Lev Polyakov

Fitil is a popular Soviet/Russian television satirical/comedy short film series which ran for about 500 episodes. Some of the episodes were aimed at children, and were called Фитилёк, Fitilyok, Little Fuse. Each issue contained from the few short segments: documentary, fictional and animated ones. Directed by various artists, including Leonid Gaidai who presented his famous trio of Nikulin, Vitsin and Morgunov into the cast. It was called in USSR as "the anecdotes from the Soviet government".

The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.

After defeating France and imprisoning Napoleon on Elba, ending two decades of war, Europe is shocked to find Napoleon has escaped and has caused the French Army to defect from the King back to him. The best of the British generals, the Duke of Wellington, beat Napolean's best generals in Spain and Portugal, but now must beat Napoleon himself with an Anglo Allied army.

The year is 1940 and Nazi Germany is at the height of its military prowess, having captured most of Europe and eyeing the Soviet Union to the East. The Russian military command suspects hostile intent from Germany and so arranges for its spies to infiltrate ranks of the German military and the SS. Alexander Belov is a Russian spy, who travels from Soviet-held Latvia to Nazi Germany under an alias of Johann Weiss. His mastery of the German language, steel nerves and an ability to manipulate others help him to use his connections in the SS to ascend the ladder of the German intelligence. He uses his position to identify sympathetic Germans, who help him to procure vital intelligence, and to help local resistance movements in their collective fight against Nazism.

A diamond smuggling operation goes wrong when an ordinary Soviet citizen becomes unwittingly involved, and the criminals are forced to court him to retrieve their diamonds.

After receiving a slap in the face, Officer Silvio challenges the offending Count to a duel. However, urgent circumstances force the officer to leave, leaving the right to shoot. After many years, on the eve of the Count’s wedding, Silvio returns to demand retaliation.

A West German concern is conducting secret negotiations with an interested state on the production of an atomic bomb. The son of the head of the concern, realizing the enormity and scope of his father's activities, interrupts the negotiations and returns home with the intention of publicizing his father's activities.

As Moscow is set ablaze by the retreating Russians, the Rostovs flee their estate, taking wounded soldiers with them, and unbeknownst to them, also Andrei. Pierre, dressed as a peasant, tries to assassinate Napoleon but is taken prisoner. As the French are forced to retreat, he's marched for months with the Grande Armée, until being freed by a raiding party. Part four of the four-part adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel.

The "Fiery Arc" tells of a grandiose battle on the Kursk Bulge in the summer of 1943. Here was the largest tank battle in the history of World War II. Along with the personal fate of the heroes, the film shows battle scenes, the activities of headquarters and intelligence, those who worked at the front and in the rear.

Fascist Italy's prime-minister Mussolini is arrested following the Allies landing in Sicily. Meanwhile, Soviet troops plan their offense towards Kyiv. Lt. Col. Lukin's regiment crosses the Dnieper river as the division's vanguard. Unbeknownst to them, they're merely a ploy to mislead the Germans so the rest of the army can catch them off guard.

Two stories ("The feat of the soldier Mukhin", "The Last Autumn"). The events of one concern 1917, when Lenin had to hide in Finland, the second takes place in 1923-1924 during the last months of his life in Gorki.

Using an elaborate system of denunciation, the chief of the Zone keeps his prisoners in check. A new inmate, allegedly imprisoned for speculating on postage stamps, tries to rebel against the system.

The action takes place in 1920 during the Civil War. Crimea on the eve of complete liberation from the White Guards. Returning from patrol, the four brave “elusive” knocked down an airplane. In the field bag of the captured pilot, they find a secret report, which speaks of the existence of defensive fortifications around the coastal city, which the Reds have yet to take. Young heroes get the task to get a map of fortifications and go to the city...

Based on the novel of the same name by Grigory Svirsky. 1942 year. The Great Patriotic War. The navigator Bratnov was shot down during the war, was captured, fled, returned to his people, was demoted and sent to serve in the construction battalion. His old front-line comrade Major Kabarov accidentally met him and took him to his unit. Kabanov, knowing about the lack of experienced navigators, is seeking to transfer Bratnov to his air force in the Northern Fleet, in the Arctic, to a tiny rocky island — "to the ends of the world."

Three classmates of the naval school met many years later in the Northern Fleet. Their fates were different. One of them became the commander of a cruiser, while the other two had complex personal problems. In these circumstances, everyone behaves differently, sometimes not opening up from the best side.

The film includes three short stories based on the stories of Mikhail Zoshchenko: "Crime and Punishment", "Fun Adventure", and "Wedding Event" about the negative phenomena of the provincial life of the young country of the Soviets: stupidity, drunkenness, money-grubbing, lack of spirituality.

In German-occupied Crimea during WWII, a group of Russian soldiers employ unusual tactics to steal classified documents from their enemies.

A revelatory discussion on a train. Based on Leo Tolstoy's novel of the same name.

In 1920, just 3 years after the October revolution, the peoples had to decide between conforming to Bolshevism or national self-determination. In that torn-apart-time, one man, the comedian Volodya, tries to mediate, not between different ideologies, but social life and art. While others just want to wash away their gloom, he reflects on the everyday sorrows and the role of art in that time of changes.

A drama about the group of young people starting their adult lives.