Czterej pancerni i pies

This TV series was also very popular in the former Czechoslovakia. I think that most of children then saw it many times. Every boy was in love with Lidka and Marusja and desired to be like Janek. We can label it cult TV series. Now some scenes could seem to be a bit slow-going, but still episodes affect us deeply with their strength and veracity. In fact there was less communist propaganda it that series than in most of other TV programs. Morover, we all were able to read between the lines (and still we are)... I would recommend to current movie makers to acquire skills from that series how to make great war movie without torrents of blood. There was everything - action scenes, heroism, friendship, love, humor, tragedy and sadness - but all very decent, all experiences of ordinary people. Little unskilfulness of actors made scenes more believable.

This film was made in the late 1960's, when the Soviet land troops (a so called "Warsaw Pact") was threatening a big part of the world. The main tune was to emphasize a Polish-Russian friendship during the 2nd world war. It was not true as Russians invaded Poland in 1939 together with Hitler and committed even worse war crimes than Germans.

The purpose of the film was to attract young boys from Polish villages to join the army, especially armored units. It was very funny, but in each episode the food and common meals play a significant role (mainly canned food made in USA and supplied for the Red Army). As under communist yoke the food supply in Poland was very poor, scenes of eating full cans of meat might have attracted young boys to join the army.

Many years ago, when I was very young, this Polish serial was a huge success in the Soviet Union. Now, the Union is no more, and the serial? Well, if you try and watch all 21 series again, you will not believe your own eyes - how can I watch this stuff? Well, let's be fair to the filmmakers - the serial was and is very funny. Even then, in times of terrible censorship and pro-Communist propaganda, this film managed to hold a healthy portion of a good hearty humor. Which is a big plus. There are so many naive traits here - the Nazis are often shown too caricature like, the brave Polish soldiers alone win the war (which is not true, as this was the huge combined effort of all the nations involved), the dialogs are too schematic and naive. And the general tone is often too lightweight. The last episode is a bit hasty and the final scene is a bit of a riddle - what, er, is that all? However, this film is like good hearty French or British comedies about the WWII - light, sweet and funny. This serial was certainly intended to be a serious work, but now it is much better watch it with a grain of salt and a heart laugh.

This classic TV series has become an instant cult phenomenon in Poland from the moment it first hit the screens in 1966. Entire generations of young Polish boys have been raised on it (including myself), often playing under the tables pretending that it's the ''Rudy'' tank. The Communist propaganda didn't matter and was actually quite weak. In fact, the series felt more pro-Russian (and pro-Georgian) than pro-Communist. And it even contained a few thinly-veiled hints of Stalinist crimes: after all, when we first meet Janek, he lives in the middle of the Siberian taiga forest. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how he got there - he was certainly deported along with 1 or 2 millions other Poles in 1939-1941. There are also various characters in the series who refer to various nasty gossips about the Soviet Red Army - an oblique way of acknowledging that the Soviet ''liberation'' of Poland wasn't perceived as such by many (if not most) Poles.

The series is divided into 21 episodes of 1 hour each. In the first 8 episodes, we follow Janek, Gustlik, Grigorij and their boss Olgierd from Oka (in 1943) to Gdansk (in March 1945). The war is almost over, Olgierd dies, but then the series is resurrected for 13 more episodes that last barely a month (from March to May 1945). Tomek Czeresniak joins the crew that fights German saboteurs on the Pomeranian seacoast and then joins the big offensive across the Odra river all the way to Berlin. Generally speaking, the later episodes are slightly better than the earlier ones - the action scenes are more exciting, and Wieslaw Golas (playing Tomek) is way more fun than Roman Wilhelmi (who plays Olgierd). Particularly exciting is the episode when the tank crew is taken prisoner by the Germans near the Odra river, and the ''Rudy'' tank is used as target practice on an artillery range. The episode when the tank enters the flooded subway tunnels in Berlin is also very impressive.

I think I watched the whole Series (about 15 episodes) maybe 20-30 times! I would watch whenever it was on. It contains old propaganda for the Communists during the time of the filming, but it has a great cast, great humor, love and war, and a dog!

This is a great show, and I recommend it to all, young and old.