Aleksandr Chechulin

Shakespeare's 17th century masterpiece about the "Melancholy Dane" was given one of its best screen treatments by Soviet director Grigori Kozintsev. Kozintsev's Elsinore was a real castle in Estonia, utilized metaphorically as the "stone prison" of the mind wherein Hamlet must confine himself in order to avenge his father's death. Hamlet himself is portrayed (by Innokenti Smoktunovsky) as the sole sensitive intellectual in a world made up of debauchers and revellers. Several of Kozintsev directorial choices seem deliberately calculated to inflame the purists: Hamlet's delivers his "To be or not to be" soliloquy with his back to the camera, allowing the audience to fill in its own interpretations.

Soviet spy Ladeynikov learns that in one of the pharmaceutical centers in a small resort town works a former German war criminal, Dr. Hass, who is finishing the creation of a deadly chemical gas RH development that he began during World War II, experimenting on POWs. Since Ladeynikov doesn't know Dr. Hass's appearance, Soviet intelligence recruits an actor, Ivan Savushkin, who, during the war, escaped from a prison camp where Hass was testing his gas. Together, they must identify and stop him before he finishes and unleashes his weapon of mass destruction.

The Berestovs, Elena and Sergei, are defeated in the European Figure Skating Championship and must change the program. Elena is unable to withstand the grueling new training. Sergei tries to find a new throwing partner, but realizes his mistake and must return to Elena.

1944, WWII. Fierce fighting is underway in the Warsaw area. In a provincial rear town, soldier Ivan and merchant Marya meet, unaware that this meeting will change their destinies...

The 1950s. The head of the steel industry was removed from his position and appointed ambassador to one of the northern countries of Europe. He had enough time to reflect on his life and understand the true reason for his dismissal.

When intoxicated by alcohol, Dasha inexplicably finds herself in the bed of a wealthy foreigner from a luxurious restaurant, where she and her friends visited the day before. The man offers the girl a marriage proposal. It seems that everything is set for a happy family life - a lot of money, a beautiful, intelligent and loving spouse, expensive clothes. However, for life this is not all that is needed.

The returning soldier Kuzma Kadkin on the train tells how well he lived before the war, and that everyone in the area knows him. An accidental fellow traveler, a young mother, leaves her child, a one and a half year old boy, Kadkin, to run away at the junction for water, but lags behind the train. Kuzma has no choice but to bring the baby home...

Roman Paskevich, a rural teacher, arrives in a small Belarusian town occupied by the Nazis. In reality, he is a secret agent of the Nazi intelligence service named Erich. He is tasked with tracking down partisan units, finding out their plans, numbers, and combat equipment. Erich-Roman becomes a frequent guest in the home of an elderly woman, Baba Vera, whom he believes to be a partisan liaison. A simple woman who seems unremarkable, at a critical moment she reveals herself to be an extraordinary person with an exceptional personality. She is raising twelve children in her home. The war took away these children's parents and deprived them of their homes. At great personal risk, Baba Vera obtains food and clothing for her foster children and saves them from many dangers. She is ready to give her life for the victory of the righteous cause. Baba Vera herself is unlikely to realize the greatness of her feat — she acts as her heart dictates...