(1956, b/w; Russian) On the DVD of Siodmak's The Killers is a 19-minute bonus feature, Andrei Tarkovsky's first film, which he co-directed with fellow students, Alexander Gordon and Marika Beiku, of the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography. Tarkovsky and Gordon wrote the screenplay, which largely follows Hemingway's 1927 short story. Gordon has the role of George, the kid behind the counter in Henry's diner, while Tarkovsky plays the part of the second customer, who whistles "Lullaby of Birdland" (tune Tarkovsky included from hearing it on Voice of America) while waiting for a sandwich to go.

Two men from out of town, Al and Max, enter the lunch counter in the sleepy town of Summit shortly before 6pm; George behind the counter, Sam the black cook, and Nick Adams, the only other customer, are inside. The two men have come to kill the big Swede, Ole Andreson, whom they expect at the diner any minute.

Nick and Sam get tied up back in the kitchen. As instructed by the thugs, George, whom they repeatedly call "Bright Boy," tells the streetcar motorman when he comes in for a meal that the cook is out ill. The second customer orders a sandwich to go, whistles, and departs. A third customer gets upset, barking as he leaves: "Are you running a lunch counter?" When Ole fails to appear, the pair of hoodlums leave without harming anyone in the diner.

After untying him, George suggests that Nick run over to Mrs Hirsch's rooming house to warn Ole. Finding the Swede lying on his bed fully clothed, smoking a cigarette, Nick explains what has happened at Henry's.

The former heavy-weight prize fighter thanks Nick for taking the trouble but says there's nothing he or anyone else can do. Back at the diner, George answers Nick's query as to why anyone would want to kill Ole: "Probably double crossed somebody."

This small film - the first instance of the institute's permitting a foreign literary source to be adapted for a cinematic production - could serve as a measure of sensitivity between the Soviet Union and the US following Nikita Khrushchev's denouncement of Stalin's policies at the 20th Soviet Communist Party Conference in 1956, three years after Stalin's death; but the same year Soviet troops marched into Hungary.

Two years earlier Senator Joseph R. McCarthy's witch-hunting of Communists within the American government and military had ended with the Senate's condemnation and formal censure of its member. Had McCarthy known of Tarkovsky's film, even though the inclusion of an American jazz composition suggested subtle subversion on the part of the students, would he have used it to blacklist Hemingway?

Also on the DVD is a reading of Hemingway's short story by actor Stacey Keach.

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