Red Moscow

Chapter 2448

“And,” after approving Sokov’s proposal of Vasily and Lyudmila, Petrov then asked: “What’s the name of the remaining old man?”

Sokov, who had dealt with the old man for a while, said the old man's full name without hesitation: "Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov."

"Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov?" After Petrov repeated the name, he couldn't help but frowned: "This name sounds very familiar, as if he has heard it somewhere."

"Vladimir, I happen to know Mr. Morozov's resume, so let me tell you." Eisenstein interjected from the side: "He is a legendary figure. He was born in 1854. He teaches at St. Petersburg State University and has rich academic achievements. In addition to being a scholar, he also participated in the assassination of Russian Tsar Alexander II when he was young.

 He ​​was arrested by the Tsarist Russian authorities in 1880 and fled to the West. During this period, he met Karl Marx. You know, Comrade Stalin was still a child at that time. He taught himself a variety of subjects in prison, including mathematics, chemistry, physics, history, biology, philosophy, economics, linguistics, geophysics, aeronautical science and meteorology, and was able to communicate in 11 foreign languages. After his release in 1882, he made remarkable achievements in academic circles.

 Before he retired and returned to Leningrad, he was awarded the title of Honorary Academician. If he were still alive, he would be 91 years old this year. "

“Sergey, Mr. Morozov is still alive.” Sokov waited for Eisenstein to finish speaking, and immediately added: “I dealt with him last year, and his physical condition seems to be very good.”

After hearing this, Petrov shook his head and said: "It's unimaginable that at such an old age, he can still go to the battlefield to fight the enemy."

"After the war broke out, Mr. Morozov took the initiative to ask to join the army, but was rejected." Sokov told the two men about the history he knew: "Later, after his many efforts, the commander of the army finally agreed to let him join the army. That day Year, he was already 87 years old.

For such an old man to put on military uniform and join the grassroots combat troops will definitely arouse the dissatisfaction of some soldiers. They feel that at such an old age, the old man does not stay at home honestly, but goes to the front line to cause mischief, and he might become everyone. of burden. "

"Yes, if I were a soldier in this army, I would probably have the same idea." Petrov interjected: "No matter how capable he was before, an old man in his eighties can do anything on the battlefield. What effect does it have?"

"Vladimir, please don't interrupt. Listen to Vedya continue." Eisenstein interrupted Petrov's words and urged Sokov: "Misha, please continue. I want to know how he did it." Change the views of the soldiers?”

Sokov nodded and continued: "A few days after he joined the army, he participated in a battle. When the enemy shelled our army's position, other soldiers huddled in the trenches to avoid the enemy's shelling, but the old man himself But a man dragged a rifle and climbed out of the trench secretly.

The observation post serving as a warning noticed that the old man had left the trench, and shouted at him desperately, trying to call him back. But unfortunately, his shouts were drowned out by the explosion of artillery shells, and the old man couldn't hear him at all.

 When the bombardment ended, the German army launched a charge towards our position. A German machine gunner set up his machine gun more than 300 meters away from the position to provide fire support to the attacking German soldiers. The soldiers who had just entered the combat position saw with their own eyes the old man raising his gun and aiming at the machine gunner. The next moment, the German machine gunner fell next to the machine gun. The deputy shooter next to him quickly took over the machine gun and tried to take over the shooting. Unexpectedly, he was shot down by the old man again.

Just like that, in just a minute or two, five or six soldiers died near the machine gun, which frightened other soldiers to the point where they did not dare to approach the machine gun again. Without the cover of machine gun fire, the German attack quickly ended in failure.

When the old man returned to the position with his rifle on his back, he was welcomed by the soldiers in formation. For the first time, everyone discovered that although the old man was older, his performance on the battlefield was no worse than that of the young people.

After the commander learned the news, he felt that it would be too wasteful to use the old man as an ordinary soldier, so he transferred him to participate in the sniper training class, hoping to train him into an excellent sniper. "

“General Sokov,” Petrov couldn’t wait to ask after hearing this, “I wonder how he performed after he arrived at the sniper training course?”

"I don't know." Sokov shook his head and replied truthfully: "I haven't asked the old man, and he hasn't told me. But according to my judgment, his performance should be very good. Because he only plays sniper After staying in the training class for a week, he returned to the front line. After returning to the front line, he not only personally sniped the enemy with a sniper rifle, but also taught the sharpshooters in the army how to improve their shooting skills."

After telling the story of Mr. Morozov, Sokov continued: "I heard rumors about him, so when we established the sniper school, I tried to find a way to transfer him to be a sniper instructor to train the students. They teach sniper skills.”

"General Sokov, let me ask you a question. Please answer me truthfully." Petrov was silent for a while after listening, and then asked tentatively: "Are these deeds of his just a kind of propaganda to inspire others?" It’s used for morale, but it doesn’t actually exist?”

"Comrade director, I believe that Mr. Morozov's stories are true." Seeing that Petrov had doubts about Mr. Morozov's deeds, Sokov said in a positive tone: "He is in my While serving as an instructor in the sniper school, he led the team to perform missions many times, and each time he successfully completed the tasks I assigned him, so his deeds will not be false."

Hearing what Sokov said, Petrov turned to look at Eisenstein: "Sergey, do you think the old man's deeds are true?"

"I think it should be true." Eisenstein nodded and said: "Based on his previous resume, it is entirely possible for him to do things beyond ordinary people's imagination."

“Sergey, it seems that you very much agree with General Sokov’s statement and think that a movie should be made for Mr. Morozov?”

“Why not, Vladimir?” Eisenstein asked, “Since we are going to make two sniper films, why not one more?”

