On August 11, 1973, a multi-part film was released on television, which chained millions of residents from different parts of the vast to the screens. In honor of the 45th anniversary of the cult film "Seventeen Moments of Spring", the site will tell interesting facts about its filming.
"Seventeen Moments of Spring" celebrates its 45th anniversary
In order for the film "Seventeen Moments of Spring" to become a cult and legendary, only a few days were enough. The film was based on the novel by Yulian Semyonov and was first broadcast in the USSR on August 11, 1973.
The plot of the novel is based on the real events of the Second World War, when German representatives tried to negotiate with representatives of Western intelligence services on the conclusion of a separate peace. The operation was named Sunrise.
Interesting facts about the film directed by Tatyana Lioznova
Stirlitz could have had a different face
The role of Stirlitz in the film "Seventeen Moments of Spring" was played by the well-known Soviet actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov. But it turns out that the role of the protagonist of the picture could be played by a completely different actor.
The author of the script, for example, saw Archil Gomiashvili in this role, and other members of the film crew proposed the candidacy of Oleg Strizhenov. It was Tikhonov who was free from work at that moment. After the first trials, the legendary actor was approved, and the filming process began.
Stirlitz - an invention of the author of the novel
Vyacheslav Tikhonov as Stirlitz
In fact, such a character never existed in real life. Rumor has it that the character of the protagonist is taken from the life of a German who worked for Soviet intelligence during the Second World War. The fate of Willy Leman, who voluntarily worked with the Soviet special services, was very tragic, but the director of the film, Tatyana Lioznova, did not “kill” her hero, giving each viewer the opportunity to come up with an ending.
Stirlitz's wife was invented at the last moment
As it often happens, the plot of the film, the fate of the main characters and other moments were already invented in the process of filming. So it was with Stirlitz's wife. Isaev's wife was suggested to be added to the script by Vyacheslav Tikhonov. This role was played by actress Eleonora Shashkova.
Eleonora Shashkova as Isaev's wife
Muller was also "without a face" for a long time
The chief of the Gestapo was originally supposed to be played by the then-famous actor Vsevolod Sanaev. However, he refused the offer due to his beliefs.
“I am the secretary of the Mosfilm party organization, I don’t play fascists!” - said the star to the director of the film "Seventeen Moments of Spring".
So the novice film actor Leonid Bronevoi got on the set. The image of Muller turned out to be memorable and very colorful.
Leonid Bronevoy as Muller
The authors of the film offended Joseph Kobzon
Musical accompaniment plays a very important role in any film. "Seventeen Moments of Spring" - was no exception. The music for the film was written by the Soviet and Russian composer Mikael Tariverdiev. A total of 12 songs were created, but only two were useful.
The legendary "Don't think about minutes down" was performed by singer Iosif Kobzon. But the director of the film not only asked the artist to change his voice as much as possible so that he would become unrecognizable, but also the name of Joseph Davydovich was not indicated in the credits. Naturally, Kobzon was offended by this.
Why was the film in black and white?
Many fans of the picture "Seventeen Moments of Spring" were very interested in this question, because in the 1970s color films were already being shot at full speed. It's all about the director's intent.
Tatyana Lioznova deliberately sought to resemble a documentary, so the film uses a lot of materials with military chronicles that could not have been in color.
A real masterpiece!
According to the State Radio and Television, the premiere of "Seventeen Moments of Spring" was watched by more than 200 million viewers. For twelve evenings, the streets of the cities of the USSR were sharply empty, water consumption was declining, even the crime rate was falling - all people were chained to the screens.
And, despite the presence of inaccuracies and movie bloopers in the film (how could it be without them!), "Seventeen Moments of Spring" has always been and continues to be considered an immortal masterpiece of Soviet cinema.
You may also be interested to know that the continuation of another cult film saga is currently being filmed. Actress Svetlana Druzhinina told about when the premiere will take place and who will play the main roles in the new film.
On February 8, 1928, Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Tikhonov, a film actor, People's Artist of the USSR, was born. In the 12-episode feature film by Tatyana Lioznova "Seventeen Moments of Spring" Tikhonov played his most famous role - the intelligence officer Isaev-Stirlitz, who works in the spring of 1945 in the lair of Nazi Germany. The film became a real hit, however, when at the beginning of 1973 it was edited and shown to high-ranking television authorities, the first reproaches fell on the director’s head ... What scandals did the film cause, who could be in Muller’s office instead of Tikhonov, what role Kuravlev “did not master” why Faina Ranevskaya called the script nonsense - these are other unknown facts about the famous painting in our photo essay.
The history of the film begins in 1969, when the script for the 13-episode film "Seventeen Moments of Spring" was approved on television and a director was chosen for it. The novel by Julian Semenov, which served as the basis, was not even published as a separate book then.
In the midst of preparatory work, another director, 46-year-old Tatyana Lioznova, began to fight for the right to direct such a film, because at first they did not choose her.
Lioznova called Semyonov himself, who told her that he had sold the script to Lenfilm, but she insisted so stubbornly on her own that the author eventually withdrew the script from Lenfilm and handed it over to Tatyana.
Lioznova was a very meticulous director, and therefore she selected the actors for her picture with incredible accuracy. For example, Yulian Semyonov was sure that only Archil Gomiashvili could play Stirlitz (pictured).
