Ballad of a Soldier (Film 1959)

Ballad of a Soldier (Russian: Ballada o soldate), is a 1959 Soviet film directed by Grigory Chukhray and starring Vladimir Ivashov and Zhanna Prokhorenko. Audio in Russian with English subtitles.

While set during World War II, Ballad of a Soldier is not primarily a war film. It recounts, within the context of the turmoil of war, various kinds of love: the romantic love of a young couple, the committed love of a married couple, and a mother's love of her child, as a Red Army soldier tries to make it home during a leave, meeting several civilians on his way and falling in love. The film was produced at Mosfilm and won several awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Film From Any Source and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Cast & Characters:
Vladimir Ivashov as Private Alyosha Skvortsov
Zhanna Prokhorenko as Shura
Antonina Maksimova as Alyosha's mother
Nikolai Kryuchkov as the general
Yevgeni Urbansky as Vasya
Elza Lezhdey as Vasya's wife
Aleksandr Kuznetsov as Gavrilkin
Yevgeni Teterin as The lieutenant
Valentina Markova as Liza (Pavlov's wife)
Marina Kremnyova as Zoya (neighbor girl)
Vladimir Pokrovsky as Pavlov's invalid father
Georgi Yumatov as Sergeant giving bars of soap
Gennadi Yukhtin as Private Seryozha Pavlov
Valentina Telegina as Old woman truck driver
Lev Borisov as Joking soldier on train
Yevgeny Yevstigneyev as Truck driver

The two lead actors, Ivashov and Prokhorenko, were both only nineteen years old and did not have much acting experience. Both would go on to long careers in cinema.