Literary screenplay and director's statement Meeting Place was based on the novel
The Era of Mercy, written by
Arkady and Georgy Vayner in 1975. The plot is loosely based on true events but has almost nothing to do with the deeds of the real Black Cat gang. The real members of this gang — mostly teenagers — were detained in the late 1940s after an unsuccessful apartment burglary. Nevertheless, the myth of elusive criminals who left drawings of cats existed in post-war Moscow for quite a long time. The Vayner brothers borrowed only the group's name and symbols from this story. The
Krasnogorsk is much closer to the gang in the novel. According to Georgy Vayner, "although Sharapov is a collective image, he also has a prototype — Volodya Arapov, who later became the head of the MUR department. He participated in the capture of the famous Mitin gang, which we personified as the Black Cat." The storyline connected with the arrest of Ivan Gruzdev is also inspired by real events - his prototype was the candidate of medical sciences Yevgeny Mirkin, who was arrested in 1944 on suspicion of murdering his wife. Only after the verdict was passed did evidence emerge that Mirkin was innocent. There are different versions associated with the idea of the film adaptation of
The Era of Mercy. According to Arkady Vayner's memoirs, after the release of the book, he and his brother gave several copies to close friends. Among them was Vladimir Vysotsky. After reading the novel, Vysotsky told the Vayners that it was a ready-made basis for a future film in which he would like to stake out the role of Zheglov for himself.
Stanislav Govorukhin stated a different interpretation of the events, claiming that it was he who recommended Vysotsky to read the Vayners' work. After
The Era of Mercy was included in the
Odessa Film Studio's plan, the search for a director began. Initially, the script-editorial board planned to involve
Villen Novak; later,
Aleksey Batalov was considered as a candidate. However, neither were able to direct due to their busy schedules on other films. Vysotsky proposed Govorukhin for the position of director. The Vayners supported his candidacy after Govorukhin promised the writers in a personal meeting that he would not change "a single line, a single word" in their script without their consent. Work on the script took place in
Peredelkino. From time to time, Vysotsky would visit, offering his own ideas on the development of certain episodes; it was he who suggested a new dramatic move - to place an enlarged photograph of Varvara Sinichkina on the storeroom door. The script image of Zheglov was created taking into account Vysotsky's nature and type. In the novel, Zheglov is a dark-skinned, strong young man, "his shoulders do not fit in his jacket"; in the script, Zheglov had "different external characteristics". During the script-writing, the title of the film also changed. The production title was
The Era of Mercy, but Govorukhin suggested
The Black Cat, which was turned down. The final title was already used in 1975, during the first publication of the novel in the magazine
Smena; the title is a reference to the final episode, where Sharapov's botched attempt to withdraw after making contact with the gang forces Zheglov to follow a previously discarded plan for a risky undercover operation. Hoping that Sharapov will lure the bandits to the scene of a prior robbery as they have previously rehearsed, Zheglov utters: "The place and time of the operation cannot be changed."
Director's script The Vayner brothers' script, approved by the Odessa Film Studio in June 1977 and then sent to
Soviet Central Television for review, was more of a literary than a dramatic work. As Galina Lazareva, editor of the Odessa Film Studio, recalled, its volume and plot lines did not fit into the parameters of film production. The comments and recommendations received after a meeting on
The Era of Mercy in Odessa and Moscow were taken into account by Stanislav Govorukhin when preparing the director's script, a technical document with an exact indication of the necessary resources and materials for filming. According to the director's script, 33 leading actors (from Sharapov to Larisa Gruzdeva's sister, Nadya), 31 supporting actors, and more than eighty people appearing in episodes were to be involved in the film. Govorukhin calculated how much film would be needed for filming on location, in a studio, and on interior sites (for example, in the
Bolshoi Theater, a billiard room, and a radio committee). The director also prepared a full storyboard for the film. In the director's script, each episode had its own title: "Black Cat," "Familiar Faces," "Betrayal," "Operation Savoy," and "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed." Some episodes from the Vainers' script were completely rewritten; for example, in the original version, Sharapov, upon learning of the death of his girlfriend Varvara, dialed the information service and asked for the phone number of the Grauerman Maternity Hospital. This ending did not suit
Sergey Lapin, the chairman of the
State Committee of Television and Radio Broadcasting of the Soviet Union, who commissioned the film. According to Lapin, the mood of viewers at the beginning of another work week could be darkened by the news of Varvara's death. The finale of the director's script looked different: "Varya stands at the window with a snowy landscape behind it, holding a baby in her arms. She looks at Sharapov with anticipation and tenderness. […] There are tears in Varya's eyes." The Vayners' literary script included voice-over by Sharapov; this internal monologue was partially preserved in the director's script in the form of flashback scenes. However, during editing, the creators of the film decided to abandon this element, considering that the screen story itself was quite convincing and did not need additional commentary. The director's script for the film was approved by the Odessa Film Studio on 14 December 1977. Two months later, it was signed for printing and published in the city printing house in a print run of 150 copies.