"I think two movies about snipers are a bit much." Petrov said seriously: "If we make three movies in one go, will the audience be disgusted with the same movie?" "I I don’t think so.” Sokov was worried that Petrov’s words would shake Eisenstein, so he quickly interjected: “There are three movies about snipers, and the protagonists in them are three people with completely different experiences and living environments. , the battlefield environments they were in, and the results they achieved were also very different. If the shooting was ideal, it might even become a "Sniper Trilogy."

Sokov's words scratched Petrov's itch. The most popular in this era are trilogies, such as Gorky's autobiographical trilogy: "Childhood", "In the World" and "My University"; ·Tolstoy's trilogy of suffering: "Two Sisters", "1918" and "Gloomy Morning". Petrov was very excited to learn that if he filmed these three sniper-themed movies, he might be titled a trilogy.

"General Sokov, your statement is very interesting." Petrov made up his mind and said to Sokov: "I will give your feedback to see what it means. If it can be passed, I don't know Are you going to write the screenplay yourself, or will you dictate it and have it written by a professional?"

“Comrade director,” Sokov had already thought about it. He knew these three later films very well, and there was not much difficulty in converting them into novels. After writing the script, it’s not too late to hire someone to adapt it into a movie script. It was out of this consideration that he said seriously: "I can write these three movies in the form of novels first, and then you can arrange for people to adapt them into movie scripts."

"I think this is okay." Before Petrov could speak, Eisenstein said first: "Vladimir, I think you should stop dawdling and call the director of the Moscow film studio quickly and ask Misha to Report it to him and see what he thinks about it."

"Okay, I'm going to make a call now." Petrov stood up and said to Sokov: "General Sokov, I don't know how long it will take to call Moscow and what kind of reply I will get. In order to prevent you from being too bored staying here, you can go and see our shooting site first, which may provide you with more and better ideas.”

"You are right, Comrade Director." Sokov knew that matters like film project approval could never be decided in a short while. Maybe the director of Moscow Film Studio received a call from Petrov. Finally, you need to ask your superiors for instructions. Only after you get the answers from above can you dare to give Petrov a definite answer. It’s really hard to control how much time is needed during this period. Instead of waiting here, it would be more appropriate to go out and watch a movie. So he also stood up and said to Petrov: "Then I will go to the shooting scene first. If anything happens to you, send someone to find me there."

Asya and Yakov were chatting when Sokov came to the shooting scene.

Seeing Sokov appear, Asiya immediately came up to him and asked with concern: "Misha, what did you and the director talk about for such a long time?"

“I plan to write a few movie scripts,” Sokov quickly supported her and explained: “Let’s talk about my ideas with the director first.”

 “How did he pay you?”

"He agreed in principle." Sokov said: "At the moment he is on the phone with the director of the Moscow Film Studio and told the other party the subject matter of the script I am going to write. If the other party agrees to let me write it, I will prepare it. Start writing the script."

"What, Misha, what did you say?" Yakov, who had just walked over, happened to hear Sokov's next words and couldn't help but asked in surprise: "What did you say, you plan to write a movie script? Did I hear you correctly? "

“No, you heard me right,” Sokov replied: “I do plan to write a movie script, and it’s not one script, but three scripts, and I plan to write three scripts at the same time.”

Unexpectedly, Yakov burst out laughing after hearing this: "Misha, I didn't expect you to be so good at joking, and it sounds like it's true."

"No, Yasha, I'm not kidding." Sokov said seriously: "I really plan to write a movie script."

“Are you kidding me?” The expression on Yakov’s face became serious: “I remember that when you were studying, you couldn’t even write a composition fluently. Now you have to start writing a script, is that okay?”

Hearing what Yakov said, Sokov couldn't help but sweat broke out on his forehead. He didn't expect that the real Sokov was actually a scumbag in school. Fortunately, he quickly figured out how to reply: "Yasha, my grades may not have been very good when I was studying. But that was all many years ago. After so many years, haven't I improved a little?" You know, I have served as commander of several army groups, and if I didn’t have any ability, I would have been dismissed long ago.”

Yakov felt that what Sokov said seemed to make sense, so he nodded and said, "Misha, what you said makes some sense. Poor grades are all things that happened when we were studying. After so many years, maybe you Your level has improved a long time ago. By the way, what movie script are you going to write?"

"Sniper, a story about snipers." Sokov looked at Yakov and said: "You should remember that in the sniper school I established, there were three outstanding sniper instructors: Vasily, Lyud Mila and Mr. Morozov.”

"Yes, yes, I remember the three of them." Yakov asked tentatively: "Are you planning to write about the three of them? But during the Great Patriotic War, they belonged to different units, and their experiences were also different. It doesn’t seem right for you to put them together, right?”

"Yasha, you may not have heard clearly what I just said." Sokov emphasized: "I am talking about writing three scripts, that is, three snipers, each of whom has his own personal movie. .”

"Oh my God, Misha, you are really crazy." Yakov shook his head after hearing this and said: "If it is just a movie about snipers, I am afraid the audience will still buy it, but if it is three movies, maybe This kind of subject matter will be disliked by the audience."

"The experiences of Vasily, Lyudmila and Mr. Morozov throughout the Patriotic War were a different history." Sokov said to himself: "If we really compare their experiences If it is reflected in the movie, I think it will definitely arouse the interest of the audience. Maybe in the end, these three movies about snipers will be hailed as the 'Sniper Trilogy' by future generations of filmmakers."

"I hope so." Seeing that Sokov spoke so confidently, Yakov couldn't help pouring cold water on him anymore, so he asked tentatively: "I wonder where Director Petrov is now?"

"He and Sergey are calling the director of the Moscow film studio to report that I want to write a script." Sokov raised his hand and looked at the time. "If I sound good, I will write it within an hour." to get the final answer.”

 (End of this chapter)