After graduating from school at the age of 18, Sergio entered the law faculty of the university, but, without studying for even a year, he dropped out and went to work at a Cinecittà Studios, since film production was familiar to him literally from the cradle thanks to the profession of his parents. Sergio Leone's first professional experience was working as an assistant director for Vittorio De Sica on the set of the film "Bicycle Thieves". But Italian neorealism did not captivate Sergio. He preferred to participate in the creation of films of the "peplum" genre, which was sometimes called the "swords and sandals" genre. Sergio Leone himself subsequently explained his commitment to this genre: “Cinema must be spectacle, that's what the public wants. And for me the most beautiful spectacle is that of the myth.”

During the period from 1949 to 1959, Sergio Leone took part as an assistant director in the creation of 27 films, the most famous of which were Fred Zinnemann's "A Nun's Story" and William Wyler's "Ben-Hur". In 1959, during the filming of the film "The Last Days of Pompeii", the director, Mario Bonnar, fell ill and the film studio commissioned Sergio Leone to complete work on the film. The order was successfully completed, thanks to which Leone got the opportunity to independently film his first full-length feature picture, “The Colossus of Rhodes,” which was released in 1961. However, films of the "peplum" genre began to gradually lose their popularity by the mid-60s. But Japanese films about samurai began to gain popularity. Leone sensed this trend and decided to make a remake of one of the most famous “samurai” films of that time - Akira Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo (The Bodyguard)”. As a result, the film "Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistful of Dollars)" was made in 1964. For this picture, the “three sources” of which were the script of a “samurai” film, the western genre and the Italian director’s experience in creating “peplums”, film critics subsequently came up with a new genre - the “spaghetti western”. In addition to the fact that a new genre was born with the creation of this film, another future great director, Clint Eastwood, also gained world fame as an actor.

Over the years of his career as a film director, and he died of a sudden heart attack in 1989 at the age of 60, Sergio Leone directed only 7 films on his own. Five of them entered in the Golden Thousand, including "Once Upon a Time in America" (1983), "Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)" (1966), "C'era una volta il West (Once Upon a Time in the West)" (1968), and "Per qualche dollaro in più (For a Few Dollars More)" ( 1965) and the already mentioned “A Fistful of Dollars.” Thanks to this indicator, Sergio Leone is included in the list of the 100 greatest directors of world cinema, compiled by FilmGourmand. Sergio Leone's work as a film director has been awarded 8 film awards, the most prestigious of which is the David di Donatello Award from the Italian Film Academy for the film "Giù la testa (Duck, You Sucker!)" (1971).

Leone's sudden death prevented the implementation of a number of projects conceived by the director. Among others, there was a film project, the script of which was inspired by the popular science book “900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad” by Harrison Salisbury. In the story, an American photographer, to be played by Robert De Niro, finds himself trapped in Leningrad when the German Luftwaffe begins bombing the city. The main character begins an affair with a Soviet woman, with whom they are trying to survive the long blockade and persecution by the NKVD, since relations with foreigners are prohibited. The music for the film was supposed to be written by Ennio Morricone (with whom, by the way, Sergio Leone studied in the same class). The film's budget was set at $100 million (equivalent to today's $255 million), of which, by agreement, the Soviet government was going to allocate $50 million. Filming was supposed to begin in 1990...

On the day that marks the 95th anniversary of the birth of the great director, I would like to remind fans of his work of footage from his best films included in the Golden Thousand.

From an early age, Li Gong developed an aptitude for music, singing and choreography. Due to this, already at school, she was recommended to participate in the choir of the local broadcasting company. After completing her primary education in 1983, Li Gong tried several times to enter higher education, but each time she failed. In 1985, she made another attempt to enter the National Academy of Theater, however, she again did not have enough points for admission. But the Ministry of Culture of the PRC, interested in attracting personnel for the national opera, sent a letter of recommendation to this educational institution. So Li Gong became a student at the Central Academy of Dramatic Arts in Beijing.

It so happened that in 1987, when Li Gong was still a student at the theater academy, aspiring filmmaker Zhang Yimou was looking for an actress to play the main character in his debut anti-Japanese film "Hong gao liang 红高粱 (Red Sorghum)". An assistant director in search of a young actress came to the theater academy, where one of the students recommended Li Gong to him. Zhang Yimou, after meeting and talking with Li Gong, came to the conclusion that she, like no other actress, is suitable for the role of the heroine of "Red Sorghum". Thus began the creative and then romantic union of Li Gong and Zhang Yimou, which lasted 15 years. The film "Hong gao liang 红 高粱 (Red Sorghum)", which became the debut for its director and female lead, in 1988 received the main prize - Golden Bear - at the Berlin Film Festival. This victory brought international fame to Zhang Yimou and Li Gong.

The romantic (but not marital!) union of Gong Li and Zhang Yimou lasted until 1995. After breaking off her relationship with Zhang Yimou in 1996, Gong Li married a tobacco magnate from Singapore. In 2010, Gong Li divorced the tobacco magnate and in 2019 married the world-famous French composer Jean-Michel Jarre.

