“The Flight” (1970) – classic film based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s works

Film still from "The Flight" (1970) based on Mikhail Bulgakov's play — Film still from “The Flight” (1970) based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s works

“The Flight” (Бег, Beg) – a brilliant film based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s play under the same name and some other works (“The White Guard” and “Black Sea”) devoted to the Civil War in Russia, the flight of the White Army from Crimea and life of Russian emigration in Istanbul and Paris.

The film was directed by Aleksandr Alov and Vladimir Naumov in 1970. Starring: Ludmila Savelyeva (she played the role of Natasha Rostova in the 1966-67 film adaptation of “War and Peace”), Aleksey Batalov, Mikhail Ulyanov, Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev, Oleg Yefremov, Vladimir Basov, etc. Yelena Bulgakova (Mikhail Bulgakov’s third wife) was the film consultant.

A must to see! With captions:

Mikhail Ulyanov in The Flight 1970 — Mikhail Ulyanov as General Charnota in The Flight (1970)

Quote (performed by Mikhail Ulyanov playing General Charnota who speaks to beggars in Paris):

When you go to the heaven, I’ll be sitting at its gate with a hat before me. I’ll sit there a thousand years, begging. And no one will give me charity, no one! Even the kindest one of us, the Lord. If you try hard enough, you can get anything begging. Money, fame, power. But never your own country, gentlemen.
Listen… Especially such a country… as my country. Russia won’t fit, won’t fit into a hat, gentlemen beggars! Won’t fit into a hat.
Goodbye, gentlemen. See you in heaven.