CineMoscow

Place to walk

In the film “I walk through Moscow” Nikolai one of the main characters pretends to be a professional guide. He chose GUM, the state department store situated in the center of Moscow right on the Red Square as a subject of the excursion.

The first shopping center was originally built here under the rule of Catherine II. After that the rows were rebuilt many times. The grand opening of a new building in the famous pseudo-Russian style took place in 1883. The most amazing thing in this building is the glass mesh roof, designed by architect Vladimir Shukhov. It has more than 800,000 kg of metal. At the same time, the semicircular tracery roof appears to be light and refined. Thanks to it and the general architecture of the store, flooded with sunlight, with soaring bridges and a fountain in the center of composition, GUM originally the exemplar of pre-revolutionary bourgeois shopping - suddenly becomes the perfect place for an easy, carefree walk of three young people of the thaw era.

Metro opening

Moscow Metro was firstly shown in the film “Circus”! It was opened in 1935, and in 1936 the Soviet audience could already see a small scene taken at the Okhotny Ryad metro station in the film by Grigory Alexandrov.

The musical comedy “Circus”, by the way, is famous not only because of the first show of the Moscow Metro, but also for the superstar Lubov Orlova, spectacular circus performances and songs to the music of composer Isaac Dunaevsky.

Meeting place

“Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears” is a classic of the Soviet cinema.

One of the main characters, Lyudmila, is looking for a husband ... in the Russian State Library.

The Russian State Library was founded in the early 1930s and had a name Russian State Library by Lenin, also called Leninka. The main complex was built up to 1941 and all the corps were finished only in the early 1960s.

Besides the main fund of 29 million books, there are rare old editions, manuscripts, maps, sound recordings, scientific works and much more.

Therefore, it is not a surprise that interesting people often turned out to be readers of The Russian State Library.

Departure of the “Battleship Potemkin”

On the 18 of January 1926 in the cinema “Art” the premier of the film "The Battleship Potemkin" directed by Sergei Eisenstein was took place.

Muscovites did not recognize the legendary building of the «Art» cinema, built in 1912 according to the project of Shekhtel. It was moved into a giant warship: the facade of the building was decorated with elements of an armadillo.

All personnel, starting from the usher and to the projectionist, were dressed up in marine uniforms. Inside the cinema was decorated with nautical flags and lifebuoys. There was a model of the battleship Potemkin in the lobby. Before the show, the horn player played the hymn of the uprising. The next day after the premiere, the film was released in 12 Moscow cinemas.

Bridge of hope

A Crimean Bridge spread over the Moscow River is well known to every Muscovite and guest of the capital. In the famous film by Mikhail Kalatozov “The Cranes Are Flying”, it is shown as a symbol of pre-war Moscow a striking example of 1930s architecture. There we meet the main characters for the first time at night of June 22, 1941. Young people are completely absorbed in their romantic feelings and do not even suspect that the Second World War will begin for them the next morning.

According to the memories of the members of the film crew, they had to start shooting at the bridge by four in the morning for several days in a row. The cameraman Sergey Urusevsky was looking for the best shot and light. His innovation and professionalism was highly appreciated at the Cannes festival, awarding a special prize of the French High Technical Commission. And the film “The Cranes Are Flying” was awarded the main prize of the Cannes Film Festival.