When the Trees Were Tall

Watch When the Trees Were Tall (1961) online on iFILM — a Soviet drama directed by Lev Kulidzhanov, with Yuri Nikulin in the lead role. Kuzma Iordanov is a Moscow drifter who lost his wife in the war and has been drinking his way through the years since, useful to nobody, including himself.

He hears about a village girl whose parents were killed in the fighting. On something quieter than an impulse, he travels out to find her and introduces himself as her long-lost father. Whether this is simple fraud or a man's last attempt to matter to someone, Kulidzhanov refuses to say outright. Inna Gulaya plays the girl with a trust that cuts deeper than any accusation would. Leonid Kuravlyov and Vasily Shukshin appear in supporting roles.

Nikulin was known as a circus star and a comedy actor. Here he carries a film on pure restraint — worn down, guilty-eyed, and entirely convincing in a register nobody expected from him. The film picked up recognition at Soviet film festivals in 1962. Stream When the Trees Were Tall online on iFILM.