The director's assistants insisted on Oleg Strizhenov. Auditioned for the role and Innokenty Smoktunovsky (pictured), but he then lived in Leningrad and did not agree to leave it for two years of filming.
Vyacheslav Tikhonov, the make-up artists at first glued a mustache like Budyonny's, but Liznova considered the right candidate under them.
Instead of Ekaterina Gradova, Irina Alferova could play the radio operator Kat, but it didn’t work out.
Both the Leningrad singer Maria Pakhomenko and Svetlana Svetlichnaya, who was later approved for the role of Gabi, auditioned for the role of Stirlitz's wife. The wife of the Soviet intelligence officer was the actress of the Vakhtangov Theater Eleonora Shashkova, who was brought to the site the day before filming.
Even Faina Ranevskaya herself could have appeared in the film, the character for which Frau Zaurich Lioznova asked Semyonov to compose specifically in order to soften the too serious hero.
Semyonov reluctantly composed something, but when it was shown to Faina Georgievna, she was simply horrified. “What is this idiotic thing? Can this be played?" And flatly refused.
There were several candidates for the role of Hitler, for whom two Leonids auditioned: Armor and Kuravlev. However, their director's photo tests were not satisfied, and they were approved for other roles: Bronevoy played Muller, Kuravlev - Aisman.
Kuravlev recalled: “I did not master this Antichrist. My nature jumped up and was against.
And Hitler was the German actor Fritz Dietz, who has been forever registered in this role since the epic "Liberation".
Efim Kopelyan was also originally supposed to play in the film, but eventually became a “voice-over”. The director recalls: “I called him in Leningrad and asked him to convey that I beg him on my knees to agree. Working with him was an absolute pleasure. He came and, although he had just come from the train, he always had time to shave and change into a snow-white shirt, he never betrayed himself. We have become partners. His voice sounds like he knows more than he's letting on."
When Lioznova read the final version of Yulian Semenovich's script, she was simply shocked: she liked the storyline and the details in the book, but everything in the script was completely different.
"Catastrophe! I worked 12 hours a day, I don't remember if I slept. But I won’t say that I didn’t enjoy it, because my hands were untied, besides, I didn’t go against the book material, but, on the contrary, defended it, ”says the director
Most of the actors worked in parallel on other films, so it was extremely difficult to get everyone together for filming - they had to shoot at night.
“Sometimes for us, the artists who starred in the role of the Germans, it seemed that we were participating in some kind of creepy, low-brow action movie. These forms, pistols ... But they thought that in Uryupinsk, somewhere in the fourth program, it would slip through, ”Yuri Vizbor recalled about the shooting.
For filming in the GDR, the group had to take almost all of their props, which included Stirlitz's Mercedes car (from the garage of the Gorky studio). German craftsmen, having examined the "Mercedes" during the war, said that he was unlikely to be able to work.
The filmmakers laughed, but on the very first day of shooting, the Mercedes really died out. I had to rent a car.
The shooting of Stirlitz driving a speeding car was very curious: about ten people rocked the car, including Lioznova herself. Of course, they couldn't do without jokes, and Tikhonov begged not to do this, because he should have made a smart face.
By the way, once the actor was almost arrested: he decided to march from the hotel to the set in the form of an SS Standartenführer. The Berliners considered him to be an adherent of fascism and were going to hand him over to the police station.
The rest of the nature was filmed already at home: in Riga - Tsvetochnaya Street, in Tbilisi and Borjomi - the crossing of the Schlag through the Alps, and Stirlitz's walks in the forest - in the Moscow region.
Filming went on in a busy schedule, sometimes one and a half shifts - 12 hours. Lionzova wanted to make even the smallest details perfect.
The episode of the meeting between Stirlitz and Schlag, where our scout feeds him soup, from which a jet of steam rose upwards, was not filmed immediately: the steam did not work out in any way, then there was not enough of it, then, on the contrary, there was a lot.
In the frame where Stirlitz's hands were shown, the hands of the film's artist Felix Rostotsky had to be filmed: Tikhonov had a tattoo on his right hand, made in his youth - "Glory", which the make-up artists could not manage to cover up for close-ups.
In the episode where the SS tortured the child of the radio operator Kat, about two dozen children from the nearest orphanage acted as the baby. It was possible to shoot each for no more than two hours a day, while at intervals of at least fifteen minutes for swaddling and feeding.
Once Tikhonov told how he achieved a tense, thinking face while playing the role of Stirlitz. The secret was the multiplication table, which he scrolled in his head for several minutes while the cameraman filmed the next scene.
Director Tatyana Lioznova once admitted in an interview that she believes that after the credits Stirlitz is waiting for not the best days: “He walked in the lucky ones for so long, on the edge just that it should not have the most fun ending ... I don’t want to be present at the same time. And I don’t want to force the viewer to see it.”
The music for the film was written by Mikael Tariverdiev, although at first he refused to write it for a spy film: before that, he had failed twice with a similar theme.
In the process of work, the composer wrote ten songs, but only two of them were included in the film: “Somewhere Far Away ...” and “Moments”. Eight others had to be simply thrown out, because they could not find a place in the picture.
