Shakespeare's 17th century masterpiece about the "Melancholy Dane" was given one of its best screen treatments by Soviet director Grigori Kozintsev. Kozintsev's Elsinore was a real castle in Estonia, utilized metaphorically as the "stone prison" of the mind wherein Hamlet must confine himself in order to avenge his father's death. Hamlet himself is portrayed (by Innokenti Smoktunovsky) as the sole sensitive intellectual in a world made up of debauchers and revellers. Several of Kozintsev directorial choices seem deliberately calculated to inflame the purists: Hamlet's delivers his "To be or not to be" soliloquy with his back to the camera, allowing the audience to fill in its own interpretations.

Границей между дворами Даты и Михи служила белая линия. Но свинья и куры постоянно нарушали эту границу. Тогда соседи возвели каменную стену. Однако теперь они не могли общаться друг с другом, и тогда стену снесли...

1956 film by Grigori Chukhrai

Veronika and Boris come together in Moscow shortly before World War II. Walking along the river, they watch cranes fly overhead, and promise to rendezvous before Boris leaves to fight. Boris misses the meeting and is off to the front lines, while Veronika waits patiently, sending letters faithfully. After her house is bombed, Veronika moves in with Boris' family, into the company of a cousin with his own intentions.

年轻的士兵萨沙（尼古拉·布尔雅耶夫 Nikolai Burlyayev 饰）暗恋着交际花柳芭（娜塔雅·安德烈杰科夫 Natalya Andrejchenko 饰），而此时的柳芭已经名花有主，萨沙将自己的感情寄托在一束鲜花上献给了柳芭，之后上了战场。
一晃眼数年过去，战争已经结束，萨沙亦与名叫薇拉（茵娜·丘里科娃 Inna Churikova 饰）的女子结为了夫妻。某日，萨沙意外的在街上遇见了柳芭，她落魄不堪的窘况令萨沙十分心痛。柳芭曾经的恋人已经去世，留下了一个女儿，要由柳芭抚养，萨沙陪伴在柳芭的身旁，他的温柔和善良令柳芭渐渐重拾了自尊。薇拉将丈夫的一举一动看在眼里，就此陷入抑郁之中，这让柳芭感到内疚万分。

尼基金是—名苏联作家，应汉堡文学俱乐部的邀请前往西德参加东西方作家“友好讨论会”。影片以尼基金到汉堡访问为情节主线，回溯了1945年反法西斯胜利前夕，苏军炮兵中尉尼基金在进驻德国时同，当地少女艾玛的一段恋情。当时的环境使—对年青人的幸福不可能实现，冷战又把他们分割在两个世界。到了70年代，东西方实现了对话和交流，这对年近半百的情侣才得以重逢。透过主人公记忆的薄雾，银幕诗意地层现出年青的苏联军官尼基金和德国姑娘艾玛的爱情憧憬，以及多年后相逢时珍藏在内心的神奇迷离的梦幻。影片结束时，尼基金怀着对艾玛的复杂而又痛苦的情感飞离汉堡，机舱中他心脏病发作，在梦游天国彼岸的幻境中死去。