For several decades, Gong Li refused offers from American filmmakers to appear in Hollywood films, citing poor knowledge of the English language. However, in 2004, the Actress accepted an offer to play one of the main roles in Rob Marshall's film Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). This film, which strengthened Gong Li's international fame, marked the beginning of a deterioration in her relations with the Chinese leadership. Chinese censors banned the showing of this film in China, offended by the fact that Japanese prostitutes were played by Chinese actresses. The friction between the actress and Chinese censorship that began with this film led to the fact that in 2008 she had to change, although not without difficulties, her Chinese citizenship to Singaporean.

To date, Li Gong's filmography includes 35 full-length feature films, of which 4 films entered the Golden Thousand, including "Ba wang bie ji 霸王别姬 (Farewell My Concubine)" (1992, director Kaige Chen), "Da hong deng long gao gao gua 大红灯笼高高挎 (Raise the Red Lantern)" (1991), "Qiu Ju da guan si 秋菊打官司 (The Story of Qiu Ju)" (1992), "Huo zhe 活着 (To Live)" (1995). Director of the last three mentioned pictures - Yimou Zhang. With that said, Li Gong is included in FilmGourmand's list of the 100 Most Beautiful and Sexiest Actresses in World Cinema.

Li Gong has won 37 film awards, including the prestigious Best Actress Awards at the 1992 Venice International Film Festival and the 2000 Montreal International Film Festival. Today, Li Gong is the most respected actress in China, having received numerous film awards and state awards, both national and international, thanks to which she has acquired the reputation of "the first lady of the Asian film industry." On the Actress’s birthday, I invite fans of her work to remember scenes from the best films with her participation.

Ingmar Bergman decided to make an autobiographical film in the late 70s. Already in 1979, he had a 100-page script for the future film ready. The script was based on his childhood memories. The main character of the future film - Alexander - Bergman endowed with his own character traits.

At the same time, Bergman decided that this would be his last film. This decision was caused by a number of reasons. The second half of the 70s brought Bergman several serious shocks. First, there is the scandal with the Swedish tax authorities, when Bergman was accused of tax evasion. This accusation ended in a nervous breakdown for Bergman and a three-week stay in a psychiatric clinic. In order to avoid a prison sentence, Bergman was forced to leave Sweden. Secondly, it is the failure of his film "The Serpent's Egg". All this affected Bergman's health, exacerbating his illnesses, both real and imaginary. Even while working on the film "Fanny and Alexander" Bergman constantly suffered from hypochondria and aloud expressed fears that death would not allow him to finish this film. In fact, after the film "Fanny and Alexander" Bergman lived another quarter of a century.

But Bergman still fulfilled his decision, but only half. "Fanny and Alexander", indeed, became the last full-length feature film in the work of the great master. But Bergman made several television, short films, and documentaries over the next 25 years.

Initially, Ingmar Bergman conceived a 4-part film for television. But the shooting was carried out on film for cinema and Bergman kept in mind two versions: TV and cinema, a shorter one. The first release was the theatrical version, lasting 178 minutes. Swedish moviegoers saw it on December 17, 1982. And during the Christmas holidays at the end of December, viewers also saw a 4-part TV version with a total duration of 312 minutes.

As you know, Ingmar Bergman had his own "team" of actors. Many of the actors from this "team" Bergman was going to attract to work in this film. With Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand and Erland Josephson, it worked. But, unfortunately for Bergman, it didn't work out with Liv Ullman. Liv Ullman, Bergman's ex-wife, refused Bergman's offer to play the role of Emily, Alexander's mother, in the film, citing her employment in another project. The termination of their marital relationship here hardly mattered, because after the divorce, Liv Ullman already played in Bergman's film "Autumn Sonata", and played brilliantly. And she herself later, regretting her refusal, when asked about the reason for it, replied that she did not understand why she refused to play in the last movie of her ex-husband.

For other reasons, the collaboration in this film did not work out for Bergman with Max von Sydow, who had already played in 10 of Bergman's films before starting work on "Fanny and Alexander". And in the film "Fanny and Alexander" von Sydow was just eager to play. But at the time of the negotiations, he was far away, in Los Angeles. An agent was assigned to conduct the negotiations. And the latter, in an effort to maximize his commission, broke the amount of von Sydow's fee, which is not lifting even for a very large picture budget by Swedish standards. As a result, Bergman had to offer the role of Bishop Vergerus, the evil genius of Alexander, to another actor. (It is curious that in the film "Ansiktet (The Magician)" by Ingmar Bergman, the negative character also has the name Vergerus.) Max von Sydow, when he learned all the circumstances of the case, bitterly regretted. The agent, of course, was fired.

At the time of its release, "Fanny and Alexander" with 60 starring actors and 1,200 extras, with a budget of $ 6 million, was the largest film and the most expensive ever made in Sweden.

