Man with a gun

Events take place in Russia in 1917 during the October Revolution . On the fronts, a difficult situation, the troops of General Krasnov approach the capital. Former peasant, and now soldier Ivan Shadrin was sent by fellow soldiers from the German front to revolutionary Petrograd in order to hand Lenin a letter with questions from his comrades.

The central scene in the film is the first meeting between Shadrin and Lenin. A soldier with a rifle and a teapot wanders around Smolny in search of boiling water. He accidentally stumbles upon a short man in a three-piece suit, who devotes time to him, shows great involvement in his needs and answers all questions. Shadrin himself does not yet know with whom he had just talked, but the guard informs him that V.I. Lenin was this interlocutor. Shadrin is indescribable delight, and the phrase: “Brothers! Comrades! I talked with Lenin! ”After that, the soldier returns to the front.

During a reconnaissance raid on Tsarskoye Selo, Shadrin almost captures the white general, but misses him. During a chance meeting with Lenin and Stalin, Dymov tells them about this episode, which many leaders amuse. Shadrin happens to be here too ... Lenin and Stalin encourage him, saying that "another time, the soldier will not be stunned before the general!"

Shadrin again fights at the front, defending Petrograd . Upon returning to the city, he is present at the Putilov factory during Lenin's speech there.

Work on the script with the working title “November” began in 1937. At first, he did not arrange Yutkevich; then Nikolai Pogodin reworked the script into a play, which he called “A Man with a Gun,” and this option was arranged by the director and the Main Directorate for Cinematography.

The film premiered on November 1, 1938 .

Between 1956 and 1961, a scene in Smolny with the participation of Stalin was cut from the film. After the official “restoration” of the picture in 1965 at Mosfilm, Stalin was finally cut out of it: the scene of eating potatoes by Lenin, Stalin, Dymov and Shadrin was shortened, Stalin was also retouched in the final scene of the film - as a result, Lenin made a speech while standing on the podium alone. Removed all references to Stalin in the text of the film.

• Maxim Strauch - V.I. Lenin
• Mikhail Gelovani - I.V. Stalin (in the original version of the film)
• Boris Tenin - Ivan Shadrin
• Vladimir Lukin - Nikolay Chibisov
• Zoya Fedorova - Katya
• Faina Ranevskaya - the mistress of the mansion, a medium of the spiritualistic session (not shown in credits)
• Boris Chirkov - Yevtushenko
• Nikolay Cherkasov - general
• Nikolay Sosnin - millionaire Zakhar Zakharovich Sibirtsev
• Serafima Birman - Varvara Ivanovna, his wife
• Mark Bernes - Kostya Zhigilev

• Stepan Kayukov - Andrey Dymov, sailor
• Pavel Sukhanov - prisoner Matushkin
• Konstantin Sorokin - sentry
• Nikolay Kryuchkov - Sidorov
• Pavel Kadochnikov - soldier with seeds
• Mikhail Yanshin - officer, guest at a seance
• Yuri Tolubeev - revolutionary sailor
• Peter Aleinikov - soldier
• Vladimir Volchik - soldier
• Elizaveta Uvarova - engraftment
• Vasily Vanin - Batman of the General

Film crew of the film ^[8] :

• Scenario: Nikolay Pogodin
• Director: Sergey Yutkevich
• Contributors: Pavel Armand , Maria Itina
• Chief Operator: Joseph Martov
• Artist: Alexander Black
• Composer: Dmitry Shostakovich
• Lyrics and music: Pavel Armand
• Sound Engineer: Konstantin Gordon
• Assistant Director: A. Goldbrut
• The second operator: G. Maximov
• Operator Assistant: Vyacheslav Fastovich
• Assistant Artist: M. Rafalovich
• Make-up artist: Anton Anjan
• Editor: Valentina Mironova
• Director of the picture: Yakov Antselovich

• Maxim Strauch for his contribution to the creation of the image of V.I. Lenin in several films received in 1959 the Lenin Prize of the USSR.
• Mark Bernes was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor for his work in the film.

“The Man with the Gun”, along with the films “ Lenin in October ” and “ Lenin in 1918 ”, are the most famous paintings in Soviet kinoleninian and propaganda . The images of Lenin, created by Strauch and Schukin , were considered the classic embodiment of the leader of the world proletariat on the movie screen, generalizing his idealized image of “the most human person” ^[9] . Krupskaya considered Lenin performed by Strauch the most reliable embodiment of the image of a leader. Subsequently, Yutkevich repeatedly returned in his work to the theme of Lenin and its significance in history ^[10] .

The film "A Man with a Gun" truly opened the actor Mark Burnes to the general public and brought him great fame. In this film, Bernes performed the popular song “Clouds over the city rose ...” ^[11] .

In Soviet times, the film was beyond criticism, and any negative comments on the artistic significance of the picture were not allowed. Cinema experts, however, responded coolly about the film, noting the stilts of the characters, the borrowing of some plot moves, and inconsistencies with real historical events ^[9] . The first criticisms of the script were made by N. Otten in the magazine “The Art of Cinema” in the August issue of 1938 - at a time when work was still underway on the film. In 2001, Felix Balonov, noting that there was no scene with a spiritualistic session in N. Pogodin’s play, hypothesized that it was borrowed from the story of A. A. Bulgakov's “Spiritual Session”, in which a similar situation was described, but Bulgakov’s name was not It was indicated in the credits in connection with the disgrace of the writer ^[9] .

In 2000, the film was released on videotape by Master Tap and Format A companies. It was published on DVD in 2006 by the SOYUZ Video and Vostok V companies (the “restored” version of 1965), in 2009 - by the Videocom company (the abridged version of 1956-1961).

• “A man with a gun” (neopr.) . State Register of Films . Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Date of treatment May 24, 2014.
• "Man with a Gun" (unopened) (inaccessible link) . Movies . Encyclopedia of domestic cinema. Date of treatment May 24, 2014. Archived on May 25, 2014.
• “A man with a gun” (neopr.) . The article . Online encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius. Date of treatment May 24, 2014.
• “A man with a gun” (neopr.) . Encyclopedia of the movie . Academician. Date of treatment May 24, 2014.
• “A man with a gun” (neopr.) . National film portal "Film.ru". Date of treatment May 24, 2014.
• Man With a Gun on the Internet Movie Database