An Hour Before Dawn (TV series)

An Hour Before Dawn (Russian: За час до рассвета) is a 2021 Russian detective miniseries directed by Igor Zaytsev. The series stars Konstantin Khabensky, Andrey Burkovsky, and Artur Smolyaninov. Critics generally gave it mixed reviews.

The series is set in 1946. The protagonist, Captain Denis Zhuravlyov, recently returned from the front, joins the police. His strict superior is Major Sergey Shumeyko. Zhuravlyov must capture the dangerous criminal Klesh, and it soon becomes clear that life is far more complex than wartime^[1][2].

^[3][4]

• Konstantin Khabensky — Major Sergey Shumeyko ("Satan")
• Andrey Burkovsky — Captain Denis Zhuravlyov ("Ptakha")
• Artur Smolyaninov — Dmitry Kopyrin ("Buyan")
• Maria Lisovaya — Marina, waitress
• Maxim Belborodov — Mikhail Tyagunov ("Kot")
• Artur Vakha — Ivan Ivanov / Platon Glebov ("Graf")
• Alena Mikhailova — Olga Smirnova
• Vladimir Zaytsev — Alexander Yartsev, state security officer
• Agnia Ditkovskite — Tatyana ("Lyalka"), nurse
• Valeria Wegner — Oksana Savchenko
• Alexandra Florinskaya — Elizaveta, brothel owner
• Maxim Bityukov — Yegor Prosvirin, photographer
• Vladimir Timofeev — Levushka, market fool
• Ivan Agapov — Lev Timokhin
• Evgeny Mundum — Viktor Antonov, former camp warden
• Alexander Rapoport — British ambassador
• Vyacheslav Grishechkin — Chief
• Artyom Bystrov — Andrey Savchenko
• Sergey Murzin — Chelpanov
• Maxim Konovalov — Karas, gangster
• Alexander Turavinin — "Shtepsel"
• Alexey Kirsanov — "Artist"
• Alexander Sokolovsky — "Olson"
• Gleb Bochkow — Andrey Lukov, state security officer
• Nikolay Machulsky — Vladimir Epifantsev, police officer from Moscow
• Alexey Ushakov — Korenev
• Vsevolod Yashkin — Zholudev
• Stanislav Rumyantsev — Krylov
• Evgeny Romantsov — Slutsky, police captain
• Vladimir Chuprikov — Blumkin
• Andrey Lebedev — Kolchin
• Anastasia Stepanyuk — Ekaterina
• Vladimir Shulga — Nikolai Spiridonov, restaurant maître d'

Filming took place in the Moscow region, mainly at abandoned factories. The small town setting was portrayed by Morozovsky Gorodok in Tver^[5]. The first trailer was released online on 18 January 2021^[6][7]. The series premiered on 16 February 2021 on More.tv, Wink, and KinoPoisk HD^[8].

Critics initially saw the series as a Russian attempt at a British-style gangster drama similar to Peaky Blinders and a remake of the Soviet film The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed^[9][10]. The attempt was criticized for problems with the script, character development, and style^[11]. Comparisons were also made with the 2007 Russian series Liquidation^[12]. Columnist Valentina Lvova of Komsomolskaya Pravda commented that the series "did not succeed in capturing Klesh. Too much psychology for a comic, too little truth for good cinema"^[13]. Some critics noted the series could not be taken seriously, describing it as having a "comic-book aesthetic" with "inside jokes"^[14]. According to Fontanka.ru, "the series tries to combine the best traditions of Soviet cinema and modern trends — predictably unsuccessfully"^[15].

Director Igor Zaytsev responded that the series was not intended to resemble The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed or Liquidation and that online comments reflect "the opinion of a minority of dissatisfied viewers"^[16].

• IMDB