Published on: 2026-09-23
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
On September 23, Edward Radzinsky turns 90 — a prose writer, playwright, screenwriter, and TV host whose works are known to millions of viewers. In the mid-1960s, it was his plays and scripts that gave Soviet cinema two poignant hits: “Once Again About Love” (1968) and “Every Evening at Eleven” (1969). Both films became box office leaders and still resonate with audiences. To celebrate Edward Radzinsky’s anniversary, these legendary films will be shown in the “Moskino” cinemas of the city’s Department of Culture. Admission is free, by pre-registration.
“Once Again About Love”: the script they wanted to ban
Georgy Natanson’s film was released on May 11, 1968; about 40 million viewers watched it in the first year. The black-and-white melodrama told the story of the stewardess Natasha (Tatyana Doronina) and nuclear physicist Electron Evdokimov (Alexander Lazarev). They meet at the Polytechnic Museum, meet again at a café, and on the very first evening Natasha stays at Evdokimov’s place. A romance begins between two very different people: she is open, dreamy, and lively, he is rational, ironic, and not ready for deep feelings. Gradually, the power of her love changes him, but the ending is tragic: Natasha dies in a plane crash.
The script is based on the play “104 Pages About Love” by Edward Radzinsky, written in 1964 when the author was only 25 years old. It was first staged by Anatoly Efros at the Moscow Theater of the Lenin Komsomol (now the “Lenkom of Mark Zakharov” theater) with Olga Yakovleva in the lead role. The production was a tremendous success, and the play was performed in more than 120 theaters across the USSR and abroad.
“104 Pages About Love.” The Story of Anatoly Efros’s Legendary Play
When Georgiy Natanson decided to adapt the play into a film, the path to the audience proved difficult. The Chairman of Goskino, Aleksey Romanov, called the script “immoral” — since the unmarried heroine spends the night with a man almost immediately after meeting him, and the film contains a corresponding scene. It took Natanson a whole year to convince the officials otherwise. He was helped by the deputy chairman of Goskino, Vladimir Baskakov, to whom the director swore that the film would be chaste.
Vladimir Vysotsky auditioned for the role of Evdokimov – he even appeared in several episodes. But Georgy Natanson and Edward Radzinsky, after watching the auditions, concluded that Vysotsky and Doronina lacked the necessary harmony. The choice fell on the young theater actor Alexander Lazarev, whose auditions were unanimously approved.
The famous explicit scene was filmed with a minimal crew — the director kicked everyone out of the studio except the cameraman. Tatyana Doronina was filmed in pajamas, her partner in trousers, and yet for Soviet cinema in 1968, such an episode on screen became a real event.
The film received the Grand Prix at the International Film Festival in Cartagena (Colombia) with the citation “For directing skill and the high moral qualities of the film.” Notably, Goskino sent the film not for competition but only for a press screening — yet the jury still awarded it the top prize. As a result of a poll by the magazine Sovetsky Ekran, Tatyana Doronina was named the best actress of the year.
The title of the play “104 Pages About Love” by Edward Radzinsky arose under the impression of a real plane crash of a Tu-104 that occurred in 1958. And the story closely resonates with the fate of the pilot Harold Kuznetsov, who was in love with a stewardess but did not find mutual feelings.
It is also impossible not to mention the personal subtext: during the period of working on the play, Edward Radzinsky and Tatiana Doronina had a romance that later turned into a marriage. The author admitted that he largely “retold her thoughts, reflections, tried to reproduce her behavior, her actions.”
Once again about Moscow. Seven excellent films with the capital in the leading role
“Every evening at eleven”: a telephone romance that overloaded the communication lines
The premiere of Samson Samsonov’s film took place on September 22, 1969 — exactly one day before Edward Radzinsky’s 33rd birthday. The film drew 24.5 million viewers and ranked 29th in the 1969 box office.
The plot is simple and elegant: bachelor Stas (Mikhail Nozhkin), a research associate at an institute, jokingly dials a phone number whose digits are given to him one by one by his friends. The condition: “If a woman answers, you will marry her.” At the other end of the line is a pleasant female voice. Stas does not dare to admit to his friends that the conversation touched him, and wants to call again, but he does not remember the number. He has to call each friend back to recover the digits one by one. This is how the daily ritual begins: every evening at 11, Stas calls the stranger and talks with her about everything under the sun. Gradually, the unexpected becomes clear: Lyuda (Margarita Volodina), a typist from the institute’s bureau, has been typing Stas’s scientific papers for years. They walk the same corridors and do not notice each other — until the telephone voice and the real woman connect.
Unlike the film “Once Again About Love,” Edward Radzinsky wrote the screenplay not based on his own play, but inspired by the story “Me, You, He and the Telephone” by Azerbaijani writer Anar Rzaev. Radzinsky transferred the story to Moscow settings, softened the oriental color, and added psychological depth.
Director Samson Samsonov is a graduate of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (now the Gerasimov All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography), a student of Sergey Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova, the director of “The Grasshopper,” which won the “Silver Lion” in Venice, as well as the films “Optimistic Tragedy” and “Dormitory for the Lonely.” He was known for his attention to classical works and subtle female characters. The music for the film was composed by Eduard Artemyev — the soundtrack, light and contemplative, became one of the recognizable features of the movie. The song “Talk to Me,” performed by the vocal-instrumental orchestra “VIO-66” with lyrics by Mikhail Matusovsky, still sounds as a nostalgic chord of the era.
After the film was released, something unprecedented happened: the Ministry of Communications sent a stern letter to the Union of Cinematographers stating that the telephone lines were overloaded from 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM, and no one could make any calls. Viewers were massively trying to repeat the telephone game from the film. Mikhail Nozhkin later recalled how people approached him and said: “Thanks to you and your film, we met over the phone and live very harmoniously. You are like a godfather to us.” Another side effect of the film was Margarita Volodina’s short haircut becoming a fashion trend. Girls came to hair salons and asked for a “Volodina-style” haircut.
Two stories of love: similarities and differences
Both films are united by the figure of Edward Radzinsky. In the first case, he is the author of the play and the script — from the first word to the final line, in the second — the screenwriter-adapter who reworked someone else’s story into a film narrative. But in both cases, his distinctive style is recognizable: psychological depth, attention to how people speak to each other, and the belief that love is not convenience or calculation, but something that strikes suddenly.
Despite the similarity in genre and time of creation, the films differ in tone and approach to the theme. “Once Again About Love” is a passion that completely captivates and ends on a highly tragic note. Evdokimov doesn’t get to tell Natasha what he realized too late. “Every Evening at Eleven” is tenderness that grows from conversations, from the silence between phrases and the trust in the voice. Stas and Lyuda find each other—and the ending gives hope.
The directorial styles also contrast. Georgy Natanson came from theater—his camera is attentive to dialogues, facial expressions, and pauses between lines. Samson Samsonov, a student of Sergey Gerasimov, leaned towards pictoriality, atmosphere, and framing, in which not only the hero but also the air around him is important.
Acting duos became fateful for all participants. After “Once More About Love,” Tatyana Doronina solidified her status as a star of the first magnitude. Aleksandr Lazarev achieved nationwide fame — from a little-known theater actor, he transformed into an idol of the audience. Mikhail Nozhkin and Margarita Volodina in the film “Every Evening at Eleven” created a pair that the entire country believed in—their restrained, intelligent style of acting became a model of intonation for a whole generation of melodramas.
Both films remained in the minds of viewers as a standard of how Soviet cinema of the 1960s spoke about feelings: simply, honestly, and with the belief that love is worth risking for.
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