The year 1984 was a festival triumph for Ingmar Bergman's film "Fanny and Alexander". At the beginning of the year, it received 2 nominations for the American Golden Globe Award. In the category of Best foreign film, the film "Fanny and Alexander" won. And in the Best Director category, the preference was given to Barbra Streisand, the director of the film "Yentl". A little later, the film "Fanny and Alexander" received 6 nominations for the Academy Award, of which it won 4, including in the category Best Foreign Language Film. And in the Best Director category, the American film Academy gave preference to James L. Brooks, the director of the film "Terms of Endearment".

The British Film Academy nominated Ingmar Bergman's film in 4 categories, but its BAFTA award was awarded only for Best Cinematography. In the Best Foreign Language Film category, the award was given to Andrzej Wajda's "Danton". But the French Film Academy awarded Bergman's film its Cesar Award as the Best foreign language Film. The Italian film Academies nominated the film "Fanny and Alexander" in 4 categories and awarded it their David di Donatello Award in 3 of them: Best Foreign Film, Best Foreign Producer and Best Foreign Director. Moreover, the preference for the film "Fanny and Alexander" and Ingmar Bergman was given in comparison with Andrzej Wajda and his film "Danton", Woody Allen and his film "Zelig".

The film "Fanny and Alexander" was widely admired by professional film critics. The guru of American film criticism, Roger Ebert, devoted two reviews to the film and in both rated the film with a maximum of 4 stars. In the second review, from 2004, Ebert included Bergman's film in his list of "Great Movies". The general conclusion that Ebert makes in his review

"The movie is astonishingly beautiful."

Modern moviegoers also highly appreciated Ingmar Bergman's film "Fanny and Alexander". 71% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave the film ratings from 8 to 10. Taking into account this indicator and the above, the rating of Ingmar Bergman's film "Fanny and Alexander" according to FilmGourmand was 10,347, which allowed it to take the 27th Rank in the Golden Thousand. According to FilmGourmand, Ingmar Bergman's family drama "Fanny and Alexander" was recognized as the best film of the world cinema of 1982.

The screenplay of the film was based on the autobiographical novel "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" by Thomas Edward Lawrence. T.E. Lawrence, born in 1888, was the illegitimate son of the Anglo-Irish aristocrat Sir Thomas Chapman and governess Sarah Jenner. After graduating from Oxford in 1910, Lawrence began archaeological research in the Middle East. At the same time, he had the idea to write a book about the seven great ancient cities of this region and call it "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom". However, fate made adjustments to the plans of the young archaeologist. In 1914, the First World War broke out, and Lawrence volunteered for the British Army. Since Lawrence, despite his rather young age, was already known as an expert on the customs and traditions of the peoples of the Middle East, he received an appointment from the military command to the intelligence directorate. In the end, he wrote a book with the specified title, but it was devoted to a completely different topic - the Arab uprising against Ottoman rule in 1916-1918, a direct participant and, in part, the organizer of which he was. The book was published in 1926.

After the nonsensical (or, according to a number of conspiracy theorists, extremely suspicious) death of Lawrence in 1935, British cinematographers tried several times to launch the adaptation of his memoir novel, but no project was completed for one reason or another. Finally, in the late 50s, producer Sam Spiegel and director David Lean thought about making a film based on T.E. Lawrence's memoirs. The fact is that the film "The Bridge on the River Kwai" created by them in 1957 was a huge success all over the world, and they decided to make a film based on real historical events again. Lawrence's book provided them with a favorable opportunity to realize this idea. Sam Spiegel bought the rights to the film adaptation of the book "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" from T.E. Lawrence's brother, Professor A. W. Lawrence, who was his heir, for 22.5 thousand pounds (about 470 thousand pounds today).

Several well-known actors at that time were considered as candidates for the main role, in particular, Alec Guinness and Marlon Brando. But Guinness did not pass by age, and Brando refused the role, saying that he did not want to spend two years of his life riding a camel. After learning about the problems with the selection of an actor for the main role, Katharine Hepburn, who starred in the title role in David Lean's film "Summertime" (1955), recommended the little-known Peter O'Toole. After watching the film "The Day They Robbed the Bank of England" (1960), in which 28-year-old O'Toole played one of the main roles, Lean realized that this actor was like no other suitable for the role of Lawrence. Moreover, O'Toole, like Lawrence, has Irish roots. (And Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole subsequently played the royal couple in the film "The Lion in Winter").

The preparatory period lasted for two years, and then the shooting lasted for another 14 months. The film was shot in Jordan, Spain and Morocco. The $15 million budget was quite modest for a picture of this scale, and it's hard to say if the filmmakers would have been able to meet it...if love hadn't helped. The fact is that King Hussein of Jordan visited the shooting. And he fell in love with a young assistant, Antoinette Gardiner. Wanting to earn the favor of his beloved, he ordered to allocate an entire brigade of his Arab legion as extras for the film, so that most of the "soldiers" of the film are played by real soldiers. Moreover, it was free for the filmmakers. And Antoinette Gardiner married Hussein in 1962 and... became his second wife.

