User reviews

What make this movie unique, is how Germans are shown. They are villains, but unlike in many modern movies these villains are not ugly, stupid or emotionless. They have personalities, they are clever, cunning and often charming. Just like one would assume many Nazis were in real life.

There is no much shooting or killing in this film. No special effects. What it has is a great story (loosely based on actual events, I think), great acting, dialogues, and cinematography. Although there are 12 episodes of the film, you will wish there have been more.

Great film. I should watch it again...

One of the little-recognized deficiencies of spy movies is that 'action'--chases, shootings, explosions, etc.--is dominant content. Of course, the trend caters to modern audiences that are addicted to sound and special effects. However, action-driven spy movies (e.g., James Bond) suffer from 3 major defects: 1)They are not believable 2)They contain little or no acting performances to speak of 3)As such, they are easily forgettable. This is not the case with "17 moments of spring" (hereafter SMOS)

The 12 episodes of the series have been specifically shot in Black and White, in fairly simple studio sets, with no special visual effects. What makes SMOS the favorite of audiences, is a gamut of absolutely incredible acting. Each role, even a minor one, casts an "all-star" Soviet actor, and they deliver deep psychological performances. Tikhonov is an obvious star as Stierlitz, but consider Leonid Bronevoy as Mueller, the friendly, always suspicious and incredibly cruel inside Gestapo chief. Or Oleg Tabakov, as cheerful Schellenberg of the German intelligence. Or Plyatt as very vulnerable and very human Pastor Schlag who nevertheless embodies the power of the Church.

So essentially SMOS is not a spy movie, but a tight psychological drama. But we must not forget the subject, and it is an important one, based on a major real life event: in early 1945, trying to finish off the Nazi Germany, the Russians found out that SS-gruppenfuehrer Karl Wolff (essentially a representative of the odious Himmler) attempted to negotiate a separate piece with the Americans in Italy. The talks were top-secret (OSS star Allen Dulles was the US negotiator) and essentially meant a betrayal of Russia by its anti-Nazi allies. SMOS is about how the Russians discovered the secret and forced the end to negotiations.

In short, this is one of the greatest all-time spy thrillers. Just as "Rosemary's Baby" is arguably the best horror movie because of its acting and directing, so does SMOS shine through the mediocrity we are fed today. I wish it were shown to the wide Western audiences, so that they can see for themselves!

This series are far greater than anything that has been filmed about war ever. It shows closely characters of German Nazi top during the last weeks of the war, when they understand that the war is lost. A Russian spy is working among them speeding up the war's end.

The pace of the film is slow and thorough, the movie is meant for people with ability to analyze, reflect. Characters of the people involved are depicted are so lively that the film fuses with the documentary pieces. Acting is extremely raw and natural, it actually in't acting, it's living. Tihonov in a role of Stirlitz portrays a real spy - brilliantly talented, sharp, calm, cold, patient - everything that areal spy has to be. At the same time he is not a greedy adventurous coat-turner, he works for his country, his people, his family. And the last - this film works as a litmus test on people. If you don't understand it you simply haven't matured for it. The film itself is flawless.

I watched this movie many years ago with Spanish subtitles. I still remember the remarkable acting,intriguing action, and excellent scenography that transports the viewer to Germany during the nazi's years. The plot is very interesting beside of having some historical touches.In a now gone URSS's book compiling secret correspondence between Stalin and other head of states, the former Soviet dictator mentioned Maxim, a soviet spy "planted" in the high ranks of nazy's Germany during the war years. Seventeen Moments of Spring is an excellent movie that I personally would like to enjoy again if it were available with English subtitles in video stores in our country.

This movie is one of the top 10 movies for any Russian. Even if you are a foreigner, if you have subtitles or other mean of understanding the plot - you will be stick to your chair for all 11 (is it 11 or 13?) episodes.

The book of Semenov was great and the movie is even better. Great actors, who knew what the war is and how to show it. Amazingly intense plot, without any special effect, all rooted in the chess game between a Russian spy and German (nazi) opponents. Stylish black and white. In 1973 it was common, now it just looks good, as a true documentary.

What else? Music is perfectly suited to the moment and the whole movie is not seeking to draw a line between "good" and "bad" guys but, instead, trying to draw you into the tense atmosphere of the last 3 months preceding the end of WW2.

