Roman N. Ostrovsky "How steel was tempered" was filmed several times. Each film version of the work is original and unique in its own way. But the biggest impression on the audience, no doubt, was the image of Pavel Korchagin, created by actor Vladimir Konkin. The film with his participation became the cult series of Soviet cinema.
Instruction manual
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The first film, which tells about the difficult fate of the Komsomol member Pavka Korchagin, was released at the height of the war with Nazi Germany. The second film version of the novel by Nikolai Ostrovsky was released in 1957. Sixteen years later, director N. Mashchenko planned to create a new six-part film, “How Steel Was Tempered, ” starring the young and talented actor Vladimir Konkin. It took a year and a half to shoot the series.
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Nikolai Mashchenko faced a difficult task. He had to create his own film for viewers who already managed to get acquainted with other versions of the story about Pavel Korchagin. And the novel itself in the USSR was a handbook of more than one generation of young people who tried to compare their lives with the actions of their beloved hero. The popularity of Korchagin and became one of the reasons for the repeated appeal of the scriptwriters to the plot of the book. The film, which was released in 1975, according to critics, was the most successful adaptation of this work.
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Mykola Mashchenko was considered one of the most powerful directors of Ukrainian cinema. He knew that the success of the picture was largely determined by the right choice of actors. Initially, the role of Korchagin was supposed to approve Nikolai Burlyaev. But once during a test shoot, one of the assistant directors pointed to Vladimir Konkin, who participated in the scene as a secondary character. At that moment, Mashchenko realized that he had found the real Pavka Korchagin. This young man with an open face and burning eyes was the best suited for the role of the brave hero of the film.
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The actor himself later admitted that he fully read Ostrovsky’s book only at the end of the filming of the film, although he knew the famous monologue of Korchagin that “the most precious thing in a person is life, ” from school. But Vladimir Konkin plunged into the work on creating the image of Pavka Korchagin. Filming was the first serious movie job for the actor, since he had just graduated from a theater school.
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The series of the film were shot not in strict order, but in disagreement. Therefore, the actors often had to rebuild, moving from one scene to another. For example, on the same day Konkin could play a young boy who had just met his first love, and a battle-hardened Red Army man who went through the harsh trials of a civil war. Such transitions required a certain flexibility and restructuring from one level of acting to a completely different one.
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The director was completely absorbed in the filming of the film, constantly being on an emotional upsurge. In separate episodes, up to three thousand people were involved. And everyone needed to explain what his role was. At the same time, Nikolai Mashchenko had to hurry, because the film was to be released on a clearly defined timetable.
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During work on the film, the director often needed to direct the actors, bringing to them his creative plan. Pavel Korchagin performed by Konkin in this respect was luckier than others. The actor grabbed directorial ideas on the fly and embodied them in the image of a hero. Pavel Korchagin in the end turned out to be very reliable, differing from his cinematic predecessors in intelligence, romance and lyricism.
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This work immediately after the release of the film made Konkin and other actors famous not only in the USSR, but also in fraternal socialist countries. In the modern era, the revolutionary romanticism of the Soviet era has faded. But the picture of Nikolai Mashchenko is gratefully recalled by representatives of the older generation, for whom the image of Korchagin has become a symbol of unshakable determination, courage and perseverance.