An amazing thing is religion! The king of a Muslim country contributed to the creation of the film. But in most Muslim countries, the spiritual and political leadership banned the film for religious reasons. In Egypt, at first, the film was also banned. But the Egyptians were lucky: one of the main roles in the film was played by Omar Sharif, the star of the then Egyptian cinema and, moreover, a close acquaintance of the country's president Gamal Abdel Nasser. He persuaded the president to watch the movie, and he liked the movie. And the film was allowed. And among ordinary Egyptians, Muslims and non-Muslims, the film has become wildly popular. By the way, the film was not shown in the USSR either. At least until the beginning of perestroika.

Film critics, as well as prominent figures of cinematography, enthusiastically accepted the picture. Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars out of 4 possible and included it in his list of "Great Movies". Steven Spielberg called this film his favorite... But T.E. Lawrence's brother, after watching the film before it was released, was horrified. He called Lean's picture "an unholy marriage of a western and a psychological horror film" and forbade the use of the title "Seven Pillars of Wisdom". He donated the money he received for the sale of the film rights to charity. And the film eventually got the name "Lawrence of Arabia".

But not only Professor A.W. Lawrence was dissatisfied with David Lean's film. The New York Times film reviewer Bosley Crowther, true to his habit of finding fault with any film, filled his review with caustic and sarcastic remarks, such as: "Lawrence got lost against the backdrop of a vivid demonstration of the endless desert and camels, Arabs, sheikhs and skirmishes with Turks, explosions and disputes with the British military," or "The legendary figure of Lawrence, a mystic and poet, in the picture is reduced to the usual size of a cliched action hero among magnificent and exotic landscapes." And finally, the final feature of the film - "a thundering camel opera, generating only sullen disappointment." (The New York Times, DEC. 17, 1962)

However, the film community disagreed with the opinions of archaeology professor A. W. Lawrence and film critic Bosley Crowther. In early 1963, David Lean's film "Lawrence of Arabia" received 9 nominations for the American Golden Globe Award and won 6 of them, including the most important ones: Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director. And this is despite the fact that among the competitors were such movie masterpieces as Arthur Penn's "The Miracle Worker", Robert Mulligan's "To Kill a Mockingbird", Blake Edwards' "Days of Wine and Roses" and others. A little later, the American Film Academy nominated the film in 11 categories and awarded its Oscar in 7 of them, Including the most important ones: Best Picture and the Best Director.

The "native" British Film Academy turned out to be a little more stingy than the American one. She nominated David Lean's picture in only 5 categories and awarded her BAFTA Prize in 4 of them. Moreover, as usual, recognizing the film as the Best British film and the Best film from any source. Among the prestigious film awards won by "Lawrence of Arabia", two David di Donatello awards from the Italian Film Academy can also be attributed: one to Sam Spiegel as the Best Foreign Producer, the other to Peter O'Toole as the Best foreign Actor.

In general, Peter O'Toole received 3 prestigious film awards and 3 nominations for his role in David Lean's film. This made him immediately an actor of the first magnitude and, perhaps, compensated for the numerous injuries sustained during filming. After all, while starring as Lawrence, Peter O'Toole suffered third-degree burns, sprained both ankles, tore ligaments in his hip, broke his thumb, dislocated his spine, fractured his skull, was bitten by a camel, sprained his neck, tore his inguinal muscle and suffered a concussion twice.

Ordinary moviegoers, as well as members of the film academies, disagreed with archaeology professor A. W. Lawrence and a columnist for the mouthpiece of the Democratic Party of the USA. In the 60s of the last century, this manifested itself in the significant box office collection of the picture "Lawrence of Arabia", which exceeded $ 45 million. And in the 21st century - in the high audience ratings given to the picture. 73% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave the film a score of 8 or higher. Thanks to this indicator and the above, the rating of David Lean's film "Lawrence of Arabia" according to FilmGourmand version was 10,865, which allowed him to take the high 12th Rank in the Golden Thousand. These figures were the highest among films produced by British cinematographers, which serves as a reason to consider this film the best picture of British cinema. In addition, "Lawrence of Arabia" became the best film of world cinema in 1962.

The script for the film was based on a one-act play by British playwright Noel Coward entitled "Still Life". In England in the 1920s and 1930s, there was a very fashionable genre that today we might call "theatrical serial". For several days, one-act performances were shown to the audience, three or four per evening, the duration of each, as a rule, did not exceed 30 minutes.

In 1935, Noel Coward wrote a series of 10 one-act plays under the general title "Tonight at 8:30". He himself staged performances based on these plays, he himself performed some roles in some of them. This "theatrical series" premiered at the Phoenix Theater in London's West End on May 18, 1936. The series, titled Tonight at 8:30, was so successful that in November of that same year it appeared on the Broadway stage.

