RCW Films

[Rogerc]

Hi All looking for some good RCW Films I can get with English subtitles, got a few such as Admiral.

I know there are a few from the 70s which look quite good and I have seen one set in Mongolia with the Baron but only seen its Russian name and no subtitles. Any thoughts from the collective?

[Nogbad]

Predictably, the Russian Civil War has never been at the top of Hollywood's To Do list but there are a few worth seeing. In order of what I'd recommend....The Red and The White is a black and white Hungarian film - quite minimalist and arty, anti-war theme and was a hit with the critics. If I remember right the Whites are one of the Coloured Regts (tho it being in B&W, hard to be certain!)
Then there's The White Sun of the Desert, which was a Soviet film set in Central Asia with a Lewis gun-toting Bolshevik hero fending off Basmachis. Little bit spaghetti Western-ish.
There's a recent Russian film called Kolchak (I believe) - although it is probably the one you refer to, Admiral - that portrays him as a romantic hero. I have to say the film didn't grab me. Happy viewing.

[cuprum]

I think that most of these films were created in the USSR. Not much has been translated into English, but I found something on YouTube:

Escape (Exodus), (drama, 1970)
The last days of the White Army in the Crimea.





Two comrades served (4K, drama, 1968)
The command instructs two Red Army soldiers to carry out aerial reconnaissance and film the White Guard fortifications on Perekop (in the Crimea) on a movie camera. Their flight ends with an airplane crash and unusual adventures...





Red Square, 2 episodes (1970) Black and white film. The creation and actions of the Red Army in the Civil War on the example of the lives of several people.





Fire miles (drama, 1957) Adventure film. Through the territory covered by the white rebellion, several Bolsheviks and their sympathizers need to break into the surrounded city.





An optimistic tragedy (drama, 1963) A female commissar is sent to the navy to organize a regiment of marines from anarchist sailors. Black and white film.





Forty-first (FullHD, 1956) A female sniper in the Red Army, with forty white officers killed, ends up on a desert island with a captured white officer and falls in love with him. Love drama.

[trev]

Great links Cuprum.  Thanks.

Wiki has a page on Russian Civil War films here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Russian_Civil_War_films

Doctor Zhivago is the obvious classic in English.  There have been two more recent TV series in Russian and English I know about but haven't seen, the latter starring Keira Knightly.  Both series have decent IMDB scores.

There are a few versions of And Quiet flows the Don too.  I've seen the Rupert Everett one that seems to be released as various TV and film versions called alternatively Cossack or War and Revolution.  The one I saw wasn't brilliant but I watched it to the end.  The 1950s black and white Russian version is supposedly better but I haven't seen it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZVYaKkAAqQ


There is an extended TV series version of Admiral that is quite a bit longer.  I quite enjoyed that.

There's a TV series on Trotsky from a few years back with the chap from Admiral.  I saw a bit of it on Amazon but it didn't grab me and then it disappeared, so I've not seen it all.

Battle for Warsaw is a Polish film about the 1920 battle.  It's not great but has some big action scenes.

White Sun of the Desert and At Home Among Strangers are great 'Osterns' set around the civil war. 

The Elusive Avengers series are soviet young adult films.  I've seen the first one, that was good fun.

[Rogerc]

Thanks very much guys,

I have seen some of these but not all, I ahve the Red and the White, Kolchak (Admiral) Doctor Zhivago of course, The White Sun of the Desert and Battle for Warsaw which I particularly enjoyed.

I will check out these thank you very much.

Cuprum I do remember you added a link to a different post soem time back with a battle scene from Baron Ungerns assault on Urga, I did wonder if that in particular might be found somewhere with subtitles.

[cuprum]

It was an episode from the 1967 Soviet-Mongolian feature film "Exodus". This film is on YouTube, but, unfortunately, without any translation.

[FinnN]

You can find many silent era Soviet (and pre-Soviet) films on YouTube with the intertitles translated on this channel (link is to the original version of the 41st):



One film not mentioned so far which has English subtitles is Defenders of Riga (Rīgas sargi) which covers the Latvian war of independence.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0471359/

[traveller]

A bit pre-RCW but I enjoyed "the Last Czars" on Netflix

[Kourtchatovium104]

For my part, I recommend Once Upon a Time in Odessa from Isaak Babel's book.

[Alexander Kutepov]

[bollix]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Quiet Flows the Don", which covers the life of a Don Cossack, first in WW1 fighting the Austro-Hungarians, then later in the RCW. IT is based on Mikhail Sholokov's series of books, one with the same name as the movie. Wonderful books. There have been several versions of the movie filmed, here is the one from 1957/58. It is in Russian, but with English subtitles:


Cary

[Rogerc]

Nice one cheers, I think the 1980s version with Rupert Everard is mentioned but nice to have this sthank you.

[cuprum]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Quiet Flows the Don", which covers the life of a Don Cossack, first in WW1 fighting the Austro-Hungarians, then later in the RCW. IT is based on Mikhail Sholokov's series of books, one with the same name as the movie. Wonderful books. There have been several versions of the movie filmed, here is the one from 1957/58. It is in Russian, but with English subtitles:
Cary

This is the best adaptation of the novel I have ever seen.