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The Cranes Are Flying

Original title: Letyat zhuravli · Turkish title: Leylekler uçarken

“The compelling story of a girl's impassioned search for happiness.”

1957 · 1 h 35 min
Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov
DramaRomanceWar

Cast

Tatiana Samoilova Aleksey Batalov Vasily Merkuryev

Credits

Written by: Viktor Rozov

Plot

In Moscow in 1941, Veronika is in love with Boris, who goes to the front at the outbreak of the war. She waits for letters that never come, her family is killed in a bombing raid, and under pressure she marries Boris's cousin, Mark. She holds on to hope for Boris's return. Mikhail Kalatozov's 1957 film, with Tatiana Samoilova, uses a remarkable moving camera, for example in a dizzying death scene, and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Sinekatalog’s take

Mikhail Kalatozov's Soviet war romance is breathtakingly shot, with astonishing tracking shots. Tatiana Samoilova is superb, and the film's emotional realism made it a Palme d'Or winner and a thaw-era landmark.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 8.3 / 10 (23,182 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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