While the performance “Tonight at 8:30” was a success with the audience, the question of a film adaptation was not raised. And then... And then the war began. Noel Coward left the theater to head the British Propaganda Bureau in Paris. When France was occupied by German troops, Coward returned to London, where he continued his work as a war propagandist. In this capacity, he wrote the script for the film “In Which We Serve” and was going to direct a film based on this script. However, realizing the lack of experience in cinema, he offered to share the director's chair with David Lean. By that time, Lean also had no experience as a film director, but as an editor, by the early 40s he had participated in the creation of 24 films, including the famous “Pygmalion” (1938). The joint creation of novice film directors Coward and Lean was released in September 1942 and was very successful both as an artistic and propaganda work.

As soon as there was confidence that the end of the war, and a victorious end, was just around the corner, the established creative duo David Lean - Noel Coward began creating paintings on topics far from military. In 1944, this duo created two films and decided to film one of the parts of the above-mentioned “theatrical series”, namely the part called “Still Life”. For this purpose, jointly by Noel Coward and David Lean, with the involvement of two more professional screenwriters, they converted a one-act play into a feature-length film script. As a result, in January 1945, filming began on a film called “Brief Encounter.” In May of the same year, shortly after Victory Day, filming was completed.

In September 1946, David Lean's film "Brief Encounter" was awarded the Grand Prix at the 1st Cannes International Film Festival. True, of the 44 nominees for this award, 11 films, that is, every fourth, received this award. But it should be noted that, for example, George Cukor's "Gaslight" or Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious" did not receive this award. And in 1947, the film "Brief Encounter" received three Oscar nominations, but did not win a single one. In one of the most important nominations - Best Director - David Lean lost to William Wyler, director of the film "The Best Years of Our Lives".

Film critics greeted David Lean's picture very warmly. Even the eternally disgruntled Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote in his review:

"An uncommonly good little picture and one which is frankly designed to appeal to that group of film-goers who are provoked by the "usual movie tripe"".

The famous American director Robert Altman assessed the film in about the same spirit. His wife, Katherine, recalled:

"One day, years and years ago, just after the war, (Robert) had nothing to do and he went to a theater in the middle of the afternoon to see a movie. Not a Hollywood movie: a British movie. He said the main character was not glamorous, not a babe. And at first he wondered why he was even watching it. But twenty minutes later he was in tears, and had fallen in love with her. And it made him feel that it wasn't just a movie."

The famous Russian film critic Sergei Kudryavtsev called this film

"one of the most amazing and heartfelt melodramas in the history of cinema."

It is no coincidence that one of the scenes in this film later inspired Billy Wilder to create the film "The Apartment".

The film was not shown in the Soviet Union. However, in Ireland, the censorship committee also banned the screening of this film because of his, the film, sympathy for adultery. And in France, to the surprise of the producers, the film also faced a very cautious attitude from film distributors. However, after the success of the film at the Cannes Film Festival, distributors' fears disappeared, and the film enjoyed great success with French cinema audiences.

Among modern moviegoers, David Lean's film "Brief Encounter" was also highly appreciated, and not only by ordinary people, but also by representatives of the highest aristocracy. So, Paul Burrell, the butler of Princess Diana, in an interview said that this film was the most favorite of the princess.

70% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this film ratings from 8 to 10. Taking into account this indicator and the above, the rating of David Lean's film "Brief Encounter" according to FilmGourmand was 8,569, which allowed it to take 297th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

In the literature you can often find statements about the supposed Ukrainian roots of Lyudmila Gurchenko. The reason for this is her birth in Kharkov, which was part of the Ukrainian SSR, and the Actress shortening her last name by one letter. But, in fact, the roots of Lyudmila Markovna’s parents lie in the Smolensk region. The Actress's paternal ancestors were peasants, and Elena Alexandrovna Simonova's parents were nobles who owned an estate in the Smolensk region. The October Revolution mixed everything up in Russia, as a result of which the parents of Mark Gurchenkov and Elena Simonova ended up in Kharkov.

At the time of Lyudmila’s birth, her parents worked as musicians at the Kharkov Philharmonic. When the war began, Mark Gavrilovich, despite his disability, volunteered for the front. But, being disabled and a professional musician, he was assigned to a front-line concert brigade, where he played the button accordion.

The parents' musical abilities were passed on to their daughter. When German troops occupied Kharkov, Lyusya performed in front of the Germans to earn food for herself and her mother. The Wehrmacht soldiers were probably impressed by the performance of songs from Marika Rökk's repertoire by 6-year-old Lyusya Gurchenkova.

In 1943, after the liberation of Kharkov from the German occupation, Lyusya went to school where teaching was conducted in Ukrainian. It was there that the surname of the future Actress was changed into the Ukrainian style. And a year later, Lyusya also entered the music school named after. L.Beethoven.

