Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) This is a Soviet black-and-white movie from almost 60 years ago. It is based on an Ernest Hemingway short story and actually he was still alive at that point. This was the very first filmmaking effort by BAFTA-winning director Tarkovsky and he wrote and directed it in his 20s together with Aleksandr Gordon. The best thing about it is maybe how atmospheric it was. I have to say I struggled a bit with the Swede's decision and I'm not sure that's somewhat realistic. Apart from that, I had some problem keeping the characters apart, but that may only be because I have never seen anybody from the cast in anything else I think. That's not surprising though as most people involved (including Tarkovsky who has a little cameo) worked at least as much behind the camera as in front of it. So all in all it's a decent watch for people who like mafia films or movies on contract killers and to them I recommend it certainly.

hte-trasme This short film was a student project for a Soviet state film school, and I don't know how much exposure it would have had at the time it was made. It survives for viewing because one of the three students directors was a young Andrei Tarkovsky, and though his resources were constrained, the strength of the work is made evident through how much is done with a very basic production. The door out of the restaurant seems to lead to a blank wall, but we nonetheless get the lonely atmosphere of a small-town American diner; the filmmakers really seem to have drank in the feel of the Hemingway they read for this adaptation. It's really a twenty-minute atmosphere piece, and it does that very well - the two murderers create a complete and stark sense of threat and menace. In a constrained setting they made a claustrophobic and memorable film, with a real film-noir feel where we weren't necessarily expecting to find it. High marks!

Robert J. Maxwell For a class project in a cinema program this isn't bad at all, more of a reenactment of Hemingways's killer short story than a feature film. It takes about as long to watch it as it does to read the original story, with which I assume most of us are familiar.The images are rather crude, the sets spare, and some of the acting is amateurish, although Aleksandr Gordon as George, the manager, is pretty good. He has the pock-marked sullen face that seems suitable to the role of the ordinary man in a frightening one-down position. The other notable performance is by Vasili Shukshin as Ole Anderson, the resigned victim awaiting his fate in a dumpy rooming house.The movie follows the written story closely. In print, when Ole is visited by Nick Adams and, halfway through the conversation, rolls over and faces the wall, he does the same on film. We don't see much of Ole's room. I suppose the budget didn't allow for much display. But when Ole stubs out his cigarette on the wall next to his bed, we see that numerous other butts have been stubbed out in the same place and that tells us most of what we need to know.The directors have made a few changes that don't interfere with the narrative in any way -- bits of business in which one of the killers flicks a few tiny objects off the counter top with his fingertip, that sort of thing.The only jarring change is the virtual elimination of the role of Sam the black cook. It's too bad because this is in no way a funny story and Sam provides the few light-hearted moments.No sign of directorial self display. It opens with a POV shot and there are one or two other slight surprises but it's not a Fourth of July fireworks by any means. It's functionally presented.The English names of the characters is retained and on the café window we see that coffee costs "5 centes." I call it admirable fealty to the source, mistake and all.What must it have been like, living in a nation in which Ernest Hemingway's work wasn't allowed to be published until 1956? But never mind literature -- can you imagine American movies without ten versions of "Crime and Punishment"? I'm waiting for a Hollywood blockbuster called "The Master and Margarita" starring Jude Law and Angelina Jolie.

gizmomogwai Ubiytsy (The Killers) is the first film by Andrei Tarkovsky, a Soviet director whose work I'm getting to know. The Killers is a students' short film which Tarkovsky directed with two other people. Tarkovsky's scenes at the diner are probably the best. Two gangsters come into a diner and order some food, then act menacingly towards the owner, customer and cook, telling them that they are there to kill a person they are expecting at a diner. Tension and suspense are present throughout, as what we clearly have here are two dangerous men, who are suspiciously cold even before they announce criminal intentions. As well, we have some innocent people, including the black cook who's called a racist slur.In a scene not directed by Tarkovsky, the customer goes to the home of the targeted person to warn him he's in danger. Oddly enough, the man seems uninterested, as if he has accepted his fate. Why he doesn't care and what he did to get into trouble in the first place are questions I would like to know, but the film ends after only twenty minutes. This is somewhat disappointing but still a good short film.