Hemingway's drunk expats get the Soviet TV treatment—and somehow it slaps.
A stage adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", first staged for Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater and later reworked for Leningrad Television.
Acting
Mikhail Baryshnikov as Romero—dancer grace meets doomed matador.
Direction
Yursky's theatrical roots make every frame feel staged, intentionally.
Production
Soviet TV budget somehow captures 1920s Pamplona magic.
Director
Sergei Yursky
Mikhail Volkov
Jake Barnes
Natalya Tenyakova
Lady Brett Ashley
Vladislav Strzhelchik
Mike Campbell
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Pedro Romero
Vladimir Retsepter
Robert Cohn
Grigoriy Gay
Bill Gorton
Mikhail Danilov
Montoya
Emma Popova
Francis Klein
Pavel Pankov
Leonid Nevedomsky
Izil Zabludovskiy
Evgeniy Chudakov
Sergei Yursky
Singer (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was 23-year-old Baryshnikov's first major screen role, two years before his defection to the West. He was already principal dancer at the Kirov.
Soviet adaptations of American 'decadent' literature were rare; this slipped through as anti-capitalist critique of wealthy expatriates. The censors missed the booze and sex entirely.
US