If you ask a few Russians in the street of Moscow or any other city what number 17 means to him, I bet $100 that over 90% will say "17 Moments of Spring" which stands for "Semnadtsat mgnovenij vesny".

One of the best films of Soviet Union. It is not about intrigues and spy games, though the plot is really gripping. Last months of WW II. Shtirliz - Soviet resident is under suspection of Gestapo. Being in the heart of Hitler's sistem, he struggled with hazi regime long years. The Third Reich bosses Himmler, Shellenberg, Wolf understand that their game is over, they try to save their own skin and seek for separate peace with USA and Great Britain. This treaty could be big calamity for Soviet people, and USSR secret service breakes ignouble plans of nazi. The famouse Soviet actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov (Prince Andej in "War and peace" by Bondarchuk) have excellent incarnated the interesting and very complicated character of Shtirliz. All other roles were played by the best actors of Soviet screen.

Some parts of film were shot in GDR. For the first time after WW II in Soviet cinema appeared the German soldier character, who was kind and humane person. Gestapo guard Helmut saved Russian secret service woman Katya with her child, but himself perished. This role was brillant played by GDR actor Otto Mellies.

"Seventeen moments of spring" is about people, who were cut off their home, country, families in order to fighting with nazi criminals.

If anyone would like to see a good TV Series he/she must see "17 moments of the Spring", where Viacheslav Tikhonov played wonderfully the role of the Soviet agent Stirlitz. In fact, this agent never existed, but he was like a compilation of those soviet agents (Kuznetsov, Sorge and others) who died fighting nazi occupation in the territories of former USSR. Leonid Bronevoi also played in excellent way the role of nazi officer Heinrich Mueller. The story of the series was like the one of cat vs mouse. Mueller always suspected of Tikhonov, but could prove nothing.

The soundtrack of the series is also melodic and easy to listen.

Well, I thought this was a fantastic production - very engrossing, with excellent performances, artistic direction, and intelligent scripts. It's a great example of how a television mini-series, as a format, can bring a novelistic type of depth of story and character to the screen. And it's easy to see why it's still so iconic in Russia.

By any technical definition, this particular series is propaganda -- it was ordered specifically by the Soviet government in order to interest more young people in the spy service. Any maybe it did. But "Seventeen Moments of Spring" acts in a way that's completely opposite to the propaganda usually works. Instead of simplifying issues and making them into easy black-and-white decisions, this series complicates them -- dwelling on the difficulty of the heroes' decisions, and taking care to imbue the Geramans with more humanity rather than less.

It's notable and, I think, key to the series' success that the centerpiece of each episode consists of one or two long, tense, subtle dialogue-heavy scenes. The contrast of the action-oriented expectations from the subject of spies and war with the tense character drama that we see is excellent.

The integration of real footage from the war and cameos from other major players are really well-apportioned, and give the character scenes that we're watching more importance to us for our having been reminded of their contextual importance.

The music is about perfect as well, helping to set the tone. In all, it's a spy drama who main modes are subtle, thoughtful melancholy in the foreground, with the element of constant danger tinging it from the background. In that, it's tone is unexpected and very successful. More than worth watching, even for those who don't normally go in for war or spy films.

Soviet films about WWII may be tedious, long or pathetic, but not this one, which is done by the great filmmaker Tatiana Lioznova and since she is a woman the movie has that deep, thoughtful, sweetly painful feeling of heroism, tragedy and bravery. Sure, some things are exaggerated and of course there could never be such an ideal spy as Stirlitz, played here by awesome Vyacheslav Tikhonov. What is very important here is to show what crafty and smart enemy as Nazi were we managed to win over at a cost of 30,000,000 lives. The film is about people who stay human in the fire of war, and about humans who become beasts and cruel monsters. This is the fine example of a great war movie without propaganda or sickly patriotism.

Made in black-white as most TV receivers in Soviet block in the 1970's were black and white.

The story covers last weeks of existence of Hitler's Reich and some attempts of SS generals to conclude a separate armistice with USA and UK. The SS colonel Stirlitz is a Russian spy trying to prevent it. Some front combat scenes are shown as intermezzos. Although the war was finished more than 60 years ago, we still do not know all its details and secrets. Maybe, some German leaders tried to break the coalition between Anglo-Saxon powers and Russia. But the range of Soviet infiltration of central entities of 3rd Reich (like RSHA, General Staff or NSDAP Chancellory) has not been fully explained so far.

Anyway, this is a very interesting film to watch.

