Soviet spies, stolen jewels, and double-crosses — communist noir before noir was cool.
The protagonists of the film, chekists Sasha Sizov and Ivan Shagin, take the confiscated jewels out of the city captured by the White Guards and deliver them to Kiev. Having returned to the city liberated by the Red Army, they expose a White Guard agent who has infiltrated the Cheka and take part in the defeat of Colonel Sherstev's gang.
Production
Authentic period detail — they filmed where history actually happened.
Acting
Emmanuil Vitorgan's weary idealist hits different.
Director
Vasili Levin
Tatyana Lebedeva
Татьяна Лебедева
Emmanuil Vitorgan
Иван Шагин
Vsevolod Abdulov
Мартын Лацис, председатель ВУЧК
Sergei Desnitsky
Кузьмич
Mikhail Golubovich
Михаил Голубович
Aleksandr Goloborodko
Шерстев, полковник
Igor Vasilev
Константин Лелека
Anatoliy Romashin
Станислав Оттович Белявский, врач
Alla Budnitskaya
Стефания Белявская, артистка варьете
Dmytro Myrhorodskyi
Борис Борисович Тулин
Kostiantyn Stepankov
Микола Терентьевич Ящук
Viktor Drevitski
Олесь Гроха
Elena Aminova
пассажирка в поезде
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
A rare 1981 Soviet film tackling the Cheka's early days without full hagiography — released during Brezhnev's final years when historical revisionism was tightly controlled.
Vsevolod Abdulov's portrayal of Cheka chairman Laatsis was controversial; the real Laatsis oversaw thousands of executions, and some critics found the film's ambiguity unintentional.
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