When, in early 1973, the film was shown to high-ranking television management after editing, the first reproaches rained down on the director.
The military was outraged louder than others, who did not like that, according to the film, only scouts won the war. Lioznova had to correct the situation, and she included several hundred meters of documentary chronicle in the film.
The premiere of the film took place at the end of the summer of 1973: from August 11 to 24, the whole country literally clung to the TV screens. According to police reports of the time, crime dropped sharply throughout the country.
On one of the premiere days, a Muscovite called the film studio, who conveyed her great regards to the creators of the picture and thanked her for the fact that for several days now, while the film is on, her husband has been sitting at home and not drinking, since all his drinking companions are busy watching the series.
Actors instantly became superstars. For example, Ekaterina Gradova, having gone out for a walk with her dog and dropped into the Novoarbatsky grocery store, was unexpectedly captured.
Buyers recognized her, began to kiss her, hug her, ask for autographs. Gradova stood for almost two hours, pressed by the crowd to the counter, after which the dissatisfied sellers called the police.
The series was so popular that many newly-made mothers called their children, if not Stirlitz, then Julian - in honor of Yulian Semenov. By the way, the future famous singer Julian also became a victim of fashion.
But Tariverdiev had a hard time. Once he stopped at the All-Union Radio, where he was told: “We received a call from the French embassy, the French are protesting against this film, because the music in it was torn from the composer Francis Ley, from his film Love Story.
"What the hell?" Tariverdiev was indignant. “Nonsense, not nonsense, but this is a fact,” they answered him. A certain citizen, who introduced himself as an employee of the French embassy, also called the Gorky Studio, where the film was shot, and expressed indignation that the music of Moments was a plagiarism of Ley's music.
As soon as the composer crossed the threshold of the reception room of the chairman of the Union of Composers, the secretary handed him a telegram ... from Francis Ley. It read: “Congratulations on the success of my music in your film. Francis Lay.
As a result, Tariverdiev was dissuaded from visiting the French embassy ... KGB agents who contacted Ley through their own channels. He categorically denied any involvement in the scandal surrounding his music for the film "Seventeen Moments of Spring" and said that he had not sent any telegram accusing his Soviet colleague of plagiarism.
By the way, Yulian Semyonov provided his colleagues in the film - Tariverdiev, Tatyana Lioznova and Vyacheslav Tikhonov - with special certificates of the State Security Committee, where it was written: "Without the right to stop", and there was a signature: "Andropov".
Once Tariverdiev specially drove his car to the territory of Red Square: “A traffic cop, as he parsed what was written, his eyes began to pop out on his forehead, then he hastily saluted, and now I slowly and imposingly drove past him.”
Stirlitz became the most famous image of a spy in Soviet and post-Soviet culture, as well as a character in Soviet and Russian jokes.
In 2011, sculptor Alexander Boyko announced the start of fundraising for the installation of a monument to Stirlitz in Vladivostok near the Versailles Hotel, where Yulian Semyonov lived and, perhaps, came up with the image of intelligence officer.
More than forty years have passed since the premiere of "Seventeen Moments of Spring", a film that became a legend immediately after its release.
We invite you to get acquainted with the amazing facts that have become part of the history of the creation of this tape.
1. Presence effect
Many viewers wondered why Seventeen Moments of Spring came out in black and white, because in 1973 color films were actively released, although not everyone had color TVs. Tatyana Lioznova deliberately sought to resemble a documentary, so the film uses a lot of materials with military chronicles, which by default could not be in color. If the fragments filmed by the film crew had a different atmosphere from the documentaries, this would deprive the film of the effect of presence. 
2. Without "Glory"
When Stirlitz lays out matches on the table, in fact, the hands of the artist Felix Rostotsky appear in the frame. The thing is that on the back of Vyacheslav Tikhonov's hand there was a large ink tattoo "GLORY" - greetings from his youth. Of course, Stirlitz could not have such a mark, but not a single make-up could hide it. By the way, Rostotsky also wrote encryption for Professor Pleishner. No, Yevgeny Evstigneev did not have a tattoo “Zhenya” on his arm - the disgusting handwriting of the actor was to blame for everything. 
3. Under the gaze from the Lubyanka
When making the film, special attention was paid to historical accuracy, so real employees of the Lubyanka were hired as consultants. At the request of Yuri Andropov, then head of the KGB, their names were cut from the credits. 
After watching the final version of the film, the consultants found contradictions in the actions of the film characters with the job description of the NKVD, but the decision of the censorship was to leave controversial points, because Stirlitz was supposed to become the idol of Soviet citizens.
4. Non-standard SS soldiers
In their pursuit of historical accuracy, the film's curators have unearthed an almost anecdotal error. Looking through the filmed episodes with the German army, one of the consultants noticed that all the SS soldiers from the extras were played by actors with a typical Jewish appearance. A scandal broke out, and several dozen border guard cadets were urgently sent from Estonia, as if they were blue-eyed and blond. 
5. Made in USSR
Each outfit was sewn only after the approval of a clothing consultant - a former intelligence officer, Colonel Brown, who knew the specifics of the German uniform down to the smallest subtleties. But the German costume designer did not cope with the task and dressed up the extras in a form that is absolutely contrary to historical authenticity. Then 60 boxes with uniforms from Soviet tailors were sent from the USSR. When the extras dressed in it entered the set, the Germans themselves were stunned - even the most meticulous specialist would not have found any differences from the original SS costumes. 
