There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland
The black-and-white film "Officers", the official premiere of which took place on July 26, 1971, has become one of the best domestic films of a patriotic orientation. The film, filmed at the M. Gorky film studio by director Vladimir Rogov, gathered more than 53 million viewers in the Soviet box office. Vasily Lanovoy, Georgy Yumatov and Alina Pokrovskaya, who played the main roles, have forever fallen in love with the domestic audience.
Brave and noble officers, who were very successfully implemented by Lanovoy and Yumatov, have become a real life guide for several generations of citizens of our country for many years. Alina Pokrovskaya also played an excellent role, in which many of the officers' wives recognized themselves.
In addition to the excellent acting, the film was remembered by many viewers for the phrase: "There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland." The phrase uttered at the very beginning of the film runs as a refrain throughout the whole picture. Despite the simplicity of the statement, she found a lively response in the hearts of the audience. In the very first year after the screening of the film, tens of thousands of young men expressed their desire to enter the military schools of the USSR. The number of applications submitted to military schools has grown exponentially.
The script of the film "Officers" is based on the play by Boris Vasiliev
The script of the film, which attracted 53,4 million viewers at the box office and, according to this indicator, became one of the most successful films of the Central Film Studio for Children and Youth Films named after Maxim Gorky, was based on the play "Tankers" by front-line writer Boris Vasiliev. The play was the literary debut of the famous Soviet writer, who left behind a rich literary heritage, including the stories “The Dawns Here Are Quiet…” and “Tomorrow Was the War”, the novel “Not on the Lists” and many other works.
Writer Boris Vasiliev
Initially, the film was supposed to be called "Tankers". However, the name was eventually changed. Based on this play, entitled "Officers", which eventually received a feature film, a play was prepared at the Theater of the Soviet Army, but after two trial performances since December 1955, it was no longer staged.
The original script for the film involved two episodes. While working on the script, Vasiliev included the events of the "Great Terror" with arrest and prison terms for the main characters who would have been released after the start of the war. However, the Minister of Defense did not like this option. Marshal Grechko demanded that the film studio reduce the script to one episode. Boris Vasiliev himself refused to shorten the script, so Kirill Rapoport was invited to complete it.
The author of the idea of filming the film was Marshal Andrey Antonovich Grechko
The direct author of the idea of shooting the film was the Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union, Marshal Andrei Antonovich Grechko. It is believed that the marshal himself became the author of the famous phrase: “There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland”.
Having such an initiator of the filming process behind his back, one could be sure that the film crew would be provided with all the necessary support. Indeed, the film was shot all over the USSR: in Moscow and the Moscow region, in Kalinin, Sevastopol and Ashgabat.
Marshal Andrey Antonovich Grechko, 1960
It was important for the marshal that the film would reveal the difficult life of the officer's wife, around which the plot with the main characters would develop. The film was originally commissioned as a work about the hard life of officers' wives. This task was successfully implemented on the screen by director Vladimir Rogovoy, for whom the film was the first where he was the chief director.
The cast of the film "Officers" gathered by chance
The cast of the film "Officers", which is so loved by several generations of viewers, gathered in such a composition by chance.
For a long time, completely different actors applied for the main roles. And Georgy Yumatov already had an ambiguous reputation at the time of filming, so it was difficult to approve him for the main role. The actor with great talent loved to drink and could disrupt the shooting.
Boris Vasiliev personally insisted on Yumatov's approval for the role, who had long been friends with Georgy Yumatov, knew him and believed in his talent. For the film, it was also of great importance that Yumatov was a front-line soldier. Ultimately, director Vladimir Rogovoy approved Yumatov for the role of Alexei Trofimov, giving him preference out of 42 candidates. In this choice Vasiliev and Rogovoy did not lose, Georgy Yumatov played in the film "Officers" one of his main roles in his career.
