Not too many people in the US have seen this opus from director Mikhail Bogin, and it's really quite a lovely piece of work. Its title variants are bewildering: The Russian title "Dvoye" (or less correctly "Dvoe") means "Two", but the title frame translates it as "Boy and Girl". Germany and France have it as "We Two" (Dei Zwei, Nous Deux). In Hungary it became "Two of Us" (Ketten), in Poland "Two" (Dwoje), and in the UK "Two in Love". In the US it was presented as "A Ballad of Love".
The Mikhail Bogin film "O Lyubvi" (About Love) from 1966, again with Viktoriya Fyodorova, apparently also used the English title "A Ballad of Love", resulting in occasional confusion. In fact, when I acquired a 16mm print of "Dvoye" as "A Ballad of Love" the seller had mistakenly indicated "O Lyubvi" as the Russian title.
Here are some press quotes from US screenings in the 1960s, as "A Ballad of Love":
The San Francisco Examiner, Mon, Oct. 23, 1967: "...a tender yet unsentimental treatment of a romance between a young musician and a deaf-mute circus student ...haunting and poignant. Bogin's work, obviously influenced by western cinema, shows little trace of the social realism which sometimes dominates contemporary Russian films. The music, dance, dress and demeanor of the young people suggest London, Paris or Rome as easily as Moscow. Therefore, the universal impact of the uncertainties and delights of young love is never dissipated."
The Baltimore Evening Sun, Thurs, Sep 08, 1966: "The director, Mikhail Bogin, employs very close close-ups, fuzziness of photography and a gimmick or two such as having the sound track go silent when we are with the girl. "A Ballad of Love" may be short but not on poignancy or beauty. Those, it has plenty of."
New York Daily News, Sun., Feb 20, 1966: "The stars are expertly cast in difficult roles. Victoria Fyodorova, daughter of the famous actress, Zoya Fyodorova, looks like Audrey Hepburn. She is simply and smartly dressed and plays her part with sincerity and sensitivity. Valentin Smirnitsky, a handsome young actor whose talent matches his looks, plays his role with conviction."
The two principals were both natives of Moscow, but the film was actually shot in Latvia, probably in Riga.
