The Unbelievable Free-Moving Camera of Mikhail Kalatozov

Are any films more visually impressive and pioneering than Kalatozov's golden trio of late-life films, The Cranes Are Flying (1957), Letter Never Sent (1960) and Soy Cuba (1964). Thanks to the innovations of his brilliant cinematographer, Sergey Urusevskiy, the camera is simply ALIVE!  The unbelievable long takes, trailing through all-consuming fires, moving through buildings and generally just feeling truly free, would likely need to be done with CGI today, but here, they are done as is, on the ground, years before Godard or Truffaut debuted, and with far more prowess. How was it possible? Oh, and did Kalotozov invent the disaster movie genre in the process? Listen in and feel free to leave your comments on ICMForum.com. Timestamps: Intro: 00:00 What Makes These 3 Films So Impressive: 00:01:51 The Cranes Are Flying: 00:06:15 Letter Never Sent: 00:35:10 Soy Cuba: 00:52:01 Quick notes on Kalatozov's Other Films: 1:12:34