An Hour Before the Dawn (Za chas do rassveta)

An Hour Before the Dawn (Russian title Za chas do rassveta, Armenian title Lusabatsits mek zham araj) is a Soviet Armenian 1973 made for TV adventure movie directed by Erazm Karamyan and Nerses Hovhannisyan. The story is set in 1920 during the Russian civil war. Red Army captures a White armoured train, but Whites try to get it back, using both force and treason.
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= Revolvers =
== Nagant M1895 ==
Nagant M1895 revolvers are widely used by Reds and Whites, notably the commissar of the armoured train Armen Avgarovich Andranikyan (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan), train engineer Taras Zhurba (Sergei Kharchenko), gunner Stepan Suslov (Aleksey Eybozhenko), and White officers Staff Capt. Friedrich Avgustovich von Nolken (Vladimir Gulyaev) and Poruchik (Lt.) Kotikov (Boris Bityukov). These revolvers appear to be of anachronistic post-1930 version.
= Pistols =
== Mauser C96 ==
Mauser C96 pistols are also popular among Reds and Whites. They are used by the commander of the armoured train Andrey Mikhailovich Derzhavin (Aleksandr Lazarev, Sr.), crewmembers Taras Zhurba (Sergei Kharchenko) (later switches to Nagant revolver), Djigit (Gurgen Tonunts), Sadyk Kurnabayev (Ruslan Akhmetov), White Army Rotmistr (Capt.) Ikaev (Yan Krasnyanskiy) and some more White officers.
== Mauser C96 M1930 ==
The engine driver Anton Gusev (Nikifor Kolofidin) owns an anachronistic Mauser C96 M1930 pistol. It is described as "Honorary Revolutionary Weapon", the high award in Red Army in 1920s.
= Rifles =
== Mosin Nagant M1891/30 ==
Many soldiers of Red and White Armies are armed with Mosin Nagant M1891/30 rifles, standing for original M1891s.
= Machine Guns =
== Maxim M1910 ==
A number of Maxim M1910 machine guns are mounted on the armoured train. They are manned by Armen Andranikyan (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan), Taras Zhurba (Sergei Kharchenko), Stepan Suslov (Aleksey Eybozhenko), Sadyk Kurnabayev (Ruslan Akhmetov) and Yakov Katzman (Lev Vajnshtejn). White troops use a Maxim M1910 on Sokolov mount.
== Maxim M1910/30 ==
Due to continuity errors, Maxim M1910s often switches to Maxim M1910/30s and back again.
A Maxim M1910/30 of post-1940 modification is seen in one scene.
= Other Weapons =
== F-1 Hand Grenade ==
Anachronistic F-1 hand grenades are seen in several scenes. They stand for Mills Bomb or some other similar "pineapple" hand grenade of Great War era.
== Dummy Training Grenade ==
Dummy training stick grenades, standing for RG-14 hand grenades, are used by Commissar Armen Andranikyan (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan), Taras Zhurba (Sergei Kharchenko) and Agafon Fedotov (Valentin Bryleev).
= Trivia =
While many Soviet movies about Russian revolution and civil war show real armoured trains or at least full-size mockups, this film uses only a scale model for the outside view of Stepan Shaumian (Knyaz Mstislav Udaloy in White Army) armoured train.
Unknown artillery piecies (possibly mockups) are mounted inside the armoured train. According to the story, their breeches are removed.
An 76.2 mm divisional gun model 1902 is seen in one scene, used by White troops.
Category:Movie
Category:B&W
Category:Adventure Movie
Category:War
Category:Soviet Produced