After graduating from school, in 1953, Lyudmila Gurchenko entered VGIK (All-Union State Institute of Cinema), in the workshop of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova. Sergei Gerasimov was known for actively “promoting” his students. So he suggested Lyudmila Gurchenko for one of the roles in Jan Fried’s film “The Road of Truth,” since he himself was the author of the script for this film. Neither the film itself, released in September 1956, nor Gurchenko’s role in this film had any success.

However, thanks to filming in the film by Jan Fried, Lyudmila caught the eye of the then director of the Mosfilm film company, Ivan Pyryev. When Eldar Ryazanov, who was filming the film “Carnival Night” at that time, initiated by the same Pyryev, began to experience problems with the leading actress in the film, Pyryev very persistently suggested replacing her with Lyudmila Gurchenko. The role in “Carnival Night” brought the 21-year-old Actress all-Union fame.

A huge number of materials have been published about Lyudmila Gurchenko, documentaries and television series have been shot. Not to mention the fact that she herself wrote several autobiographical books. There is no point in retelling these publications.

Over her more than half-century career in cinema, Lyudmila Gurchenko has played more than 70 roles in full-length feature films, not counting the huge number of roles in television films. 10 films with the participation of Lyudmila Gurchenko entered the Golden Thousand, including “Siberiade” (director Andrei Konchalovsky, 1978), “Love and Doves” (director Vladimir Menshov, 1984), “Five Evenings” (director Nikita Mikhalkov, 1978), "Twenty Days Without War" (director Alexey German, 1976), "A Railway Station for Two" (director Eldar Ryazanov, 1982), "Balzaminov's Marriage" (director Konstantin Voinov, 1965), "Carnival Night", "Shadow" (director Nadezhda Kosheverova, 1971), “Flights in Dream and in Reality” (director Roman Balayan, 1982), “Rock'n Roll Wolf” (director Elizabeta Bostan, 1976). Thanks to this indicator and her beauty, Lyudmila Gurchenko is included in the list of 100 most beautiful and sexy Actresses of world cinema, compiled by FilmGourmand. In this list, Lyudmila Gurchenko ranks highest among Russian-speaking Actresses.

In honor of the great Actress’s birthday, I would like to remind fans of her work of footage from the best films with her participation, included in the Golden Thousand.

Shortly after the end of the war, his father gave 14-year-old Louis a movie camera, and this actually sealed his fate. After graduating from school in 1950, Louis Malle entered the prestigious Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies) Sciences Po, referred to in France as the "elite factory". However, the formed love for filmmaking took precedence over politics, and two years later Malle left Sciences Po and entered the IDHEC - Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (Institute of Higher Film Research), a French film school founded in 1943. As a student, Louis Malle was recommended by the leadership of the film school as an assistant to the famous explorer of the deep sea, Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Under Cousteau, Louis Malle took part in the creation of several documentaries about the underwater world of the Mediterranean and Red Seas, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.

In 1957, Louis Malle made his first independent feature film, "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows)". In total, during his life, and he died at the age of 63 in 1995, Louis Malle made 20 full-length feature films. 4 of them entered the Golden Thousand, including "Elevator to the Gallows", "Le feu follet (The Fire Within)", "Lacombe Lucien" and "Goodbye, children." Based on this score, Louis Malle is included in list of the 100 Greatest Film Directors compiled by FilmGourmand.

The directorial activity of Louis Malle was awarded 43 film awards, including the most prestigious BAFTA British Academy Film Awards, the Danish Bodil Film Awards, 2 Cesar Awards of the French Film Academy, 2 David di Donatello Awards of the Italian Film Academy, the European Film Academy Award, 2 Golden Lions and 2 Special Jury Prizes of the Venice International Film Festival .

In honor of the anniversary of the birth of the great director, I would like to remind fans of his work the frames from his best films included in the Golden Thousand.

The film's script is based on the 1966 play by American playwright James Goldman, which describes the events that took place in the family of King Henry II of England, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their children and guests in December 1183. The play premiered on Broadway at the Ambassador Theater on March 3, 1966. Goldman's play was not particularly successful commercially. It lasted only 92 performances and generated $150,000 in losses. However, producer Martin Poll liked the play enormously and hired Goldman to develop the film script. The film was directed by Anthony Harvey, who by that time had only one film to his name.

Goldman's play and, in particular, the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine in the future film were of particular importance for Katharine Hepburn: among her ancestors were both children born from Eleanor's marriage with Louis VII, King of France, and from Eleanor's marriage to Henry II, King of England . A few words about this undoubtedly great historical figure. Her first husband was the French king Louis VII. But, since only girls were born from this marriage, the Pope annulled this marriage, which allowed Eleanor to marry the English king Henry II. To him she bore five boys: William, Earl of Poitiers, Henry the "Young King", who ruled England under his father (both died before the story described by Goldman began); Richard (later King Richard I the Lionheart), Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, and John (later King John, the villain of the Robin Hood tales). She was indeed jailed for 15 years for leading a rebellion against her husband. She survived him and, thanks to her beauty, sophistication, political acumen and strength (unusual for a woman of her time), came to be considered one of the most important and influential women in history. She was the wife and mother of five kings, four of whom are key figures in the story. She also had 5 daughters: 2 countesses from Louis, a duchess and 2 queens from Henry. When her son Richard I the Lionheart, returning to England after the Third Crusade, was captured in Austria, she, using her influence, was able to free him.