Screen tests and casting Although Vysotsky immediately staked out the role of Zheglov with the Vayner brothers, the scriptwriters also considered other actors during the discussions — for example,
Sergey Shakurov and
Nikolai Gubenko were considered as possible candidates. Govorukhin, trying to approve Vysotsky for the role of the MUR captain, invited actors he considered inferior to the screen tests. Thus, the candidates included Yevgeny Stezhko,
Yuriy Kuzmenkov, Anatoly Popolzukhin, and . Stezhko, who played the role of Lieutenant Toporkov in the film, confirmed in his memoirs that he was warned by Govorukhin in advance before the test shooting for the role of Zheglov: “You have no chance, this is Vysotsky’s role. We just need competition.” The director's plan was a success - after reviewing the audition tapes, the film studio management recognized Vysotsky as the most convincing candidate and approved him for the role. Govorukhin intended to invite Nikolai Gubenko for the role of Sharapov, but he encountered protest from Vysotsky, who believed that their types and acting styles were too similar. They invited
Yevgeny Gerasimov, and although he liked the script, he had already agreed to star in
Mikhail Ptashuk's film '''', so he refused the role of Sharapov, which he later regretted. Then
Vladimir Konkin appeared as a candidate, initially meeting active resistance from the Vayner brothers. In their minds, a former intelligence officer, who went behind the front line forty-two times and often returned "with his tongue on his shoulder", could not look like Konkin did. But here too Govorukhin organized the auditions in a biased way - the ten alternative actors he proposed were inferior to the original candidate: they were "worse and weaker". Realizing that this image of Sharapov "was stuck forever" in the director's head, and that resistance to this candidate could destroy Govorukhin's creative spirit, the Vayners agreed. Already during filming, Govorukhin remembered
Leonid Filatov: "This would be the Sharapov I wanted from the very beginning - not inferior to Zheglov in strength, not giving in to him. Only a strong man can be a partner for a strong man."
Boris Khimichev was initially invited to play Fox, but during the work it turned out that his type did not suit Govorukhin. On the advice of Vysotsky, Khimichev was replaced by
Alexander Belyavsky. , who was in serious condition after a car accident, was approved for the role of policeman Solovyov without competition. Govorukhin and Vysotsky, who visited the actor in the hospital, left him a script and offered him a choice of roles. Abdulov, who had difficulty remembering the lines of his role (due to the consequences of the accident), chose Solovyov. Vysotsky suggested that
Viktor Pavlov play Levchenko, a former front-line soldier who became a bandit: "Agree... you will do the role as you see it." Despite the fact that the role was small, Pavlov agreed. Govorukhin offered
Ivan Bortnik, who was turned down the role of Sharapov, to play the role of a bandit nicknamed Promokashka. He also invited
Svetlana Svetlichnaya to participate in the film.
Nina Ilyina and auditioned for the role of prostitute Manka Obligatsiya; Govorukhin offered Larisa Udovichenko to play the role of policewoman Varvara Sinichkina. Udovichenko insisted on the role of Manka, and Chenchik got the role of False Anya. The Vayner brothers pictured
Rolan Bykov in the role of the leader of the Gorbaty gang; Bykov agreed and came to the audition in Odessa, but was ultimately unable to accept the role for health reasons. At the suggestion of the film's second director
Nadezhda Popova, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan was invited to play this role. Due to the film's modest budget, Govorukhin cast relatives and friends of film crew members in a number of episodes: Arkady Vainer's daughter, ; Govorukhin's wife, ; 's son, Vadim; Arkady Svidersky, Vysotsky's school friend; Vladimir Goldman, Vysotsky's unofficial administrator; 's wife, ;
Marina Vlady's son, Pyotr; Vysotsky's friend from , stuntman ;
Taganka Theatre administrator Valery Yanklovich.
