In the novel-trilogy by the well-known Soviet writer, screenwriter, and playwright, a VGIK graduate, German Ivanovich Matveyev (1904–1961) “The Tarantula,” heroic defense of Leningrad is recounted—how Leningrad teenagers—Misha Alekseev and his friends—helped Soviet counterintelligence catch a group of fascist saboteurs operating in the besieged city. Based on his novella “Green Chains,” in 1970, at the Lenfilm studio, a film of the same name was made, and in 1982 a sequel was released—a TV film titled “The Tarantula.”