Joke about 17 moments of spring ? OK...

Beer garden in Germany... There is a queue on the bar stand: Mueller, Shellenberg, Iceman... Shtirlitz runs into the bar, and instead of lining up behind Iceman, he stands before Mueller and gets his beer from under his nose.

Mueller: What's up Shtirlitz ? There's a line there. Shtirlits: Soviet Union Heroes (a State award and title in the Soviet Union) are served out of turn !!! (a rule existed in Soviet Union, a privilege to the people honored with high State awards)

Another...

Shtirlitz wakes up after a good beer party with a hangover and tries to remember who he actually is ? An obergruppenfuehrer SS Shtirlitz or Russian spy Isaev ? The door opens and a doctor comes in: "Good time you had yesterday, comrade Tikhonov (the actual family name of the actor)".

Since IMDB ignored what their users wanted and stupidly removed the message board they used to have, I'll ask a question here.

Where can I watch this series?

This has three virtues: 1 the archive footage 2 the skillful implementation of the era and its environs (courtesy of 1!) 3 an illustration of self serving apparatchiks in any regime - regardless. Mueller has to be the paradigm, who shows what was wrong with 'soviet Russia'. Because of this one has to wonder if this series shows that there were still people aware of this. Bodhisattavas perhaps?

In the history of Soviet movie there are only two examples of transformation of screen heroes in folk story ('anecdote') heroes. The first was famous "Chapayev" (1934) and the heroes were Chapayev and Petka. The second is "Semnadtsat mgnoveniy vesny" and the heroes are Stirlitz and Muller. Despite of thousands of anecdotes, "Semnadtsat mgnoveniy.." is a very nostalgic, humane, sincere movie and it delivers to us moments of truth. I like it very much.

10/10 Hands down the best miniseries I have ever seen. Clocking in at over 12 hours, this Soviet production demands commitment, but it is well worth it. Reputed to be the most popular Soviet series ever: Streets would be empty when it was broadcast and estimated 80,000,000 people would be watching. A surprising indication of its popularity: crime rates would drop because people wanted to see the show instead.

Follows the career of a Soviet spy who had infiltrated the Nazi regime at a high level in the waning days of World War II (partially based on a true story). In a way, not much happens, but this is what is so important: The series is intelligent and patient and follows the moods and tensions of a spy being in such a dangerous position fighting the Nazis from within their own hierarchy by pretending to be one of them. Much of the film is a slow and searching exploration of the battle of wits it took for the agent to maintain his position among the turmoils and suspicious of a rapidly decaying Nazi regime just as the war is about to end. The agent must show an outward loyalty to his Nazi superiors while all the time maintaining the secret spy agenda of overthrowing them, and there are many scenes that explore the psychological strength maintaining this position requires. The Germans are clearly villains, but they are not shown as caricatures.

There is so much intelligence in the way this is presented that it's remarkable. I cannot imagine many Americans even today who would have the patience to give up their easily touted slogans about patriotism to sit through a long and complex exposition like this series. Americans prefer "Hogan's Heroes" versions of WWII. Evidently it worked with a mass audience in the Soviet Union, however - perhaps a testament to a more patient and thinking population than one that is sated by soundbites and quick satisfactions.

The film includes a large amount of Soviet war-time newsreel footage to make the battle scenes and views of Berlin. Partly this footage was included by the censors to make it seem like the war was "not won just by a few spies," but it has the unintended effect of giving a very different view of the war than what we usually see through the American footage of the same period. The Soviet front was one of the greatest carnages in human history, and it is often forgotten that 20,000,000 Soviets died in the war. The very brutal footage gives a look at the devastation and disaster of WWII that is often obscured in more 'patriotic' American footage that focuses a lot on victories and chummy soldiers goofing around.

It is said that the main character of this film is so beloved by Russians that when they were looking for someone to overthrow Yeltsin, they wanted a man who resembled the character in this series because they knew the public would love anyone resembling that character. The person they found was Putin (himself an ex-German KGB agent), and a large part of Putin's popularity evidently derives from the resemblances he shares with the character in this film. The film was in fact produced under Andropov to improve the image of the KGB within the USSR.

