Farewell, America!

Farewell, America! (1951)

Прощай, Америка!

An unfinished film by Oleksandr Dovzhenko, the film is a political lampoon based on the book entitled The Truth about US Diplomats, written in 1949 by the American writer Annabel Bukar. It exposes the underhanded actions of US Embassy personnel in Moscow at the onset of the Cold War. Dovzhenko managed to shoot only a half of the film, mainly the scenes that take place in the American Embassy.

Date of release
1951-01-01
TMDB
4.8 / 10 (6)
Runtime
1h 10m
Genres
Drama, Comedy
Director
Alexander Dovzhenko

Casting

Interesting facts

Farewell, America is a 1951 Soviet propaganda drama film directed by Aleksandr Dovzhenko. An adaptation of the book The Truth about American Diplomats by American journalist and defector to the Soviet Union Annabelle Bucar, the film was abruptly shut down halfway through its production at Mosfilm studios. In 1996, the film was restored by the Gosfilmofond state archive before having its first screening at the Berlin Film Festival.

Production

In February 1948 Anabelle Bucar, an assistant in the USIS office of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, resigned from her office and sought political asylum in the USSR. Bucar's defection came after she had begun an affair with the actor and operetta singer Konstantin Lapshin; the two later married, and Bucar received an apartment in Moscow.

In February 1950, speaking before the committee that was accepting the script, Dovzhenko said that he wanted to make a film about Americans, describing them as the "antipodes" of Soviet reality. An acting ensemble was brought in for the shoot, led by Nikolai Gritsenko and his sister Liliya.

The unfinished project would become Dovzhenko's last film. Afterwards, he did not film anything until his death, instead concentrating on literary work and script preparation. According to several film historians, the suspension of filming broke the director morally and had a detrimental effect on his health. In 1956, Dovzhenko died of a heart attack.

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