Red Moscow

Chapter 2444

"Revise the script?" When Sokov learned that Eisenstein was going to modify the script of "Battle of Stalingrad" for Yakov, he couldn't help but widened his eyes in surprise: "Comrade Eisenstein, is this appropriate? ?”

Eisenstein was also a smart man. Not only did he know Yakov's true identity, he also saw that Sokov and Yakov had a good relationship. More importantly, both generals had participated in the defense of Stalingrad. Although when setting the tone of this script, it was emphasized to highlight the pivotal role played by the Supreme Commander himself in this battle, and as his eldest son, Yakov appears in the movie for more time, which does not seem unreasonable. OK.

It was out of this consideration that Eisenstein said carelessly: "There is nothing inappropriate. Although I am only the assistant director of this film, I can still keep my word when it comes to revising the script. Moreover, I believe that Pietro Comrade Husband should agree with me."

Sokov knew that Petrov was the director of this film, but Eisenstein must have had a lot of power as the assistant director. Since he had said so, it was natural to modify the script. "Okay then." Sokov nodded and said, "Then it will be as you wish."

 While Sokov and others were chatting on the platform, the camera next to them continued to film the scene of troops boarding the train. Unsatisfied with the performance of the commanders and fighters, the photographer personally went to Lieutenant Colonel Kulak and said dissatisfied to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what's going on with your subordinates? They are all lazy and can't even nod their heads." No. They don't want to go to the battlefield to reinforce. On the contrary, they look more like the remnants of a defeated battle. Can you still film it? If not, I will use other troops to film it. Anyway, there are many troops who want to participate in the filming of this film. Still waiting."

"Comrade Photographer," even though Kulak was a lieutenant colonel, he looked a little humble when facing this little photographer. He laughed and said, "It is the first time for our soldiers to make a movie. Experience. Just tell us how you should shoot, and we will definitely cooperate with you."

After talking to Sokov and others, Eisenstein saw that the photographer and Lieutenant Colonel Kulak seemed to be having an argument, so he walked over and asked, "What's going on? What happened here?"

When Eisenstein asked, Kulak quickly explained: "Comrade Assistant Director, the situation is like this. Comrade Photographer said that the performance of our troops could not achieve the effect he wanted, and he was going to let us re-shoot the scene of boarding the train. Lens.”

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," since this era used film shooting, even Eisenstein, the director, could not watch the playback footage. He could only say to Kulak: "The way I see it, you let the troops board the train again. , let me see if there is anything that needs improvement. By the way," he said next to the photographer, "don't turn on the phone this time!"

The photographer agreed and went back to the camera, leaving Eisenstein here to continue instructing the troops to board the train.

When Kulak saw the photographer leaving, he felt a little anxious. He said to Eisenstein: "Comrade Assistant Director, the commanders and soldiers have been sitting in the car for four or five hours. They are already very tired. If they are asked to shoot one after another, Try it, I'm worried that their bodies won't be able to bear it. How about just start shooting this time?"

"No." Eisenstein agreed simply: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you know how expensive the film used for shooting is? Even if I am the assistant director, I have no right to let you waste precious film. Now, you let The commanders and fighters are boarding the vehicle again, waiting for me to wait until I feel it is appropriate to turn it on again.”

Although Kulak was very dissatisfied, since Eisenstein had said this, he could only say helplessly: "Okay, then I will let the soldiers get off the bus and board the bus again."

And Sokov, who was standing not far away, saw the commanders and soldiers who had entered the tank car and got out of the car again. When they lined up on the platform, he couldn't help but smiled bitterly and shook his head, and said to Yakov: "Yasha. , I didn’t expect that a small scene of boarding a car would have to be shot repeatedly. When the movie is released, this scene may only appear for a second or two.”

"You are right. Good directors pay special attention to some details, and Eisenstein is even more so." Yakov said with emotion: "I finally understand why a good movie takes several years to make. ”

Sokov was thinking that due to the improvement of film shooting standards in later generations, the shooting time is getting shorter and shorter. A blockbuster film may be completed in half a year to ten months. In the movies of this era, firstly, the shooting level is backward, and secondly, the directors strive for excellence, so it is common for a blockbuster to take two or three years to shoot. He still remembers that the famous Chinese war movie "Three Major Battles" was filmed for five years. Whether it was the special actors or the war scenes, they were all impeccable, so it was praised as "unprecedented". A great military masterpiece.

“Misha,” Asiya touched Sokov’s arm with her elbow and asked in a low voice, “How long do you think this movie will take to complete?”

 Sokov remembers that this black-and-white film "The Battle of Stalingrad" was released in 1949. Although there are only two months left before 1946, there are still three years in between. Thinking of this, he replied in a low voice: "Asiya, I think if the filming goes smoothly, this movie will be released in about 1949."

“Ah, it’s such a long wait.” Asiya had no idea about movie shooting. In her mind, such a movie would be a large-scale production and would take at most one year to complete. Now when I heard Sokov said that he would wait until 1949, he said with some suspicion: "You didn't say that casually, did you?"

"Asiya, I can testify for Misha that he did not lie." Yakov said to Asiya: "Before coming here, I asked Director Petrov and he said that this movie is a As a big production, he will try to complete the filming in mid-1948 and edit it as soon as possible as a gift for my father's 70th birthday."

When Sokov heard what Yakov said, he immediately thought of another film, "The Capture of Berlin," which was also produced in 1949. It must have been a gift for Stalin's 70th birthday by the film and television staff. "Yasha, I want to ask you something."

"what's up?"

