Lately known for the astounding I Am Cuba (also in our collection), Georgian-born Mikhail Kalatozov "rarely made a film that failed to dazzle the eye," as Tom Luddy wrote. "The Cranes Are Flying (1957) and The Letter That Was Never Sent, two romantic, passionate, and sorrowful love stories set against violent backgrounds, are considered to be turning points in Soviet Cinema not only for their content, breaking with the Stalinist prescriptions for art, but also for the rediscovery of film language." Four geologists-three men and a woman-set out to locate the vast diamond deposits that supposedly exist in Yukatia, the coldest and most sparsely populated region in Asia. After a forest fire, autumn rains, sickness, and winter frost and snow, in the end there is only one survivor to reach civilization and tell of the hard-won victory. "The most profound examination of man against nature ever filmed. It took a Russian to do it well." (Dennis Jakob)