6. Unexpected frame
The scene with Stirlitz and the dog is pure improvisation. When Tikhonov was parking the Mercedes in the yard, a dog walking nearby with the owner came running and sat down next to the actor. He was not taken aback and began to work with the mongrel under the guns of cameras: “Whose are you, fool?”. The dog himself approached and affectionately poked his nose into his hands. The scene seemed to the director very successful, and it was included in the script. 
7. Film screening for the Cuban government
It is said that Fidel Castro was a big fan of this series. Once, for several days in a row, a number of key officials did not appear at the evening meetings of the Cuban government. It turned out that the ministers sneaked out of office like schoolchildren to watch a new episode of Moments. Being a wise leader, Fidel did not punish his subordinates, instead arranging a collective screening of the film for the government, which took 14 hours. 
8. Why Tikhonov was almost arrested
It turns out that Vyacheslav Tikhonov could have been arrested during filming in the GDR. Once, the actor either forgot or was too lazy to change clothes and went to the set in the form of an SS. Residents of East Berlin, in indignation, nearly handed over Stirlitz to the police, but members of the film crew ran to the noise and explained the situation to the alarmed public. 
9. How the Jolly Roger prevented Durov from going abroad
Filming of the scene with the murder of the Gestapo Klaus was supposed to take place in the GDR, but the performer of the role, Lev Durov, was refused to be released abroad. He needed to get the consent of the visiting commission, but the actor failed at the “exam”: when asked to describe the Soviet flag, he began to talk about the pirate Jolly Roger, and after the question about the capitals of the Union republics, he listed cities that had nothing to do with them. As a result, the commission rejected Durov's request with the wording "for bad behavior", and Klaus had to die somewhere in the forests of the Moscow region. 
10. 20 quiet evenings
According to the State Radio and Television, the premiere of "Seventeen Moments of Spring" was watched by more than 200 million viewers. For twelve evenings, the streets of the cities of the USSR were drastically empty, water consumption was declining, even the crime rate was falling - all people were chained to the screens. 
11. Unusual voice of Kobzon
When Mikael Tariverdiev wrote the musical accompaniment for the film, Lioznova faced the question of who to choose as the performer. Muslim Magomayev, Valentina Tolkunova and Valery Obodzinsky offered their versions of the compositions - the director rejected them all. Someone advised Tatiana the candidacy of Joseph Kobzon, but she sharply replied: “So that Kobzon wasn’t even close in the film!”. The singer was offended, but later it turned out that Lioznova was not going to offend his talent, just the signature "Kobzon" style of performance was not suitable for the tape. Therefore, in the cult “Don’t think about seconds down” and other compositions from the film, the voice sounds so different from the usual timbre of Kobzon - the singer offered a dozen options in different performances. 
12. 100 white shirts for Stirlitz
Speaking of clothes: Stirlitz had to take a hundred white shirts to shoot in the GDR. The costume designer was not invited abroad in order to save the budget, and there was no one to do the laundry, so Tikhonov began every shooting day in a brand new shirt. 
13. Persuasive Muller
Auditions for the role of Muller ended after listening to Leonid Bronevoy, who at that time was known as a theater actor and had no idea about the intricacies of cinematic work: advantageous angles, spectacular turns. He was simply given a role, which he ended up doing brilliantly. Before that, he auditioned for the role of Hitler, but, as the actor himself admitted, "I did not master this antichrist, my very nature was against it." 
Lioznova was delighted with her choice, especially admired by her ability to emphasize Bronevoy's nervous nature of the head of the Gestapo - from time to time he somehow strangely jerked his neck. Then it turned out that Muller's nervous tic was not the actor's invention at all; the collar of his shirt was simply too tight and uncomfortable. This inconspicuous detail fit into the image so much that Muller nevertheless became a neurasthenic, although they nevertheless gave Bronevoi a looser shirt.
The editors recommend that you read the article about front-line actors who defended the freedom of our country with a gun in their hands.
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This story begins in 1969, when the script for the 13-episode film "Seventeen Moments of Spring" was approved on television and the director was selected. The novel by Julian Semyonov had not yet even been released as a separate book.
However, in the midst of the preparatory work, the situation suddenly changed. The fact is that another director, 46-year-old Tatyana Lioznova, began to fight for the right to stage such a film.
She contacted Semyonov and stated that she would be the one to shoot the film according to his script. But Semyonov upset her: “I have already sold the script to Lenfilm, so, alas!” Lioznova was not going to give up, she so stubbornly insisted on her own that in the end Semyonov could not stand it - he withdrew the script from Lenfilm and handed it over to Lioznova. Her name was already known to the mass audience from the films "Evdokia" and "Three Poplars on Plyushchikha" and she was rightfully one of the highest grossing directors of Soviet cinema. All these successes played into the hands of Lioznova, but there was one “but”: everything she filmed was related to melodrama, and “Moments” belonged to the genre of military historical cinema. Therefore, many who were involved in the creation of the film had fair fears: will such a director (and even a woman!), cope with this task? But Lioznova still managed to convince skeptics that this task was up to her.
