, Igor Kantyukov, Isaac Dunaevsky
Amazing music, brave and noble heroes, the secret that Captain Grant's message carries ... This series is a delight for the eyes and soul of a teenager who dreams of adventure and romance.
Although Lord Glenarvan and his companions traveled around the islands of the Atlantic according to the scenario, traveled to New Zealand and Australia and plowed the expanses of the Pacific Ocean, in reality, the shooting took place in Bulgaria, Crimea and the Black Sea. But this only emphasizes the beauty and variety of nature of the republics that were part of the USSR.
An interesting fact: the fate of Captain Grant and his companions in the film adaptation was changed in comparison with the novel by Jules Verne. In the book, both Grant himself and two of his sailors survived the “imprisonment” on the island, in the film, one of the sailors died, and the second lost his mind, only Grant remained safe and sound.
5. A guest from the future (1984)
Genre: fantasy, children's, adventure
Movie Search Rating: 8.2
Rating IMDb: 8.2
Producer: Pavel Arsenov
Music: Evgeny Krylatov
The story of a girl from the future, with extraordinary physical and intellectual abilities, a bold character and beautiful, wide-open eyes, has fascinated more than one generation of Russian children. Actress Natalya Guseva, who played Alice, received whole bags of letters with declarations of love.
The film was shot for almost three years, but his budget was limited, which is why the audience did not see some interesting scenes. For example, in CosmoZoo, Kolya Gerasimov was supposed to see ordinary sklisses, an orange ball from the cold swamps of Ankudina, and a snake that did not end.
But for a long time, unusual flips were remembered - flying cars, myelophone, spaceport, evil space pirates, and, of course, Alice’s prediction about the future. And the song "Beautiful far away" has become a hymn of hope that new generations may be more lucky than the current one.
4. The Big Change (1972)
Genre: romance, comedy
Movie Search Rating: 8.4
Rating IMDb: 8.1
Producer: Alexey Korenev
Music: Eduard Kolmanovsky, Mikhail Glinka
Initially, this series was called "The Adventures of a School Teacher." However, this was hindered by Minister of Education M. Prokofiev, who was not enthusiastic about the fact that a comedy serial film was being shot about teachers.
As a result, the prize for the best new name - a bottle of cognac - was received by the operator Anatoly Mukasey.
3.12 Chairs (1976)
Genre: comedy, detective, adventure
Movie Search Rating: 8.5
Rating IMDb: 8.3
Producer: Mark Zakharov
Music: Gennady Gladkov
The story of how Kisa and Osia wanted to become millionaires, and what came of it, is interesting to watch to this day. Comrade Bender turned out to be too charming, whose image on the screen was embodied by Andrei Mironov. And his companion in the search for chairs by the master Gambes was Anatoly Papanov.
Surprisingly, although most of the episodes of “12 Chairs” take place outdoors, in fact they (and the entire series) were filmed in the pavilion.
2. The venue cannot be changed (1979)
Genre: crime, detective, drama
Movie Search Rating: 8.9
Rating IMDb: 8.8
Producer: Stanislav Govorukhin
Music: Evgeny Gevorgyan
The series about the confrontation between the brave employees of MUR and the brutal gang "Black Cat" was shot based on the novel "Era of Mercy", written by the brothers Arkady and George Weiner.
And if for Vladimir Vysotsky the role of Zheglov was practically “reserved”, then for the role of Sharapov a real battle unfolded behind the scenes. 13 actors claimed it, including Alexander Abdulov, Victor Fokin and Stanislav Sadalsky. As a result, Vladimir Konkin became Sharapov, much to Weiner's displeasure.
The film material shot by Stanislav Govorukhin would be enough for a 7-episode film. But the director failed to defend him, the representative of the State Radio and Television demanded to reduce the series to two series. However, even 5 episodes turned out to be enough that “The meeting place cannot be changed” still remained one of the most famous Soviet series.
1. Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973)
Genre: military, drama, adventure
Movie Search Rating: 8.9
Rating IMDb: 8.9
Producer: Tatyana Lioznova
Music: Michael Tariverdiev
When Stirlitz walked along the corridors of the Gestapo, the streets of Soviet cities were empty. And after the premiere of the series, Lioznova’s phone was torn - the audience wanted to know what would happen to their favorite characters next.
Leonid Bronevoy first auditioned for the role of Hitler. It’s good that they didn’t approve him, because now it’s impossible to imagine anyone other than Broneva as the Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller. And this is despite the fact that the cinematic image is very far from real, because the crew did not have a real photo of Mueller.
But Oleg Tabakov was so similar to the real Walter Schellenberg that Schellenberg's relatives sent him a letter of thanks from Germany.
Until 2009, there was only a black and white version of “17 Moments of Spring”. The restoration and painting of the cult series of the times of the USSR were timed to May 9. They took three years, and some frames had to be painted manually.
