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Miles of Fire/The Burning Miles (Огненные вёрсты, Ognennye Versty, 1957), is an early Red Western. Often considered the earliest of the 'Red Westerns' or 'Osterns', it was made before the term was even coined.
One time Mosfilm actor, Samson Samsonov had a versatile directorial career coming to the Burning miles fresh from an adaptation of Chekhov's The Grasshopper that won two prizes as Venice Film Festival. He was later awarded the title of 'People's artist of the USSR'.
It is a Russian civil war drama, unfolding in the conflict between the Reds and the Whites, rather than the Basmachi rebels of films such as White Sun of the Desert and Telokhranitel.
Plot
The White Guard Army led by General Anton Denikin are laying siege to a southern city in order to prevent a rebellion. They are also blocking the railway, but Chekist Zavarzin is in a hurry to travel south. In a flash of inspiration, he decides to use tachankas or machine gun carts to reach his destination, and attracts an unusual group of equally desperate fellow travellers.
The Burning Miles is obviously a film that is much influenced by the railway Western films like John Ford's classic Stagecoach, because of the diverse set of characters thrown together in desperate circumstances. Zavarzin's companions on his journey include the doctor Shelako, the nurse Katya and a mysterious white guard officer Beklemishev, disguised as a veterinary surgeon. This formula gives the film an extra psychological dimension as the characters' progress towards their destination echoes the resolution of their problems and transitions in relationships.
Main cast
Igor Savkin (Gregori Fedor Zavarzin) Margarita Volodina (Katerina Gavrilovna) Mikhail Troyanovsky (Dr. Shelako) Vladimir Kenigson (Sergei Beklemishev)
Crew
External links
1957 films | Public domain films | Red Western | Soviet films | Mosfilm films | Russian-language films | Russian films
"Miles of Fire"