Katharine Hepburn, who did not tolerate drunkenness, had to restrain herself so as not to create scandals over the constant drinking of famous alcoholics Peter O'Toole and Anthony Hopkins. However, one time she couldn’t restrain herself and told O’Toole: “When I was just starting my acting career, my agent told me: ‘Never work with children or animals,’ but you, Peter, are both.” However, the relationship between these two great actors on the set was more reminiscent of the relationship between mother and son. Long before filming the film, O'Toole literally idolized Katharine Hepburn and even named his daughter, born in 1960, in her honor. And Katharine Hepburn in 1962 persuaded Sam Spiegel, the producer of the film "Lawrence of Arabia", to cast the then little-known Peter O'Toole in the lead role, and this role brought O'Toole worldwide fame.

However, there is nothing surprising in such relationships. After all, at the time of filming, Hepburn was 61 years old (like the real Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1183), and O'Toole was only 36. However, the real King Henry II was also younger than his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, but not by 25 years, but only by eleven.

Martin Poll's risky decision to make a film based on a play that brought losses turned out to be completely justified. With a budget of $4 million, the film's box office gross exceeded $22 million. Even Soviet moviegoers contributed to the financial success of the film: in 1972, the film attracted 4.2 million moviegoers in Soviet cinemas.

Along with its commercial success, Anthony Harvey's film "The Lion in Winter" also had impressive festival success. In early 1969, he received 7 Golden Globe Award nominations, winning two: Best Leading Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (Peter O'Toole) and Best Motion Picture - Drama. The Lion in Winter then received 7 Academy Award nominations, winning in three categories: Best Leading Actress (Katharine Hepburn, along with Barbra Streisand for her role in "Funny Girl"), Best Screenplay and Best Music.

In the same 1969, British Film Academicians nominated Anthony Harvey's film "The Lion in Winter" in 8 categories, but awarded their BAFTA award only to Katharine Hepburn as Best Actress. A year later, the Italian Film Academy awarded its David di Donatello Award to Martin Poll as Best Foreign Producer.

The guru of American film criticism, Roger Ebert, who rated the film with the maximum 4 stars in his system, noted the script as the main advantage of the film. In his words,

"One of the joys which movies provide too rarely is the opportunity to see a literate script handled intelligently. The Lion in Winter triumphs at that difficult task..."

However, one cannot fail to note the abundance of historical inaccuracies that this picture suffers from. For example, a Christmas tree decorated with garlands. Although, in 1183 this was considered a pagan custom and was persecuted by the church. The film uses the title "Your Majesty", which was introduced much later. The film mentions syphilis, although it appeared in Europe only 300 years after the events described. Well, and so on. But, honestly, these and other inaccuracies do not detract from the merits of the picture.

Despite the fact that more than half a century has passed since the release of Anthony Harvey's film "The Lion in Winter", and during this time many historical and pseudo-historical films have appeared, the film is very popular among modern moviegoers, as evidenced by its ratings on the IMDB and Kinopoisk websites . 69% of users of these sites gave the film ratings from 8 to 10. Thanks to this indicator and the above, the film's rating according to FilmGourmand was 8,573, which allowed it to take 295th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Polish writer Jerzy Andrzejewski, published in 1948. However, it is necessary to clarify that the original version of Andrzejewski’s novel was called “Zaraz po wojnie (Directly After the War)” and was published in the magazine “Odpowiedzenie” in 1947. But the novel was subjected to harsh criticism, both from pro-communist critics and anti-Stalinists. As a result, Andrzejewski subjected it to serious revision and published it as a separate book in 1948 under the title “Popiól i diament (Ashes and Diamonds)”. (The title is inspired by the lines of a poem by the famous Polish poet Cyprian Norwid.) The novel became not just popular in Poland. It was included in the school literature curriculum, and in 1959, by a vote of readers of the newspaper Žiče Warsaw, with an absolute majority of votes, it was recognized as the best book of the post-war decade.

Andrzej Wajda was not the first director to conceive of a film adaptation of this novel. The first director to try to film Andrzejewski's novel was Erwin Axer. But he, apparently trying to please the then party leadership, endowed the communist characters with increased nobility and aristocracy, and made caricatures of their opponents. Many figures in Polish cinema did not like this interpretation, and the project did not take place. And then Andrzej Wajda got to work.