It is enlightening to compare this series with the jingoistic and drum-thumping patriotic equivalents that the US was making at the same time. Whereas the US resorted to the crassest lowest-common-denominator propaganda about how the 'great generation' saved us from 'evil,' the Soviet series is far more complex and nuanced. In the end you get a sense that there were problems on many sides, and that the job of the secret agent is never easy, and never ending. What you are left with is a sense that a better world is not going to be 'won' simply by some fight but that it is an ongoing struggle that will repeat many times.

'Seventeen Moments of Spring' is a 1973 Soviet twelve-part television mini-series, based on the novel of the same title by Yulian Semyonov.

The series was immensely popular in the Soviet Union, and during its first showing, city streets would empty. It attracted greater audiences than hockey matches and crime rates dropped significantly during the broadcasts. Leonid Brezhnev was a devoted fan. The character of Stirlitz became the Soviet James Bond.

In early 1945, while Adolf Hitler (Fritz Diez) is determined to continue the war, Walter Schellenberg (Oleg Tabakov), his head of foreign intelligence, has convinced Heinrich Himmler (Nikolai Propkovich) to conduct secret negotiations with the Americans, aimed at forging a separate peace between Germany and the Western Allies, which would allow the Germans to concentrate all their forces on the Eastern Front. Maksim Isaev (Vyacheslav Tikhonov), a Soviet spy who has infiltrated the Nazi Party in Germany under the name Stirlitz, is tasked with disrupting the negotiations between the German general Karl Wolff (Vasily Lanovoy) and the American diplomat Allen Dulles (Vyacheslav Shalevich) taking place in Switzerland. He is ordered by Moscow to ascertain whether the Americans and the Germans have a secret channel of communication, and if so - to obstruct it.

He recruits two aides - Professor Pleischner (Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev), a former member of the German Resistance, and Pastor Schlag, (Rostislav Plyatt) a clergyman who disapproves of the regime.

Stirlitz succeeds in leaking the details of the negotiations both to Hitler and to Stalin (Andro Kobaladze). The Soviets, now possessing evidence, demand an end to those contacts and President Roosevelt obliges them. Himmler narrowly convinces Hitler it was all merely an attempt to sow distrust between the Allies.

I watched all 12 episodes in one go. Absolutely brilliant movie. How harsh and touching they are, these graying men who are not afraid to die. And the music of Tariverdiev is magical. And how wonderful they play, as if they live, not play. The old school.

Historical drama. The film adaptation of the novel of the same name by the Soviet and Russian writer Julian Semenov, and although I have not read the original book source myself and will evaluate the film adaptation as an independent work, Julian Semenov himself acted as a screenwriter here, so I am sure that he conveyed the essence of his work and the most memorable moments correctly. And I decided to finish the marathon of Soviet film intelligence officers of the Great Patriotic War with this series. This is not just a TV series - it is a legend of our cinema and its ageless classics, which the audience has loved for more than one generation. Secretary General Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev himself was touched by this picture, and the audience of the huge Soviet Union hurried home after work to see a new series about the difficult and dangerous work of Soviet intelligence officer Max Otto von Stirlitz (aka Maxim Maksimovich Isaev). I got acquainted with this series myself as a child, and even then I remembered him as the main character, as well as the famous scenes, and of course the music of Mikhail (Mikael) Tariverdieva. After a while, I reviewed it again - and the impressions only intensified, but now, having reviewed it again, and already having a certain level of knowledge, I can safely conclude that this is a great movie, although not without flaws. And here's my brief opinion for you - The difficult work of a Stirlitz scout. In addition to the obvious advantages, there are some flaws in the series that should not be forgotten. And this should be the end of such an important introduction, and get to the point.

So, the obvious advantages: 1. Scenario - the very structure of this series is not quite usual, because for twelve episodes we will be shown and told (in the charismatic voice of the magnificent actor Yefim Kopelyan) mainly only about seventeen days in February and March 1945, for which SS Standartenfuhrer Max Otto von Stirlitz, according to the assignment received from the Center, will have to disrupt separate negotiations of the Hitler elite with the United States and Britain (Operation Sunrise). The whole series is built around this most dangerous operation of Stirlitz. We were shown his work and how he achieves his goal: how he attracts his agents, how he skillfully bypasses his SS competitors, how he maneuvers between the highest ranks of Nazi Germany, who, in view of the approaching collapse, are trying to save their skins, or sell them very expensive. Even about Stirlitz's past, we know almost nothing - and this structure is unusual, risky, but in this case it worked. It was impossible to break away from the series for a second, because in front of the viewer for the entire timekeeping time, they unfolded and showed such a chain of events with such drama and tension that one can only admire it. And the finale makes you applaud standing for a few minutes. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