Since Tatyana Lioznova has always been famous for her meticulousness, she selected the actors for her picture with incredible accuracy - the image had to match 100%. For example, Yulian Semyonov was sure that only Archil Gomiashvili could play Stirlitz. The director's assistants insisted on Oleg Strizhenov. Auditioned for the role and Innokenty Smoktunovsky. However, he then lived in Leningrad, and the shooting was to be carried out for two years. This did not suit the actor, and his candidacy was dropped. Lioznova, not agreeing with anyone, continued her search. When the make-up Vyacheslav Tikhonov appeared at the tests in a German tunic, with a glued mustache, like Budyonny's, Lioznova became angry and demanded that Colonel Isaev be corrected. The next time, the make-up artists did a great job - and Tikhonov, according to the director, finally became the spitting image of Stirlitz.
The main rival of Ekaterina Gradova, who played the Russian radio operator Kat, was Irina Alferova.
Both the Leningrad singer Maria Pakhomenko and Svetlana Svetlichnaya auditioned for the role of Stirlitz's wife, who was later approved for the role of Gabi, who is in love with the main character. Well, the wife of the Soviet intelligence officer was destined to become the actress of the Vakhtangov Theater Eleonora Shashkova, who was brought to the site the day before filming.
The great Faina Ranevskaya could also appear in the film. In order to somehow humanize the image of the scout, "warm", soften the too serious hero, the director decided to introduce another character who was neither in the book nor in the script - Frau Zaurich. Lioznova asked Yulian Semenov to write a couple of scenes with an old German woman, hoping that Faina Georgievna would play her. Semyonov reluctantly composed something - the result was terrible nonsense. Tatyana Mikhailovna immediately decided that during the filming she would do everything in her own way. When Lioznova and Semyonov came to Ranevskaya's house and showed her the script, Faina Georgievna, having read it, was horrified. "What kind of idiot is this?" she exclaimed. "Can this be played?" And flatly refused.
There were several candidates for the role of Hitler, for whom two Leonids auditioned: Armor and Kuravlev. However, their director’s photo tests were not satisfied, and they were approved for other roles: Bronevoy played Muller (a paradox, but the actor’s father served all his life in the KGB), Kuravlyov played Aisman. And Hitler was the German actor Fritz Dietz, who has been forever registered in this role since the epic "Liberation".
There were also several candidates for the role of Muller, for example, Vsevolod Sanaev. But he categorically refused the role, saying: “I am the secretary of the Mosfilm party organization, so I won’t play a fascist!”
Tried to refuse the role of Bormann and Yuri Vizbor, but then changed his mind. To create a gloomy face of a fascist boss, tampons were inserted into the actor's nose, and the uniform was lined with foam rubber to give an impressive volume. Since Vizbor's voice was soft and gentle, in the film he had to be voiced by another actor - Solovyov from the Film Actor Theater.
Lioznova recalls: “The actors were not surprised at my choice, because they rehearsed for a very long time before that. With different partners... All choices are the mystery of my inner life. And endless immersion in the scenes of the future film. Playing the whole picture in your mind with different combinations of actors. Initially, the role of the BDT actor Efim Kopelyan was also supposed in the film. However, it so happened that he could not find a place in the acting team and Lioznova offered him to become a “voice-over”. The director recalls: “I called him in Leningrad and asked him to convey that I beg him on my knees to agree. Working with him was an absolute pleasure. He came and, although he had just come from the train, he always had time to shave and change into a snow-white shirt, he never betrayed himself. We have become partners. His voice sounds like he knows more than he's letting on."
The music for the film, as you know, was written by Mikael Tariverdiev. However, few people know that he initially refused to work on the film. Prior to that, he had already written music for the spy film by Veniamin Dorman "Resident's Mistake", and this work did not satisfy him. Therefore, in 1967, he refused another offer to work in a movie about intelligence officers - to write music for Savva Kulish's film "Dead Season" (which he later greatly regretted). The same fate could befall "Seventeen Moments of Spring". When Tariverdiev found out that the film was from the same series as the previous two, he told the director his firm "no". But I still took the script, read it and immediately changed my mind. He suddenly realized that the film, although it would tell about scouts, but in a completely different way than it had been previously in other films.
In the process of working on music, Tariverdiev wrote ten songs, but only two of them were included in the film: “Somewhere Far Away ...” and “Moments”. Eight others had to be thrown out because there was nowhere to put them. And, I think, rightly so: due to this, a lot of beautiful instrumental music was inserted into the picture.
The singers tried different songs. First they invited Vadim Mulerman. However, his candidacy was cut down by high television authorities. Then Lioznova invited the equally popular singer Muslim Magomayev, who recorded all the songs for the film. Lioznova listened to them ... and rejected them. She asked Magomayev to sing the songs in a different way, but the singer refused. He said that he never adapts to anyone. Then Iosif Kobzon was invited to record songs, whose performance satisfied everyone.
When Lioznova read the script that Yulian Semenovich returned from Leningrad, she was shocked. There was a lot in the book that impressed her, but in the script everything was completely different - there were five corpses on each page. In general, Semenov unsubscribed and calmly left for Bulgaria to hunt wild boars, so Lioznova had no choice but to sit down to work - to write literary and directorial scripts at the same time. “A catastrophe!” recalls Tatyana Mikhailovna. “I worked 12 hours a day, I don’t remember if I slept. But I won’t say that I didn’t enjoy it, because my hands were untied, besides, I didn’t go against the book material, On the contrary, she defended it.
