Ballad Of A Soldier
Баллада о Солдате
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| Poster Origin : | Russia / USSR |
| Poster Size : | Russian / 25 x 35" |
| Poster Artist : | Sergei Datskevich |
| Poster Year : | 1961 |
| Poster Version : | Re-Release |
| Film Origin : | Russia / USSR |
| Film Director : | Grigori Chukhraj |
| Film Year : | 1959 |
The original 1959 Soviet poster concentrated on the mother’s sorrow, though this more famous re-release is all about the soldier. A classic still from the film, when Alyosha eventually returns to his mother, translated into a very nice allegorical illustration. In front of him is a beautiful summer meadow, bright, inviting and optimistic. Behind him is darkness, and a hellish glow that threatens to swallow him.
Using a black backdrop the highlights are picked out, and the painted brushstrokes look much like a woodcut print at a distance, with just four colours overlaid to produce the dazzling effect. Datskevish used a similar technique for his 1963 re-release poster of Battleship Potemkin.
Russian posters hardly ever include awards, media testimonials, or other cheap tactics to entice viewers, but here two blocks of white type were clearly added as an afterthought following the film’s critical success (top-right and lower-left). Both are awkward, and mar the otherwise simple beauty of this lovely artwork.