2. Max Otto von Stirlitz is our main character, introduced by Soviet intelligence to Germany back in the twenties of the last century, who was brilliantly and brilliantly played by the outstanding Soviet and Russian actor Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Tikhonov. Stirlitz himself is a collective image of a Soviet intelligence officer, which includes images of such scouts as Willy Lehman (SS Haupsturmfuhrer, Gestapo officer, recruited in 1929, discovered and shot in 1942), Mikhail Mikhalkov, Hans Welfe (SS Obersturmfuhrer, recruited after the war, was discovered in the early sixties) and so on. Our hero is a deeply and long-time conspiratorial resident, whom only a limited circle of people in Moscow knows (in fact, only his immediate superiors and Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin). He is a professional who has achieved a high and strong position in Germany, specifically in the SS, has the rank of Standartenfuhrer (colonel), a subordinate of Schellenberg (the sixth department of the RSHA - intelligence), he is respected and asked for advice by employees of other departments of the RSHA. The hero is awarded with awards, has his own mansion and a pass that allows him to visit where the rest of the Germans are not allowed to go. And it was to such a person that Soviet intelligence gave the most dangerous task in this spring of 1945 to disrupt the separate negotiations. At the same time, the risk of failure is greater than ever. But here the third one gives way to the game, which we will talk about further.

3. Battle of Wits - in the series we will not be shown fighting (except for the chronicle footage), there will be no shootings and fights either. But there will be dialogues, monologues and battles of minds - and this is the best part of this series, because here the talent of Julian Semenov is revealed with might and main, and it's just interesting to watch all these. Even when watching, I sometimes lost the thread of truth, because Stirlitz had to beat far from the stupidest people of that time: Himmler, Bormann, Kaltenbrunner, Schellenberg, and of course Muller - the Gestapo chief himself. You can fall in love with these verbal duels, they are so worked out and staged, which is a considerable merit of the talented actors of the old Soviet school (which they no longer do). I especially remember the duel between Stirlitz and Muller with the prints on the suitcase of the Russian radio operator. Muller thought that Stirlitz had fallen into a trap, but no! Stirlitz brilliantly got out of it, and even how he got out!

4. Famous scenes - a meeting with his wife before the start of the war, the torture of a newborn baby Kat, a bottle hit by a provocateur from the SS, the suicide of Pleishner, a conversation with a Wehrmacht general on a train, and so on. There are a lot of these scenes, and if you list them all, then the review will turn out in fifteen parts. And the final. This is a real epic! Such intensity of drama, and what emotions, and what an amazing acting game!

5. The heroes of the second plan - radio operator Kat, Pastor Schlagg, Professor Pleishner, Helmut Calder, Frau Saurich, Barbara and so on, they are all interesting characters, and each is worthy of mention, because the characters are interesting, and the images are remembered, and the point of view on certain things allows you to evaluate a whole layer of German society of those years, from fascist fanatics (for example, Barbara), to a fiery anti-fascist (Pastor Schlagg, for example). Julian Semenov has succeeded in both the heroes of the first plan and the heroes of the second plan, and this requires a high level of skill and good erudition.

6. The atmosphere of war - despite the absence of fighting in the frame, the creators managed to recreate the spring of 1945 almost documentarily with the help of the environment, costumes, dialogues, thanks to which the viewer literally plunges into the atmosphere of the last military spring of the Great Patriotic War, and the approaching victory: constant bombing of Berlin, preparation for the defense of the city, air alarms, a lot of marching and wounded soldiers, reflections on the future in high offices and so on. Bravo!

7. Music - Mikhail Tariverdiev wrote immortal music that immortalized not only Stirlitz, director Tatiana Lioznova, but also Tariverdiev himself. It is impossible to imagine this series without his music. This is a brilliant job. Bravo!

