Ballad of a Soldier (Russian: Баллада о солдате, Ballada o soldate), is a 1959 Soviet war romance film directed by Grigory Chukhray and starring Vladimir Ivashov and Zhanna Prokhorenko.

On the Eastern Front, nineteen-year-old Private Alyosha Skvortsov (Vladimir Ivashov) single-handedly destroys two attacking German tanks, more out of self-preservation than bravery.

His commanding general wants to give him a decoration, but Alyosha asks instead for a leave to see his mother and to repair the leaking roof of their home.

At the train station, Alyosha helpfully carries the suitcase of Vasya, a soldier discharged because he has lost a leg.

When he attempts to board a freight car of an army supply train, Alyosha is stopped by Gavrilkin, a sentry.

When the lieutenant discovers the unauthorized passengers, he lets them remain aboard and even makes Gavrilkin return the bribe.

With time running out, Alyosha rafts across the river and persuades another truck driver to give him a ride to his rural village, Sosnovka.

According to Robert Osborne, the primary host of Turner Classic Movies, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was a fan of the director, so Chukray was given more leeway than normal.

Viewed from the earnestness and unabashed youthfulness of the protagonist, the film was hailed as an instant classic by Soviet and American critics.

The New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther applauded Chukray's ability to make the film "flow in such a swift, poetic way that the tragedy of it is concealed by a gentle lyric quality.