Filming lasted 60 days, from March to June 1958. On July 7, a private screening of the film took place for the management of Polish cinema. Representatives of the PUWP strongly objected to the release of the film on cinema screens. Alexander Ford (real name Mosze Lifszyc), a professor at the Higher State School of Cinematography, whom Roman Polanski, a former student of this School, characterized as an “orthodox Stalinist,” especially insisted on banning the film. The author of the novel, who had enormous authority in the cultural environment, stood up for the picture. As a result, a compromise was reached: Wajda’s film will be released in public cinemas, but will not be released outside Poland. But the acting director of the film department, Jerzy Lewiński, on his own initiative, sent the film to the Venice International Film Festival.

On August 31, 1959, Andrzej Wajda's film "Ashes and Diamonds" was presented to participants and guests of the Venice International Film Festival. The circumstances of the submission of the film “Ashes and Diamonds” did not allow it to participate in the competition for the main prize of this film festival. But this did not stop the film from receiving the FIPRESCI Award. This award ensured the film's international fame. A year later, the British Film Academy nominated the film for its BAFTA Award in the category Best Film from Any Source. Wajda's film did not receive the award; it went to William Wyler's "Ben-Hur". But the company of the “relative losers” for the film “Ashes and Diamonds” was made up by more than worthy films. For example, “The Story of a Nun” by Fred Zinnemann, “Some Like It Hot” by Billy Wilder, “Anatomy of a Murder” by Otto Preminger, “Ansiktet (The Magician)” by Ingmar Bergman, etc.

Reviews from professional critics around the world for Andrzej Wajda's film "Ashes and Diamonds" are dominated by the highest ratings - "nines" and "tens", as well as the most excellent characteristics: "a great classic and a standard for many directors", "the most famous Polish film for the entire history of cinema,” “an imperishable masterpiece of world cinema,” etc. But not only film critics highly appreciated Wajda’s film, but also many great film directors, for example, Martin Scrosese, Francis Ford Coppola, Rene Clair and others. Martin Scorsese, when starting work on The Departed, told Leonardo DiCaprio to watch the film because, in his opinion, his hero would have to face the same dilemmas as Zbigniew Cybulski's hero.

Despite the fact that more than 60 years have passed since the release of Andrzej Wajda's film "Ashes and Diamonds", modern moviegoers rate it very highly. 63% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this film ratings from 8 to 10. Taking into account this indicator and the above, the rating of Andrzej Wajda's film "Ashes and Diamonds" according to FilmGourmand was 7.985, which allowed it to take 724th Rank in the Golden Thousand .

To be honest, I didn't see this movie when I was a kid. It came out on the screens at a time when I was no longer a child. But fate has not yet commanded me to become a father-husband. That's why I watched "Crank from 5th B" much later. But by that time I had already seen the film "The Scarecrow" by Rolan Bykov, also based on the story by Vladimir Karpovich Zheleznikov, as well as the film "Love and Lies ("You Have Not Seen It Even in a Dream..."), which is considered the pinnacle of Ilya Frez's work. Therefore, when I, already being a grandfather, looked at the picture, which was the fruit of the joint work of two wonderful artists, I expected that this would be far from an ordinary work for children.

And my expectations were not disappointed. With amazing delicacy and with the finest humor, the film shows the first, childish, love, first, childish, jealousy, the first love triangle in the life of the heroes. But, most importantly, without excessive edification, a truly "adult" sense of responsibility is shown in a boy who, it would seem, does not stand out in anything.

Today, from the height of several decades (and even what decades!), which have passed since the release of "Crank from 5th B" on the screens, the scene of accepting first-graders in pre-pioneers may seem too pathos to someone. But it seems to me that this scene was inserted into the picture as a condition for the release of the film on the screen. Without this scene, some particularly zealous party censors could easily label the film with some kind of "lack of spirituality", "earthiness" and something else in the same vein. And put the film on the shelf, as happened with so many films of those years.

Probably, the same thing that I understood foreign television, in particular, Sweden and the UK. Despite all their wariness about potential communist propaganda, on January 2, 1973, the film was shown on Swedish television, and in 1978-1979 repeatedly on the BBC-1 TV channel in the UK. And in both countries, the film was a great success among schoolchildren.

In the Soviet Union, the film by Ilya Frez "Crank from 5th B" also did not go unnoticed. It was awarded the prize for the Best Children's Film at the 6th All-Union Film Festival in Alma-Ata, the Prize of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League "Scarlet Carnation" for the best film of the year for children and youth. The filmmakers were awarded the USSR State Prize.

After several decades since its release, Ilya Frez's film "Crank from 5th B" remains a favorite among moviegoers, as evidenced by its ratings on IMDB and Kinopoisk sites. 81% of users of these sites gave the film scores from 8 to 10. And 48%, almost every second user (!), gave the film the highest score - "ten".

With that said, the rating of Ilya Frez's film "Crank from 5th B" according to Filmgourmand is 8,249, which allows it to take 448th Rank in the Golden Thousand.