So, some flaws: 1. Historical inaccuracies - the characters of historical figures (Muller, Schellenberg, Kaltenbrunner and a number of others) do not correspond to historical ones, this is directly indicated by the memories of their contemporaries, and Julian Semenov himself recognized this. Barbara could not serve in the SS (women were not accepted into this organization), she could be taken to a junior organization created specifically for women (SS retinue, SS auxiliary units), Wolf and Dulles' negotiations took place not in Bern, but in Zurich and Ascona, and the details of Operation Sunrise themselves are very different from the real ones. In a few shots, the Soviet Li-2 is repainted into the German Junkers-52. And finally, Stirlitz could not in reality reach those heights in the hierarchy of the SS, because the selection to this organization was very strict (especially in the thirties and early forties), it was necessary to prove the "purity of blood", relatives both neighbors and not should be Aryans at least since 1750, and so on, there a whole list, and the candidate for SS membership was selected by a commission, and very pedantic (the Germans after all), so the real Maxim Isaev, with all his merits, could not have got into the SS before 1943-1944, when the selection was no longer so strict, and corruption should not be excluded from this situation. These are only the moments that I personally noticed, if I missed something, then I ask for mercy in the comments.

2. Logical miscalculations - despite all the complexity and integrity of the story, there are logical miscalculations in the series that somewhat spoil the overall picture (but not much). For example, Stirlitz's absence from the workplace or on a mission is too long, and no one asks questions about it, Schellenberg, for example, is his immediate superior. These moments are a bit out of the general narrative rut.

Despite such flaws, the series turned out to be a true masterpiece. I think it doesn't make sense to paint the roles and actors - everyone tried, and each one separately. And it was Stirlitz, played by Vyacheslav Tikhonov, who became the most famous example of a scout in Soviet and Russian culture, because jokes, computer games, books by Semenov himself about the hero's service and so on appeared. It was Stirlitz who fell into the soul, not Fedotov from the "Scout's Feat", not Kramer from the Saturn trilogy, not Skorin from Operation Omega (although they are certainly good). And the secret of success is simple.

Probably the best Soviet war series, it was the first to show the Germans as ordinary people leaving ordinary lives. Before that we had Nazis only as animals, killing and destroying. This time the result is very intelligent and shows a lot of empathy even when dealing with the enemy. True classic, that never grows old and can be viewed over and over again.

I must say that this is one of the most significant films of the XX century. At least for a Russian person. I was shocked by the image of the main character, his endurance and steadfastness. His own opinion, which in no way derogates from the interests of the German people. The galaxy of actors causes even greater love for this picture. And if we talk about whose role I most sympathize with, then oddly enough-Shelinberg, played by Oleg Tabakov. Series after series looks in one breath, leading the viewer through a series of trials of human destinies. I admit that I watched this picture as an adult, and as I think, few of the younger generation of the present time are familiar with this creation.

A film for all time, which has become a classic by right and an artistic testimony of that terrible time of the war ... 😔

The series was immensely popular in the Soviet Union, and during its first showing, city streets would empty. It attracted greater audiences than hockey matches and crime rates dropped significantly during the broadcasts. Leonid Brezhnev was a devoted fan. The character of Stirlitz became the Soviet James Bond.

In early 1945, while Adolf Hitler (Fritz Diez) is determined to continue the war, Walter Schellenberg (Oleg Tabakov), his head of foreign intelligence, has convinced Heinrich Himmler (Nikolai Propkovich) to conduct secret negotiations with the Americans, aimed at forging a separate peace between Germany and the Western Allies, which would allow the Germans to concentrate all their forces on the Eastern Front. Maksim Isaev (Vyacheslav Tikhonov), a Soviet spy who has infiltrated the Nazi Party in Germany under the name Stirlitz, is tasked with disrupting the negotiations between the German general Karl Wolff (Vasily Lanovoy) and the American diplomat Allen Dulles (Vyacheslav Shalevich) taking place in Switzerland. He is ordered by Moscow to ascertain whether the Americans and the Germans have a secret channel of communication, and if so - to obstruct it.

He recruits two aides - Professor Pleischner (Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev), a former member of the German Resistance, and Pastor Schlag, (Rostislav Plyatt) a clergyman who disapproves of the regime.

Stirlitz succeeds in leaking the details of the negotiations both to Hitler and to Stalin (Andro Kobaladze). The Soviets, now possessing evidence, demand an end to those contacts and President Roosevelt obliges them. Himmler narrowly convinces Hitler it was all merely an attempt to sow distrust between the Allies.

I've seen this movie a lot of times and year after year I have a strong desire to watch it again. The story never ends. I got addicted to it as millions of Russians did. The war still means a lot to me. The movie spins the brain in the right direction. The best war series ever seen. Nothing to compare with the modern blockbusters. Totally different athmospere and completely different result. Simply the best.