Costumes, props, and locations museum The appearance of Moscow in the 1970s was significantly different from that of the post-war era: trams no longer ran along
Tsvetnoy Boulevard and the
TASS building was built on . To create authentic landscapes in the film, it was necessary to check all camera movement, as a small deviation could ruin the video sequence. The filming of each on-location scene was preceded by lengthy work, as the prop artists had to hide new signs while adding, decorating, and recreating the necessary pictures. Sharapov's love interest, patrolwoman Varvara Sinichkina, dies at the end of the novel. The ending was altered in the movie because the studio administrator thought it was too depressing. The Vayner brothers later admitted that they liked the new happy ending better. The series was initially intended to have seven parts, but Soviet broadcast authorities ordered two trimmed. As a result, many scenes were left out of the final cut, and the Vayners struggled to maintain the narrative flow.
Vysotsky as director In June 1978, Govorukhin left for a film festival in
East Germany. During his absence, the functions of the director were assigned to Vysotsky, with whom the director had previously discussed all the details - from the concepts of the scenes to the
mise-en-scènes. It was assumed that four hundred meters of film would be enough for Vysotsky for a week, but he shot everything planned in four days. According to the recollections of Vladimir Maltsev, deputy director of the film, Vysotsky's organizational style was radically different from Govorukhin's; Govorukhin was "lordly, slow", and never parted with his pipe - he gravitated toward a leisurely creative process, in which ideas were sometimes born right on the set. Vysotsky had a different approach - he demanded that by the start of the filming shift, all services of the film crew, from lighting technicians to costume designers, be fully prepared for work. He set the tasks clearly, rehearsed quickly, and filmed, as a rule, in one or two takes. As Govorukhin later recalled, the film crew, constantly in a "slight production tension", greeted the returning director with the words: "He [Vysotsky] tortured us!" Vysotsky filmed the scenes related to Fox's identification and Sharapov's interrogation of the doctor Gruzdev, as well as the scene with the participation of the deceased operative Vasya Vekshin.
Yevgeny Leonov-Gladyshev, who played Vekshin, said that Vysotsky suggested dressing his character in a white officer's scarf, which was worn in the post-war years by young people who did not get to the front (these shots were not included in the film). , who played Zheltovskaya, admitted that it was difficult for her, as she had no cinematic experience, to be in front of the camera, and only Vysotsky's composure helped her cope with her anxiety. However, Govorukhin, returning from the film festival, was not too pleased with the footage Vysotsky had shot: “Stanislav Sergeyevich didn’t like anything – the way I walked, the way I spoke, how and what they dressed me in.” Govorukhin himself claimed that some of the footage shot by Vysotsky had a “theatrical direction”; nevertheless, these scenes were included in the film: "We didn't have time to reshoot anything, and there was no need."
Stunts and doubles In a number of scenes, the actors were replaced by stunt doubles and stuntmen. During the filming of the scene in the billiard room, where Zheglov talks to Kopcheny, it turned out that neither Vysotsky nor Kuravlyov had ever played billiards before and did not know how to hold a cue correctly, so all the shots for them were performed by one of the local masters — silver medalist of the USSR Billiards Cup Vladimir Ivanov. The scene in which Sharapov performs
Frédéric Chopin's 2nd Etude and "" in the bandits' lair was also filmed with a double - Konkin did not remember the melodies by heart and could only reproduce them after additional rehearsals. Instead, the studio's music editor Galina Burimenko played the piano, and her made-up hands are in the frame. The chase after Fox was filmed over twenty days while Vysotsky was away. The scene of him shooting through a broken window was filmed separately later. While breaking the six-millimeter glass of the bus window, Vysotsky noticeably injured his hand, cutting the area from his little finger to his wrist: "If you look closely, you can even see it in the frame, but in the chaos no one paid attention. But after the command: "Stop!" blood flowed straight from his elbow and flooded the seat of the bus." The stunt with the Studebaker truck falling into the river was performed by stuntmen
Vladimir Zharikov and Oleg Fedolov. The truck, having broken through the grating of the river fence, unexpectedly turned over and fell into the water with the roof of the cabin. The car sank into a thick layer of silt, and its doors were jammed. This prevented the stuntmen from emerging quickly . According to the film's chief cameraman Leonid Burlaka, they were forced to break through the silt, and the first of the stunt performers appeared on the surface only after forty seconds. The next day, with the help of a crane, they managed to pull the truck out of the water: "We couldn't leave Mosfilm property in the river."