The role of Alexei Trofimov's friend and comrade Ivan Varavva was originally supposed to be played by actor Oleg Efremov. His candidacy for the role had already been approved, but the popular and sought-after artist could not free himself for filming in "Officers", as he was already engaged in another film.
Georgy Yumatov and Vasily Lanovoy in the film "Officers"
Only after that Vasily Lanovoy was again called for the role of the main character. Again, because several times before the actor had already abandoned the role of Ivan Varrava.
Lanovoy did not believe in a hero who could be unrequitedly in love with his friend's wife all his life. Vasily Lanovoy was invited to audition for the film "Officers" three times and, fortunately for everyone, persuaded to play this role.
Vasily Lanovoy will play a role in this film for the rest of his life. For an actor, both the film and the hero played have acquired a special become. Men, women and children of different ages perceived the film "Officers" in a special way, and Lanovoy saw this, was proud of his work and the work of the entire film team, emphasizing the importance of this role for himself.
The role of Alexei Trofimov's wife Lyubov Trofimova, with whom both main characters fell in love according to the plot, were initially approved by the actress Elena Dobronravova. However, the actress had her own vision for character development. Dobronravova proposed to slightly change the plot of the picture. The actress wanted her heroine to leave her husband for Ivan Barabbas. But the creators of the picture could not agree to such a change in the plot. And after several scandals, director Vladimir Rogovoy decided to part with Elena Dobronravova.
Alina Pokrovskaya in the film "Officers"
Alina Pokrovskaya, who had previously auditioned for this role, was urgently called for the role of Lyubov Trofimova. In addition, Pokrovskaya liked the plot of the film very much.
The winning solitaire of the actors has finally taken shape. As Alina Pokrovskaya said later, after the premiere of "The Officers" she suddenly woke up famous. Unlike her colleagues on the set, Alina Pokrovskaya chose to devote her life to the theater. Therefore, in her filmography, the role in the film "Officers" remained the most stellar in her career.
The song "Eternal Flame" (From the Heroes of Bygone Times) has become truly popular
The picture ends with an expressive musical composition, which complements the video sequence with shots from the life of the main characters of the picture, mixed with real fragments of documentary newsreels of the Great Patriotic War. The song, familiar today to a huge number of people in the post-Soviet space on the first line "From the heroes of the past", is actually called "Eternal Flame".
Poster for the film "Officers", image: ruskino.ru
This military-patriotic song, without which today it is impossible to imagine May 9, was written on the verses of Yevgeny Agranovich, the author of the music is the composer Raphael Khozak.
The song was specially created for the film "Officers". The popularity of this composition is as great as that of the film itself. It was performed by a variety of performers. At the same time, the spectrum of performers of this song in Russia is huge: from Sergei Bezrukov to the rock group Kukryniksy. That only emphasizes the uniqueness, beauty and power of this piece of music.
A monument to the heroes of the film "Officers" has been erected in Moscow
In our country, heroes of popular films often find a second life in the form of monuments installed in various cities. The same happened with the heroes of the film "Officers", which also demonstrates the love of the common spectator for them. The monument to the heroes of the tape was erected in Moscow on the Frunzenskaya embankment on December 9, 2013.
Alexey Ignatov became the author of the sculptural composition. The monument, on which four heroes of the film are presented, reproduces one of the scenes of the picture - the meeting of two old comrades in arms after a long separation, the wife and grandson of one of them. Actors Vasily Lanovoy and Alina Pokrovskaya took part in the opening of the monument.
Monument to the heroes of the film "Officers" on the Frunzenskaya embankment
Not so long ago, another monument dedicated to the film was unveiled in the capital.
In September 2018, the sculptural composition "Officers" appeared in the Main Personnel Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense. There are fewer heroes here: the young cadet Alexei Trofimov (played by actor Georgy Yumatov) and the commander of the cavalry squadron Georgy Petrovich (played by actor Vladimir Druzhnikov). Behind the backs of the heroes, the author of the monument placed a famous quote:
"There is such a profession - to defend the Motherland!"
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