Soviet kids + secret codes + 210 minutes of pure Cold War adventure energy.
A Red Army officer Polevoy possesses a navy dirk with a secret message encrypted in its handle. The second part of a message belongs to a White army officer Nikitskiy. It's up to three young friends of Polevoy to uncover the mystery.
Production
Massive period recreation on a budget that shouldn't work.
Acting
Shevkunenko's unrelenting sincerity carries every scene.
Cinematography
Moody Baltic seascapes that outclass the plot.
Director
Nikolai Kalinin
Sergei Shevkunenko
Misha Polyakov
Vladimir Dichkovsky
Genka
Emmanuil Vitorgan
Nikitsky
Viktor Sergachyov
uncle Semyon
Zoya Fyodorova
Misha's grandmother
Leonid Kmit
Misha's grandfather
Mikhail Golubovich
Polevoy
Eduard Goryachiy
Genka's father
Vytautas Tomkus
Bandit
Roman Filippov
Filin
Boris Vladomirsky
philatelist
Tamara Trushina
Agripina Tihonovna
Igor Shulzhenko
Slavka
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during the Brezhnev thaw, this represents the last gasp of earnest Soviet children's cinema before irony took over.
Shevkunenko was already 16 playing younger; his adult career never matched this early peak.
SU