Music The main musical theme for the film was created by composer and his brother, double bass player Andrei. Govorukhin tasked the Gevorgyan brothers and the film's music editor Galina Burimenko with recreating the atmosphere of the time: on the one hand, it was necessary to introduce a “hidden, insinuating” instrumental motif into the context of the film; on the other, to select songs and dance melodies popular in the post-war era (in particular,
foxtrots), which were to sound in the background in certain scenes. Vysotsky suggested using his own works in the film — such as "The Police Lieutenant's Birthday in the Berlin Restaurant" ("Spend a Day in a Policeman's Skin..."), "About the End of the War" ("They Knock Down Tables from Boards in the Yard..."), "". None of them were included in the film. According to some sources, Vysotsky himself refused to perform them; according to others, this was rejected by Govorukhin, who decided that both the overall dramaturgy and the image of the hero would be destroyed. Nevertheless, in one of the episodes, Zheglov sang a fragment of
Alexander Vertinsky's song "Lilac Negro", interspersing the text of the work with remarks addressed to Sharapov.
Editing and dubbing The quality of the film material was assessed directly during filming — the film processing shop worked around the clock, checking that the footage did not contain any defects. Meanwhile, the sets were preserved and the actors did not leave the filming site until the technical control department confirmed that the quality of the working positives met the requirements, meaning that re-shooting was not necessary. At the same time, according to Lyudmila Popova (head of the film processing shop), a small part of the successful takes was removed by Govorukhin at the viewing stage for reasons of overall footage. Despite the exclusion of a number of scenes, footage was eventually obtained for seven full episodes. At the request of the Chairman of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company
Sergey Lapin, the almost finished film was shortened to 5 episodes. In order to preserve the overall drama, the creators of the film removed not individual plot lines, but small, disparate fragments: some of the "extra material" was saved by increasing the length of the episodes; other cut footage was used as a background for the opening credits preceding each episode. According to the recollections of cameraman Leonid Burlaka, almost everything that the film crew shot was eventually included in the film. Of the significant scenes, only the prologue was removed - Govorukhin himself refused to include it in the film, deciding that the main message contained in the short wordless scene was clear in the context of the plot. The prologue contained front-line footage in which Levchenko and Sharapov make a sortie behind the front line in order to capture a prisoner (the role of the prisoner of war was played by Marina Vlady's son). According to Vladimir Konkin, the episode could dispel the viewer's doubts about the ability of the reconnaissance company commander Sharapov to "drag someone on his back." The work on dubbing the film was long and painstaking. According to sound engineer Anna Podlesnaya, the scene in the Astoria restaurant was dubbed during the day before the evening filming for about two weeks and took several full work shifts. During the dubbing, Vysotsky preferred to work alone even in paired scenes, believing that his partners could distract him. Govorukhin claimed in his memoirs that Vysotsky's dubbing took a month and was complicated by the fact that Vysotsky "had already lived the role of Zheglov", and therefore the technically complex, non-creative work of dubbing was performed by him with colossal stress. The sound of the film at that time was recorded on a separate film from the image and, like the film, took up seven rolls of film for each episode, with a total length of about two kilometers.
Ministry of Internal Affairs consultants Lieutenant General Konstantin Nikitin, then Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Nikolai Shchelokov, and , Chief of Staff of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, were appointed as consultants for the film. According to the Vainer brothers, their support helped to approve Vysotsky for the role of Zheglov. Even at the stage of familiarization with the script, Nikitin demanded that thieves' jargon be excluded from the dialogues, but Govorukhin "diligently ignored" his numerous comments. Nikitin died before the film was finished; he was replaced by the First Deputy Chief of the Main Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major General Vladimir Illarionov. Having met Vysotsky during filming, Illarionov often consulted him in his office in the building of the Investigative Department (11
Dzerzhinsky Street) and provided him with albums from his collection and books on prison and thieves' jargon. It is likely that it is only thanks to the consultants that the film crew was able to shoot the scene of the capture of Ruchnik in the Bolshoi Theater; at that time, it was a facility with a special security regime, and filming inside was allowed only in exceptional cases. In the 1960s, memories of
Nikolai Yezhov's and
Lavrentiy Beria's rule in the internal affairs agencies were still fresh in Soviet society. The reluctance to be associated with the "legacy of dark times" was one of the reasons why Vysotsky flatly refused to wear a police uniform in the film. The only scene where he appeared in a military jacket was filmed at the personal request of the Minister of Internal Affairs. According to Illarionov, after the success of "The Meeting Place..." Vysotsky was thinking about a sequel to the film. Having visited the archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vysotsky explained the backstory of the
Order of the Red Star that his character wears in the film: ==Themes==