"Just before I came to the station, I had a chat with the deputy director Eisenstein. It was completely possible to shoot "The Battle of Berlin" at the same time as "The Battle of Stalingrad."" After Sokov said this, he was afraid that Without Yakov's support, he continued: "You know, just a few months after the war, the city of Berlin is still in ruins, which is very suitable for us to shoot war scenes. If two or three years later, the city of Berlin will be destroyed by artillery fire The destroyed buildings can be rebuilt, and if you want to shoot again, you need to build sets to show the original war scenes, which will cost a lot more manpower, material resources and financial resources."

"Misha, you may not know yet." After listening to Sokov's words, Yakov showed an expression of astonishment on his face: "When I was chatting with Director Petrov today, he also mentioned the filming of "Conquer" When watching the movie "Berlin", his statement was exactly the same as yours. If I didn't know that you two didn't know each other at all, I would have doubted whether you had passed Qi beforehand."

Sokov laughed dryly, and then said: "I have never met Vladimir Petrov. I don't know what kind of person he is."

"He is a very kind person." Yakov said: "He gives me the feeling that he is very easy to get along with." Hearing what Yakov said, Sokov couldn't help but laugh again. He secretly thought that as long as anyone who knew Yakov's identity showed a very friendly attitude towards him, no one would casually offend the son of the supreme commander himself.

But as long as Sokov understands these things, he will never say them out loud. He paused for a moment and asked tentatively: "Yasha, has Director Petrov said when he plans to start filming the movie "Storming Berlin"?"

"I think what he means is that he hopes that the sooner the better." After Yakov said this, he frowned slightly and said with some worry: "If two war movies with similar themes are released one after another, you Do you think the audience will buy it?"

 As for the problem raised by Yakov, Sokov felt that it was not a problem at all. Today is not an era of market economy. The quality of a movie depends on the audience's love. When a movie like this is released under Stalin's personal supervision, all enterprises and institutions will definitely respond first and organize people to book the theater. Even if a movie ticket costs only two kopecks, it can probably sell tens of millions of rubles at the box office.

"Yakov, what do you think the two of us will look like in the movie if the script is really changed?" Sokov asked this question because he thought of the 13th Konoe again. The division commander Rodimtsev was originally a short fat man, but in the 1949 version of "The Battle of Stalingrad", he was portrayed as a tall and handsome young general. If he and Yakov really appeared in the movie, there would probably be a huge deviation from who he is.

"It's hard to say." Yakov said hesitantly: "I think even if the directors won't let us play ourselves, I'm afraid they will find suitable actors to play us." The next moment, he laughed, "Mi Sha, are you worried that the actor they are looking for is not as handsome as you, and when he appears on the screen, it will damage your image?"

Sokov laughed dryly and said casually: "How could it be possible? I think even if the two of us are not allowed to play ourselves, I am afraid we will find young and handsome actors to play our images."

 The troops on the platform finally reached Eisenstein's standards after several more drills. He nodded with satisfaction, and then said to Kulak: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I think it's almost done. Let your subordinates board the car as you just contacted, and I'll ask the photographer to turn on the camera."

When Sokov saw the photographer turn on the camera and officially start filming the troop boarding footage, he couldn't help but raise his hand to look at the time and found that more than an hour had passed. He couldn't help but shake his head, and then said to Asiya and Yaco The husband said: "Assistant director Eisenstein is really a responsible person. He spent so much time instructing the troops on such a simple shot. If when the movie was officially released, these soldiers would find that they had spent a long time trying to What are you thinking when the shot only appears for a second or two, or even doesn’t appear at all?”

"No way, Misha." Hearing what Sokov said, Asiya asked in disbelief: "It took so long to shoot the scene, can it really only appear for one or two seconds in the movie, or even Was it edited out completely?”

"It's entirely possible." Sokov said confidently: "When the director edits the film, he will decide which shots can be retained and which can be deleted based on the needs of the plot. It is entirely possible that the shots shot today will be released when the film is released. Can’t see it at all.”

While Asya and Yakov were still questioning Sokov's words, a train slowly entered the station.

 After the car stopped, a group of people got out of the car, both in military uniforms and in civilian clothes.

When Yakov saw one of them clearly, he said to Sokov in surprise: "Misha, I didn't expect that Director Petrov is here!"

Seeing the director coming, Eisenstein, who was directing the shooting, quickly left the cameraman behind and walked towards the director.

After seeing Eisenstein hugging one of the men from a distance, Sokov pointed towards where he and others were.

Not long after, the man, led by Eisenstein, walked towards where Sokov and others were.

"Hello, General Sokov!" The man extended his hand to Sokov and said enthusiastically: "Let me introduce myself. I am Vladimir Petrov, the director of the movie "The Battle of Stalingrad."

“Hello, Comrade Director.” Sokov held the other person’s hand and said enthusiastically: “I heard Yasha and Deputy Director Eisenstein mention you, and now it’s my honor to meet you in person.”

"General Sokov, it is also an honor for me to meet you, the defender of the city of Stalingrad." Petrov said with a smile: "Comrade Eisenstein just suggested to me that the movie script should be revised. Add the story of you and General Yakov in the Battle of Stalingrad. I would like to ask for your opinion now. What do you think about this matter?"

“Comrade director, you have the final say on how to modify the script.” Sokov said with a smile: “I have only one request.”

 “What request?”

Sokov glanced at Asiya and Yakov, and continued: "In the Battle of Stalingrad, not only Yakov and I participated in this battle, but also my wife, military doctor Asiya, I have also experienced this battle. I would like to ask if the three of us can have a cameo role in the movie?"

 (End of this chapter)