20,000 Leagues Across the Land (french: Vingt mille lieues sur la terre or "Léon Garros Is Looking for His Friend", russian: Леон Гаррос ищет друга) is a 1961 Soviet-French

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

Marcello Pagliero Marcello Pagliero (15 January 1907 – 18 October 1980) was an Italian film director, actor, and screenwriter. Pagliero was born in London and died in Paris. He is perhaps best known for his performance in the Roberto Rossellini film ''Rome, O ...

Plot

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Leon Garros and Boris Vaganov escape from a

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

. After 15 years as a journalist Leon with buddies visits the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

to make a report and accidentally finds Boris. But Boris is not in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, and for the sake of meeting a friend Leon has to take a car halfway across the country... Traveling with the foreigners is translator Nikolai, who in turn is looking for Natasha, his brother's runaway bride.

Actors

Léon Zitrone Léon Zitrone (25 November 1914 – 25 November 1995) was a Russian-born French journalist and television presenter. Biography Zitrone was born in Petrograd, Russia. He arrived in France with his family fleeing communism at the age of six. H ...

as Léon Garros, journalist *

Yuri Belov Yuri Vladimirovich Belov (russian: Ю́рий Влади́мирович Бело́в; May 27, 1929 – July 23, 2017) was a Russian Soviet realist painter, who lived and worked in Saint Petersburg (former Leningrad). He was a member of the Sain ...

as Nikolay Savin, translator *

Tatiana Samoilova Tatiana Yevgenyevna Samoilova (russian: link=no, Татья́на Евге́ньевна Само́йлова; 4 May 1934 – 4 May 2014) was a Soviet and Russian film actress best known for her lead role in ''The Cranes Are Flying'' (1957). She ...

as Natasha, singer *

Jean Rochefort Jean Raoul Robert Rochefort (; 29 April 1930 – 9 October 2017) was a French actor. He received many accolades during his career, including an Honorary César in 1999. Life and career Rochefort was born on 29 April 1930 in Paris, France, to ...

as Fernand *

Jean Gaven Jean Gaven (16 January 1918 – 5 May 2014) was a French actor. He appeared in more than sixty films between 1945 and 1996. Life and career Born in Saint-Rome-de-Cernon, France on January 16, 1922, Gaven began acting sometime after the end of W ...

as Gregoire *

Valentin Zubkov Valentin Ivanovich Zubkov (russian: Валенти́н Ива́нович Зубко́в; 12 May 1923 – 18 January 1979) was a Soviet film actor. He was born in Peschanoye Settlement of Ryazan Province. He finished Armavir Military Aviation Sc ...

as Alexey Savin, polar aviator and Natasha's groom * Evgeny Burenkov as Boris Vaganov *

Lyudmila Marchenko Lyudmila Vasilyevna Marchenko (russian: Людми́ла Васи́льевна Ма́рченко; 20 June 1940 – 23 January 1997) was a Soviet film actress. She appeared in twelve films between 1959 and 1976. She starred in the film ''A ...

as elevator woman in the hotel "Ukraine" * Antonina Maksimova as chairman of the kolkhoz *

Vladimir Ivashov Vladimir Sergeyevich Ivashov (russian: Влади́мир Серге́евич Ивашо́в; 28 August 1939 — 23 March 1995) was a Soviet and Russian actor. Biography He had a film career that spanned over 30 years. He is best known for hi ...

as Fyodor, a young worker in

Bratsk Bratsk ( rus, Братск, p=bratsk) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Angara River near the vast Bratsk Reservoir. Etymology The name sounds like the Russian word for "brother" ("", '' ...

* Valentina Kutsenko as Olga *

Nina Nikitina Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms *National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq *Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology *No income, n ...

as mother of Fyodor * Margarita Zharova as maid * Alexei Vanin as theatrically * Tamara Yarenko as Claudia, hotel receptionist *

Zinovy Gerdt Zinovy Yefimovich Gerdt (russian: Зино́вий Ефи́мович Гердт, which is a pseudonym, his real name being Zalman Afroimovich Khrapinovich (За́лман Афро́имович Храпино́вич); 21 September 1916 in Sebez ...

as voiceover

External links

Кадры из фильма
* 1961 films 1961 drama films French drama films Soviet drama films Russian drama films Films directed by Marcello Pagliero 1960s multilingual films French multilingual films Soviet multilingual films 1960s French films {{1960s-USSR-film-stub