Nochnye lastochki

Excellent television series of very high technical and narrative quality. All the characters are highly believable, and the setting is very well recreated. It's a great approach to the mythical figures of these female Russian aviators, specialized in nighttime bombing during the sadly notorious WW2 Russian campaign.

Despite being a TV production, using relative technical and financial resources, the result is of extremely high cinematic quality, on par with the best multimillion-dollar Hollywood productions. This series, similar to the American "Band of Brothers" but with a much lower budget, faithfully brings to life the wartime atmosphere of a group of soldiers, this time women, and their human experiences in a context as tremendous as war. For those who want to delve deeper into the subject, I recommend watching the film "V nebe 'Nochnye vedmy'" from 1981, which is about the same group of women aviators.

I've seen many post-Soviet series. From a technical point of view, Night Swallows was quite good: excellent cast, mostly believable characters, authentic equipment, good sound and photography, etc. But as the series went on, the plots just became more and more unbelievable. When they got to their version of "The Dirty Dozen" I had enough and stopped watching. I wish they had stuck to the basic story of the female pilots.

Night Swallows, an excellent true story. Very well done. I hope they continue with the series. Very riveting. Shows compassion in the midst of War. Glad to have watched this.

This is a very good drama series that draws you in with action and relationship dynamics. The script does credit to the Russian production and the cast acted convincingly so that you get immersed in the goings on. I had no trouble seeing past what are, at times, rather simple graphics of the aircraft and quickly accepted that as the style of the piece, while the overall drama was really absorbing. They could easily have spent millions more without any improvement in the real quality of the thing. The drama is a condensation of many separate, real events. It feels odd to be exposed to such fine actors as Elizaveta Nilova and Tatyana Arntgolts who have no other US/European exposure. It leaves you wanting more of the stars and another series. OK, its not John Wick or Private Ryan for violence - it brings in humour and romance. It isn't going to be every war film fan's cup of tea, but if you want something cerebral, based on an incredible piece of history, this will do fine.

Known to the Germans by the less affectionate name 'Night Witches', the all-girl wartime women's flying unit the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment had already been the subject of a feature film, 'Night Witches in the Sky' (1981), before this glamorous hybrid of soap opera and war movie.

The missions are led every week by snub-nosed Tatyana Arntgolts as Zhenya Zvonareva, and there is the usual restlessness to get stuck into the enemy and reprimands from their commanders for not always going by the rule book. Apart from Elizaveta Nilova as Galya Shevchenko we see little of the rest of the squadron, and on the rare occasions the unit suffers casualties their fate is signalled in advance in time honoured 'Star Trek' fashion by introducing new flyers to the latest sortie who don't return.

As the series progresses there is increasing competing emphasis on dashing Alexander Makeev's (Denis Nikiforov) guerillas and his burgeoning romance with Zhenya, and the action comes increasingly to take place on the ground, as when they make short work in Episode Six of Germany's answer to The Dirty Dozen disguised in Russian uniforms.