5 BEST Soviet movies based on Leo Tolstoy’s books

1. ‘War and Peace’ (Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, 1967)

The big screen adaptation of the epic novel turned out to be no less large-scale than the book itself. The four-episode movie took about six years to film. The director paid a lot of attention to the authenticity of historical costumes. And about 15,000 people were involved in filming the battle scenes. 

And, of course, the movie starred all the cult Soviet actors. Oleg Tabakov as Nikolai Rostov, Vyacheslav Tikhonov (the future face of the popular character Stierlitz) as Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, Vasily Lanovoi as the seducer Anatole Kuragin and, finally, Lyudmila Savelyeva as Natasha Rostova. The director himself played Pierre Bezukhov. 

The movie became a box office smash hit in the USSR and, in 1969, won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’. 

Watch it for free online here.

2. ‘Anna Karenina’ (Directed by Alexander Zarkhi, 1967)

Considered one of the best love stories in Russian and, perhaps, even in world literature, ‘Anna Karenina’ has been adapted for the big screen at least three dozen times (We've already listed the top 10 best actresses in world cinema, who have played Karenina, here)!

But, it was actress Tatiana Samoilova, the main “Soviet Anna”, who occupied the hearts of Russian viewers forever. By the time the movie was released, Samoilova was already a big star thanks to her previous work in the movie ‘The Cranes Are Flying’ (1957). It won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that same year and Samoilova was then noted by the jury as "the most modest and charming actress". 

Her screen lover Vronsky was played by sex symbol of Soviet cinema, Vasily Lanovoi. At that time in real life, he was Samoilova's ex-husband, which added even more drama to their on screen chemistry.

Watch it for free online here. 

3. ‘Resurrection’ (Directed by Mikhail Schweitzer, 1960)

Tolstoy considered his final novel ‘Resurrection’ to be his best work, not ‘War and Peace’ or ‘Anna Karenina’. It is a dramatic story about how an officer seduces a girl and then abandons her. Later, after learning that her life has gone down the drain, he decides to completely change. 

The first and only Soviet big screen adaptation was directed by Sergei Eisenstein's protege Mikhail Schweitzer, who retold the story very close to the original text (also acting as a screenwriter).

In 1962, at the Locarno Film Festival, the FIPRESCI International Federation of Film Press award honored the leading role performer, Tamara Semina, as ‘Best Actress’. 

Watch it for free online here.

4. ‘The Living Corpse’ (Directed by Vladimir Vengerov, 1968)

Tolstoy's unfinished play is based on real events: the character named Fyodor Protasov wants to kill himself, so that his wife can marry another man. However, he does not have the courage to take such a step. Instead, he lets his life go down the drain, drinks, hangs out with gypsies and becomes a “living corpse”. His wife, thinking he is dead, marries another man, after all. But then, he is summoned to the trial where she sees him alive…

Tolstoy's play was produced on the stage of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Art Theater before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. And, in the USSR, director Vladimir Vengerov tackled the sharp plot. The main role with incredible psychological depth was played by actor Alexei Batalov (the whole world already knew him after his role in ‘The Cranes Are Flying’). And his screen wife was played by the stunning Alla Demidova. 

Watch it for free online here.

5. ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’ (Directed by Mikhail Schweitzer & Sofia Milkina, 1987)

In this Tolstoy novella, a husband kills his wife, suspecting her of adultery. The piece was banned by the tsarist censorship, because of the overly explicit scenes and the fact that Tolstoy questioned the institution of marriage, in general, considering it a legalized vice. 

But, like any forbidden fruit, the story became very popular. It was adapted to the big screen several times (the first attempts were in Russia before the revolution). But, one of the most famous of its movie incarnations was filmed by director Mikhail Schweitzer, together with his wife Sofia Milkina. Interestingly, the director worked on the screen adaptation of many classical literature masterpieces, the aforementioned ‘Resurrection’, select stories by Anton Chekhov, ‘Little Tragedies’ by Alexander Pushkin and ‘Dead Souls’ by Nikolai Gogol. 

In this two-part psychological drama, the role of the jealous husband was played by the brilliant Oleg Yankovsky, while his wife was played by the beautiful actress Irina Selezneva.

Watch it for free online here.