Take Aim (1974 film)
Encyclopedia
Take Aim is a 1974 two-part Soviet
film directed by Igor Talankin.
that took place between all sides in the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War
. The first part centers on the war years, dealing with the Manhattan Project
and the American effort to beat the Germans to the bomb, as well as with Stalin's decision that the USSR must have its own atomic project. The second part displays the Soviet post-war nuclear program. The plot deals mainly with the personal dilemmas facing all the scientists who worked on the atomic weapons.
.
The producers faced a technical difficulty in a scene which contained a nuclear explosion. After several experiments, the special effects coordinator Samir Jaber - a Syrian
citizen who worked for Mosfilm - decided to create the required sequence by trickling a drop of orange-tinted perfume into a watery solution of Aniline
and filming it close up.
Grand Prize. Talankin received the Silver Pyramide in the 1977 Cairo International Film Festival
.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
film directed by Igor Talankin.
Plot
The film depicts the nuclear arms raceNuclear arms race
The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War...
that took place between all sides in the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. The first part centers on the war years, dealing with the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
and the American effort to beat the Germans to the bomb, as well as with Stalin's decision that the USSR must have its own atomic project. The second part displays the Soviet post-war nuclear program. The plot deals mainly with the personal dilemmas facing all the scientists who worked on the atomic weapons.
Production
The film was produced solely by Mosfilm, without a direct participation of DEFA, and yet several East German actors were invited to play the German historical figures. Fritz Diez, who appeared as Hitler for the fifth time in his career, was given also the role of Otto HahnOtto Hahn
Otto Hahn FRS was a German chemist and Nobel laureate, a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is regarded as "the father of nuclear chemistry". Hahn was a courageous opposer of Jewish persecution by the Nazis and after World War II he became a passionate campaigner...
.
The producers faced a technical difficulty in a scene which contained a nuclear explosion. After several experiments, the special effects coordinator Samir Jaber - a Syrian
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
citizen who worked for Mosfilm - decided to create the required sequence by trickling a drop of orange-tinted perfume into a watery solution of Aniline
Aniline
Aniline, phenylamine or aminobenzene is an organic compound with the formula C6H5NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the prototypical aromatic amine. Being a precursor to many industrial chemicals, its main use is in the manufacture of precursors to polyurethane...
and filming it close up.
Reception
The film won the 1975 Kishinev All-Union Film FestivalAll-Union Film Festival
The All-Union Film Festival was one of the most important film festivals of the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1958 and held regularly from 1964-1988. It was held annually from 1972 onwards, and bi-annually before that...
Grand Prize. Talankin received the Silver Pyramide in the 1977 Cairo International Film Festival
Cairo International Film Festival
The Cairo International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Cairo, Egypt. It was established in 1976 and was the first international film festival held in the Arab world...
.
Main cast
- Sergei BondarchukSergei BondarchukSergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and actor.- Biography :Born in Belozerka, in the Kherson Governorate, Sergei Bondarchuk spent his childhood in the cities of Yeysk and Taganrog, graduating from the Taganrog School Number 4 in 1938. His first performance as an...
as Igor KurchatovIgor KurchatovIgor Vasilyevich Kurchatov , was a Soviet nuclear physicist who is widely known as the director of the Soviet atomic bomb project. Along with Georgy Flyorov and Andrei Sakharov, Kurchatov is widely remembered and dubbed as the "father of the Soviet atomic bomb" for his directorial role in the...
. - Nikolai Volkoff as Abram IoffeAbram IoffeAbram Fedorovich Ioffe was a prominent Russian/Soviet physicist. He received the Stalin Prize , the Lenin Prize , and the Hero of Socialist Labor . Ioffe was an expert in electromagnetism, radiology, crystals, high-impact physics, thermoelectricity and photoelectricity...
. - Yakov Tripolski as Joseph StalinJoseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. - Nikolai Zasukhin as Vyacheslav MolotovVyacheslav MolotovVyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
. - Mark Prudkin as Albert EinsteinAlbert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
. - Sergei YurskySergei YurskySergei Yurievich Yursky is a Soviet/Russian stage and film actor, theatre director and screenwriter. His most notable role in the cinema is Ostap Bender in The Little Golden Calf.-Biography:...
as Robert J. Oppenheimer. - Boris Ivanov as Leó SzilárdLeó SzilárdLeó Szilárd was an Austro-Hungarian physicist and inventor who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb...
. - Erich Gerberding as Leslie GrovesLeslie GrovesLieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves, Jr. was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. As the son of a United States Army chaplain, Groves lived at a...
. - Fritz DiezFritz DiezNot to be confused with the West German industrialist Fritz Dietz.Fritz Diez was a German actor, producer, director and theater manager.-Early life:...
as Otto HahnOtto HahnOtto Hahn FRS was a German chemist and Nobel laureate, a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is regarded as "the father of nuclear chemistry". Hahn was a courageous opposer of Jewish persecution by the Nazis and after World War II he became a passionate campaigner...
/ Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. - Horst SchulzeHorst SchulzeHorst Schulze is a German actor and opera singer, born April 26, 1921, in Dresden.-Selected filmographgy:* KLK Calling PTZ - The Red Orchestra * Woman Doctors * Stalingrad -External links:...
as Werner HeisenbergWerner HeisenbergWerner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
. - Siegfried WeißSiegfried Weiß (actor)-Biography:Weiss made his artistic debut on the stage of the Halberstadt Theater, at 1924. He continued his career in the theaters of Luebeck, Koenigsberg, Magdeburg, Leipzig and Berlin, where he acted in the Berlin Ensemble, among others....
as Niels BohrNiels BohrNiels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in...
.