True, the scene of the celebration by Stirlitz on February 23 was not in Yulian Semenov's book. However, as well as the meetings of the scout with his wife in the tavern "Elephant". The author of the idea was Tikhonov and Lioznova inserted it into the script. By the way, at first the director was going to show not only Stirlitz's wife, who came to the meeting, but also her little son, whom the scout had allegedly not yet seen. But after the screen test, Lioznova realized that the child would distract attention, and abandoned this idea. This scene was prompted by one of the consultants, who were both military historians and people from the Lubyanka, and quite high-ranking ones at that. With their help, the details of the military life of Nazi Germany, the work of intelligence officers were recreated.
Filming began in March 1971 with an expedition to the GDR. There they were to shoot all the full-scale episodes of Stirlitz in Berlin, as well as the murder of the Gestapo provocateur Klaus by him. However, it will not be possible to shoot the last episode on German soil, since our authorities categorically refused to let the actor Lev Durov even go to a state friendly to the USSR. Reason: the bad behavior of the actor on the field commission. What it is? In accordance with the situation that existed then, every citizen of the USSR traveling abroad had to first pass through the filter of the exit commission. It usually included the most zealous servants of the party, who in every departure saw at worst a potential traitor to the motherland, at best a blockhead. So they met Durov accordingly. For example, they immediately asked: "Describe to us what the flag of the Soviet Union looks like." Hearing such a question, the actor answered him according to the situation: “It looks very simple: a black background, it has a white skull and two crossed tibias. The flag is called the Jolly Roger. What started here! The women squealed, the men waved their hands: how dare you! Yes, shame on you! However, the poll continued, but it could no longer lead to anything good. A certain lady asked: "Name the capitals of the union republics." Durov, without blinking an eye, listed: "Kalinin, Tambov, Magnitogorsk, Tula, Malakhovka." He was not asked anything else and was struck off the list of those leaving. Of course, Durov let the entire film crew down, but he simply couldn’t do otherwise - he didn’t want to look like an even bigger idiot in the eyes of idiots. Fortunately, Lioznova will find a way out of this situation: the murder of Klaus by Stirlitz will be filmed a little later in a forest near Moscow. And after this incident, Durov was firmly entrenched in the nickname that he was very proud of - "the main bandit of the republic."
In the GDR, filmmakers took almost all their props, which included Stirlitz's Mercedes car (from the garage of the Gorky studio). However, the German craftsmen, who examined this “Mercedes” from the time of the war, said that he was unlikely to be able to work: the condition, they say, is disgusting. Our people just laughed at this statement. But on the very first day of shooting, the Mercedes actually stalled. The group was rescued by sound engineer Leonard Bukhov, who tracked down his still front-line friend Gunther Klibenstein, who collected old cars. From his collection, a car was rented for Stirlitz in a very excellent condition.
There were other curious cases on German soil. For example, once Vyacheslav Tikhonov was almost arrested. He decided to march from the hotel to the film set (fortunately it was not far away) in the form of an SS Standartenführer, for which he was immediately detained by the Berliners. They considered him to be an adherent of fascism and were already going to escort him to the police station. Fortunately, members of the film crew heard this noise, rushed to the scene of the scandal and recaptured the artist from the Berliners.
By the way, the rest of the nature was filmed at home: in Riga they filmed Tsvetochnaya Street, in Tbilisi and Borjomi - the passage of the Schlag through the Alps, Stirlitz's walks in the forest - in the Moscow region.
In April, the film crew returned to their homeland and almost immediately began shooting pavilions at the Gorky Studio. There, for their arrival, several scenery had already been prepared for work: Stirlitz's apartment, the corridors of the Reich Chancellery, Muller's office. Filming went on in a busy schedule, sometimes one and a half shifts - 12 hours. I will note such a nuance: if the director of feature cinema had to produce 45-50 useful meters per shift, then television, with the same opportunities and conditions, 90 meters. Therefore, the operator of "Moments" Peter Kataev had to stay on the cart for long hours. Moreover, he worked with just one antediluvian camera, which forced him to resort to various tricks: for example, so that the camera would not rumble, it was covered with a padded jacket, since there was no sound afterwards.
Lioznova has always been particularly meticulous in showing details, and Seventeen Moments was no exception. Another thing is what hellish work it took to show these details. Take, for example, the episode of the meeting between Stirlitz and Schlag, where our intelligence officer feeds him soup. As we remember, Stirlitz opened the tureen, and a jet of steam rose up, at which the pastor, who had spent a long time in prison, looked with lust. So this pair of filmmakers did not work out in any way: either there was not enough of it, then, on the contrary, there was a lot, which “blurred” the picture. And only after a large number of takes did they finally manage to take off steam the way Lioznova intended it.
No less curious were the shooting of another episode - Stirlitz driving a speeding car. The latter was rocked by about ten people, including Lioznova herself. At the same time, it was impossible to do without jokes, although Tikhonov begged not to do this: he could not manage to concentrate and make a smart face. Therefore, reader, as you review these shots now, imagine how hard it took for the actor to portray thoughtful thoughtfulness in the shot.
