Yep, that shot was crazy back then.

Russian Ark is disqualified -- no cops or guns!
(It was a technical feat, but also a pompous drivel, no thank you. If you like long takes, I do believe Kalatozov, Tarkovsky, or Jancso will make you forget Sokurov.)

Disclosure : I ripped and uploaded this small scene from the start of the film. Because me, and my pet rock only seem to know about it.

This is a severely underrated cinema classic.

Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. Among his most famous and most important films are his four final features: Letyat zhuravli (The Cranes Are Flying, 1957); Neotpravlennoye pismo (The Unsent Letter, 1959); Ya Kuba (I Am Cuba, 1964); and Krasnaya palatka (The Red Tent, 1969). These are marked by very long, complex takes filled with startling, often surreal images and among the most virtuosic camerawork of that or any other era.

I can't recommend this movie enough - a mixture of real life drama with philosophical lessons about leadership, guilt and moving on. It is based on the story of Umberto Nobile, on May 23, 1928, Nobile set out to land on the North Pole. Severe weather and problems forced delays, during such an attempt, Nobile's airship crashed with it's crew on the ice on May 25th, close to 81° 14' latitude north, 28° 14' longitude east.

The crew managed to salvage several items from the crashed airship, including food, a radio transmitter and, famously, a red tent. The drifting sea ice later took the survivors towards Foyn and Broch islands. Incompetence on the part of Captain Romagna meant that the survivors' distress signals were not picked up for several weeks, and despite the presence of Italian ski-troops on board in case of just such an emergency, no effort was made by the Italian authorities to mount a search, let alone a rescue effort.

The film stars Peter Finch, Sean Connery, Claudia Cardinale and Hardy Krüger. The soundtrack is by Ennio Morricone.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067315/

EDIT : Upped the video quality.

So lucky to have seen this recently, thanks to PM and James. I uploaded the video and James sifted it.

I am Cuba (Spanish: Soy Cuba; Russian: Я Куба, Ya Kuba) is a Cuban/Soviet film produced in 1964 by director Mikhail Kalatozov at Mosfilm.The movie was not received well by either the Russian or Cuban public and was almost completely forgotten until it was re-discovered by filmmakers in the United States 30 years later. The movie's acrobatic tracking shots and idiosyncratic mise en scene prompted Hollywood directors like Martin Scorsese to begin a campaign to restore the movie in the early 1990s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_Cuba