---
name: "Mikhail Kalatozov"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/mikhail-kalatozov"
fi1m_id: "mikhail-kalatozov"
imdb_id: "nm0435563"
tmdb_id: 108764
wikidata_id: "Q324937"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "28 December 1903"
died: "27 March 1973"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-25T08:09:22.472038+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Mikhail Kalatozov

## Identity

Mikhail Kalatozov

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/mikhail-kalatozov
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** mikhail-kalatozov
- **IMDb ID:** nm0435563
- **TMDB ID:** 108764
- **Wikidata ID:** Q324937
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Kalatozov, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q324937, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0435563/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/108764

Director. Born 28 December 1903 in Tiflis, Russian Empire [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]. Died 27 March 1973.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 28 December 1903, Tiflis, Russian Empire [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]
- **Died:** 27 March 1973
- **Also known as:** Mikhaïl Konstantinovitch Kalatozov, Mikheïl Kalatozichvili, მიხეილ კალატოზიშვილი, მიხეილ კალატოზოვი, Михаил Калатозишвили, Michail Kalatosow, Micheil Kalatosischwili, Mikhaïl Kalatozov, M. Kalatozov, М. Калатозов, Mikheil Kalatozishvili
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Kalatozov, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q324937, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0435563/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/108764

## Streaming the US now

- **The Roku Channel:** [*The Cranes Are Flying*](https://film.one/film/the-cranes-are-flying.md) (87)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Mikhail Kalatozov

> Mikhail Kalatozov makes the camera share his characters’ distress, and we value him most when that movement keeps a person close. *The Cranes Are Flying* makes a strong case for forgiving his tendency to overstate.

Kalatozov’s camera follows people through crowds and across landscapes, taking on their agitation rather than simply recording where they go. In *The Cranes Are Flying* (1957), that restlessness keeps us close to Veronika’s unhappiness. We were moved by the seriousness with which Kalatozov treats her search for happiness during war. Her distress never feels too small to deserve the film’s full attention.

Tatyana Samoylova gives him the performance he needs: Veronika remains persuasive when the film starts underlining her emotions. Cinematographer Sergey Urusevsky makes the photography expressive enough to carry feeling without an explanation, though Kalatozov is not always content to leave it there. The symbolism sometimes insists on what Samoylova has already made clear. These are forgivable faults in a film that takes Veronika so seriously, although there are moments when we wish Kalatozov would trust the performance and stop pressing.

His taste for expressive images was there well before that film. *Salt for Svanetia* (1930), which he directed and photographed, used experimental montage and landscape photography. The major run came in the late 1950s, with *The Cranes Are Flying* followed by the Siberian expedition drama *Letter Never Sent* (1959). Urusevsky shot both, making the camera’s movement serve personal distress in one and the struggle against nature in the other.

With *I Am Cuba* (1964), the collaboration pushed long takes and wide-angle photography further, though the characters can seem schematic beside the elaborate camerawork. That is the recurring risk in these films: we can become more interested in how the camera got there than in the person it has found. The more conventional *The Red Tent* (1969), an Arctic expedition drama, was his final feature. Start with *The Cranes Are Flying*, and give Samoylova as much attention as the camera asks for itself.

## Biography

Mikhail Kalatozov was a Soviet film director of Georgian origin who worked in both Georgian and Russian cinema. Born Mikheil Kalatozishvili in Tiflis (now Tbilisi) in the Russian Empire, he is best known for directing *The Cranes Are Flying* (1957), *Letter Never Sent* (1960), *I Am Cuba* (1964) and *The Red Tent* (1969).

He began in film as an actor and cinematographer after studying economics and trying several professions. Early work included documentaries such as *Their Kingdom* (1928, co-directed with Nutsa Gogoberidze) and *Salt for Svanetia* (1930). He later studied at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts and held studio and administrative roles before directing features at Lenfilm from 1939.

During the Second World War he made propaganda films and served as a cultural attaché at the Soviet embassy in the United States. *The Cranes Are Flying* won the Palme d'Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, and in 1969 he was named a People's Artist of the USSR.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, snl.no.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *The Cranes Are Flying* (1957), Fi1m 87, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-cranes-are-flying.md)

## Complete filmography (27)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Cafe «Izotop»* (1977), Writer
- *The Red Tent* (1969), Director, Additional Writing
- *I Am Cuba* (1964), Director
- *Letter Never Sent* (1960), Director
- *The Variegateds Case* (1958), Producer
- *The Cranes Are Flying* (1957), Director — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/the-cranes-are-flying.md)
- *Hostile Whirlwinds* (1956), Director
- *The First Echelon* (1955), Director
- *True Friends* (1954), Director
- *Conspiracy of the Doomed* (1950), Director
- *Moscow Music Hall* (1946), Director
- *The Invincible* (1943), Screenplay, Director
- *Wings of Victory* (1941), Director
- *Courage* (1939), Director
- *The Nail in the Boot* (1931), Director
- *The Blind Woman* (1930), Director
- *Salt for Svanetia* (1930), Director, Director of Photography
- *Moscow MXAT Theatre in Tbilisi* (1929), Director
- *Their Kingdom* (1928), Director
- *Gypsy Blood* (1928), Writer, Director of Photography
- *Afghan Khan in Tbilisi* (1928), Director, Director of Photography
- *Giuli* (1927), Camera Operator, Screenplay
- *Opening of the First Turbine of Zahesi* (1927), Director, Director of Photography
- *Horse Factory* (1927), Director, Director of Photography
- *Locomotive No. 1006* (1926), Cinematography
- *The Case of the Murder of Tariel Mklavadze* (1925), Actor
- *Three Lives* (1924), Actor

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/mikhail-kalatozov