The director of the film was Yefim Lebedinsky, who invited his acquaintances to play the role of extras - the same SS men who guarded the headquarters of the RSHA, and, moreover, they were only Jews. A consultant from the KGB, who once came to the shooting and saw these extras, suddenly became indignant: they say, how is it that Jews are being filmed as SS men ?!
What are you, an anti-Semite? Lioznova was surprised.
— No, but you yourself know what kind of relations we have with Israel. So it will turn out that in our film we will show that the Jews were destroyed by the same Jews, only in the Gestapo uniform. Lioznova understood the hint. She called Lebedinsky and ordered to change the extras.
- How to change?! I already paid them! the director was outraged.
- Nothing, you compensate from your own pocket! Lioznova snapped.
The director had to comply. On the same day, with the help of the same consultant from the KGB, he called the Higher Border School and asked to send a dozen tall cadets to the shooting, preferably the Baltics. This is what we now see on the screen.
There were other changes in the film as well. So, in the frame where Stirlitz's hands were shown (when he draws the bosses of the Reich and lays out the figures of animals from matches), the hands of ... the film's artist Felix Rostotsky were filmed. Ask why? The fact is that Tikhonov had a tattoo on his right hand, made in his youth - “Glory”. And no matter how hard the make-up artists tried to cover it up, in close-ups it still showed through. In order not to risk, we decided to shoot the hands of another person. He, Rostotsky, wrote ciphers for Pleishner-Evstigneev. But there the reason was different: the actor's handwriting was too bad to show it in close-up.
In one of the most dramatic episodes of the picture - where the SS men tortured the child of the radio operator Kat, not one actor, but several at once - about two dozen - acted as the child. Newborn children from the nearest orphanage were used in the filming. They were constantly changing, as they simply could not withstand a full day of shooting. They could be removed for no more than two hours a day with intervals of at least fifteen minutes for swaddling and feeding.
The viewer probably remembers that the SS tortured the child by placing him near the open window, and according to the plot, the action took place in early April. However, in fact, the shooting took place in the studio and there was not even the slightest draft in it. Moreover, it was so hot there from the spotlights that the children flatly refused to cry, but stretched sweetly and smiled at the camera. In the end, the sound engineer had to go to the hospital and record the crying on tape. This entry was later included in the film.
When the film was edited in early 1973 and shown to high-ranking television executives, the first reproaches fell on the director's head. The military was most indignant, who said that, according to the film, only scouts would win the war. Lioznova did not dare to object to them, so she went to correct the unfortunate oversight. She included a few hundred meters more of documentary footage in the film, and the claims of the military were withdrawn.
The film premiered at the end of the summer of 1973: from 11 to 24 August. All the days while it was being shown, literally the whole country clung to the screens of their TVs. And as the then police reports say, crime has dropped sharply throughout the country. And it wasn't just us. One of our TV chiefs once visited Hungary and in one of his private conversations with the local border guard asked: “Do your citizens, by any chance, flee to neighboring prosperous Austria?” To which the border guard replied: “Not at the moment. Because now your "Seventeen Moments of Spring" is shown on our TV.
Meanwhile, if the first two episodes of the audience only looked closely at the series, then from the third, many of them began to overwhelm such an excess of feelings that they armed themselves with pen and paper. Letters rained down on the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company and the Gorky Film Studio, their telephone wires literally became red-hot from calls. On one of those premiere days, for example, a certain Muscovite called, who conveyed her great regards to the creators of the picture and heartfelt gratitude for the fact that for several days now, while the picture has been running, her husband has been sitting at home and not drinking, since all his drinking companions are busy same-viewing the series. By the way, Tatyana Lioznova herself did not watch the film in those days - she had no strength. But every evening I peered into the windows of neighboring houses and saw that many of them went out immediately when the next series ended.
According to legend, when Leonid Brezhnev watched the film, he was so moved that he ordered his assistants to immediately find the real Stirlitz and adequately reward him. To which Andropov replied that Stirlitz was a fictitious person. "It's a pity," Brezhnev shook his head. However, on the same day, he called Ekaterina Gradova's home to express his gratitude to her. But the actress considered this call someone's stupid joke and hung up. When she did this for the second time, Brezhnev's assistant already called her and asked her not to hang up: "Leonid Ilyich will really talk to you."
Meanwhile, Andropov did not forget his conversation with Brezhnev about Stirlitz. And when in 1983 the chief of the KGB himself became the General Secretary, he ordered that all participants in the film be awarded orders. As a result, V. Tikhonov received the "Star", R. Plyatt and T. Lioznov received the Order of the October Revolution, L. Bronevoy, O. Tabakov and E. Evstigneev - the Red Banner of Labor, N. Volkov and E. Gradova - the Friendship of Peoples.
In preparing the post, materials from the book by F. Razzakov "Our favorite movie. Intrigues behind the scenes" were used. Algorithm. 2004, articles by F. Razzakov "And you, Stirlitz ...", Vladimir Gromov "For the filming of "seventeen moments of spring", 12 suits and 100 shirts were sewn for Stirlitz", Valentina Oberemko "How Stirlitz's wife appeared"
Legendary 12-episode feature television film directed by Tatyana Lioznova was based on the novel of the same name writer Julian Semenov. When the film was on, the streets were empty - people took their places in front of the TV in advance, they waited for each episode, then discussed it in the kitchens.
The action of the military drama takes place shortly before Germany surrendered in World War II - from February 12 to March 24, 1945. The main character is Soviet scout Maxim Maksimovich Isaev, he is Standartenführer Max Otto von Stirlitz - receives an important task. He needs to find out which of the leaders of the Reich is negotiating a truce between Germany and the United States and Great Britain.
Director Tatyana Lioznova devoted several years of her life to the film. And the people appreciated this: after “17 Moments of Spring”, director Tatyana Lioznova received 12 bags of letters from the audience and she read everything ...
“She is a great craftswoman, fanatically devoted to her profession as a director. - Told "AiF" Leonid Kuravlyov, who played SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Eismann. - Lioznova taught a lot to all those who came into contact with her. Tatyana Mikhailovna loved very tough discipline. This is felt on the screen, by the way. After all, the painting “17 Moments of Spring” is a masculine painting, it is not feminine. When Lioznova entered the pavilion, there was silence - not to say dead silence, but creative silence. The hostess came to engage in creativity and everyone knew that she would demand full dedication from everyone, from the first member of the film group to the last member of the film group. Discipline is one of the important tools that has brought success to the picture.
Lioznova's work was done incredible already at the preparation stage. The choice of an actor for the main role was especially difficult. "Stirlitz" could become Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Oleg Strizhenov, Yuri Solomin. But the main contender was Archil Gomiashvili, with whom, according to rumors, Tatyana Lioznova then had an affair. As Lioznova later said in an interview, she wanted to see something antipathetic in the face of Stirlitz. But all applicants were busy in other film projects, and Tikhonov was free. Now it is even difficult to imagine someone else in the role of Stirlitz.
Interestingly, initially Leonid Bronevoy offered the role ... Hitler! (By the way, the same Kuravlev also auditioned for the Fuhrer.)
When Leonid Bronevoy walks down the street, he always hears: “Look, look, Muller.” As Leonid Sergeevich says, he is sometimes even offended: he has played a huge number of roles in the cinema (more than 120) and in the theater, and for the people he is forever Muller from Seventeen Moments of Spring. Although, the actor argues, on the other hand, it's great that he has a role - a "calling" card.
When Bronevoy came to the photo tests for the role of Hitler, it turned out that in makeup he really looked incredibly like the Fuhrer. But the artist's wife was categorically against her husband playing the leader of the Third Reich and said that she only agreed that he played the SS Gruppenführer Heinrich Muller. Of course, as the artist himself says, not only the “protest” of his wife influenced his refusal to play the role of Adolf Hitler. In fact, the personality of the Fuhrer according to the script is written out not at all as subtly as Muller.
In 17 Moments of Spring, the leader of the fascists is an eternally yelling character, almost a caricature. But the role of Muller has become an interesting acting challenge. Armor plunged headlong into work. And six months before the start of filming "Seventeen Moments of Spring" Leonid Sergeevich learned not only the role of Muller, but also the role of Stirlitz.
The wife helped Bronevoy in this. Victoria Valentinovna read Tikhonov's monologue, and Armor read his own. They learned words at night, because During the day, Bronevoy's wife was at work. Therefore, as Leonid Sergeevich later said, his wife was very exhausted during the preparation for the film. But, as Leonid Bronevoy said in an interview with AiF, he needed to thoroughly know Stirlitz's monologues in order to "react accurately, choose the right intonation, gesture." By the way, even a tight uniform helped Bronevoy solve the acting problem. It was because of the inconvenience of the suit that Muller's famous nervous tic appeared. The armored uniform was sewn two sizes smaller than necessary, and the actor's neck was constantly cut.
“So I was constantly twitching and moving my head,” says Bronevoy. - As a result, director Tatyana Lioznova could not stand it: "What's wrong with you?" - "I'm rubbing my uniform." - "I am not talking about that. Why don't we paint it in places where Muller gets nervous? And Lioznova found these moments in the picture.
By the way, the real Heinrich Müller was a tall, thin brunette with a hooked nose. As Bronevoy said, if he had known about this before filming, he would have turned down the role.
And here Oleg Tabakov, on the contrary, turned out to be incredibly similar to SS Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg. After the film was released, Schellenberg's niece wrote to Oleg Pavlovich from Germany, she said that the whole family enjoyed watching the film every time. It is a pleasure for the family to see “Uncle Walter” once again.
The legendary series "17 Moments of Spring" was so fond of the audience that the characters of the picture began to live their own lives: the people composed a huge number of jokes about the sweet couple "Stirlitz-Muller".
« — Wait, who's coming?!
- Rain,— Stirlitz said and drummed his fingers on the glass.
“Stirlitz somehow decided to play Muller on April 1st. “Müller, do you know that I am a Russian intelligence officer?” “I don’t know!” Muller, in turn, played Stirlitz.
According to Leonid Bronevoy, his favorite jokes are also about Stirlitz and Muller. Some can even be considered a declaration of people's love for actors, says Leonid Sergeevich. For example, “Stirlitz shot Muller. The bullet bounced off. Armored, Stirlitz thought.
