Russian Language List

After Stalin died in 1953 and Kruschef condemned him in 1955 the rules of Socialist Realism were relaxed. The primary purpose of the Soviet cinema became to entertain and to bring in money for the State. Comedies predominated.

These comedies contained few references to politics and they often make sly references to the problems of the Soviet Union. Any propaganda in these late Soviet films is of a generic 'mental hygiene' kind. At most they encourage becoming a better person by accepting responsibility and taking pride in honest work.

Well-Known Late Soviet Films (1955--1991)

• Максим Перепелица (1955)

  
  An ordinary boy from Ukraine goes to perform his military service. Similar in tone to Andy Hardy or Gomer Pyle.

• Карнавальная ночь (1956)

  
  Carnival Night
  The employees of a house of culture put on a music and dance show for New Year's eve despite the efforts of a stuffy new directory to turn it into an evening of tedious lectures and serious music.

• Полосатый рейс (1961)

  
  The Stripe Run
  A Soviet cargo ship is transporting tigers in cages. The captain's headstrong daughter is along for the voyage. She causes numerous difficulties until the tigers get out of their cages when she saves the day.

• За двумя зайцами (1961)

  
  Chasing Two Hares
  A young fop in 19th century Kiev is bankrupt. He decides to mend his fortunes by an advantageous marriage. Things do not go smoothly.

• Человек - амфибия (1961)

  
  Amphibian Man
  Years ago a scientist transplanted a fish's gills into his dying son and thereby saved him. Now the boy is becoming a man.

• Укрощение строптивой (1961)

  
  The Taming of the Shrew
  Shakespeare in translation is very popular in Russia. This high-quality performance was filmed for television on the stage of the Central Red Army Theater. The role of Katherine is played by movie actress Lyumila Kasatkina who had impressed the director with her performance in Укротительница тигров (1955).

• Королева бензоколонки (1962)

  
  Queen of the Gas Pumps
  A vivacious girl with dreams of becoming a TV announcer or joining a skating troupe makes the best of a job pumping gas.

• Три плюс два (1963)

  
  Three Plus Two
  Innocent comedy about young people falling in love while camping at the seaside.

• Операция «Ы» и другие приключения Шурика (1965)

  
  This is the first of the Shurik films staring Aleksandr Demyanenko. It is a set of three short comedy films about 1) Exam days at a university, 2) a student working a summer job at a construction site has to work with a man who has been assigned there as punishment for assaulting him on a bus, and 3) a man in charge of a warehouse hires a bunch of hapless delinquents to fake a burglary to hide his embezzlement.

• Берегись автомобиля (1966)

  
  Take Care of Your Car! (often erroneously Beware of the Car)
  An actor in a community theater notices patrons who are clearly living well beyond their lawful income. He investidate and finds they are taking bribes, stealing, and profiteering. He decides to become a modern Robin Hood and even things out by steeling their automobiles, selling them, and donating the the proceeds (minus expenses) to orphanages. Another actor from the same community theater is a police detective who has the job of identifying and catching the thief.

• Кавказская пленница, или Новые приключения Шурика (1967)

  
  This is the second of the Shurik films. Our student hero is spending the summer in the Caucuses on a research project to collect information about local culture and traditions. He is invited to participate in a ceremonial kidnapping of the bride which turns out to be a real kidnapping.

• Свядба в Малиновке (1967)

  During the civil war which followed the 1917 revolution the wedding of a shepherd Andreyka to Yarinka is approaching when suddenly a group of bandits led by a local man named Gratsian Tavricheckiy drops by. Yarinka catches the eye of Gratsian and he begins making threats in an effort to force her to agree to marry him instead.

• Золотой теленок (1968)

  Part 1 Part 2
  The Golden Calf
  Ostap Bender, a con man in the Soviet Union in the 1920's learns of a clandestine millionare named Alexandr Koreiko who has accumulated wealth through corruption. This Koreiko has to pretend to live on an office clerk's salary while keeping his ill-gotten gains in a suitcase, waiting for the fall of the Soviet Union so he can spend it. Bender and his friends collection evidence of Koreiko criminal activities and blackmail him to get a large share of the cash. But Bender finds that in the Soviet Union millions are just as useless to him as they were to Koreiko.

• Бриллиантовая рука (1969)

  
  Diamond Arm
  An ordinary Soviet citizen becomes an unwilling participant in a diamond smuggling operation while on a trip abroad. The authorities arrange a sting in which he participates. This endangers his life, his relationship with his wife, and throws him into madcap adventures.

• Сокровища пылающих скал (1969)

  
  The Treasure of the Smoking Cliffs
  Boy's adventure story with an expedition to an island and danger from people with machine guns.

• Белое солнце пустыни (1970)

  
  White Sun of the Desert
  Fyodor Sukhov is fighting in the Soviet side in the Russian Civil War (1917--1922) in the Central Asian desert and thinking of his beloved wife back home. They are fighting guerrillas whose leader is named Abdullah. During a skirmish Abdullah flees abandoning his harem. Sukhov takes the women under his protection, finds them accommodations, and attempts to modernize them and convince them to stop wearing the burqa and reject polygamy. This makes little impression on them as they consider that he, having captured them in battle, is now their rightful husband. While comical at times, this is a war movie. The violence is not 'graphic', but the body count is high and a number of sympathetic characters are killed. There is also an extended scene in which two men get very drunk while chatting at a kitchen table.

• Джентльмены удачи (1971)

  
  Gentlemen of Fortune
  Thieves steal a fantastic helmet of Alexander the Great unearthed during an archaeological dig. They are caught, but will not say where they have hidden it. The police and the director of the dig persuade a kindly kindergarten teacher to let them plant him in prison to impersonate the head of the gang to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. They then arrange an escape for him and 'his' gang. He has to lead the gang until they retrieve the helmet.

• Двенадцать стульев (1971)

  Part 1 Part 2
  Twelve Chairs
  In the Soviet Union in 1927 a civil registrar nicknamed Kisa learns from his dying mother-in-law that when the Bolsheviks came to power the family jewels were hidden in one of twelve chairs of their dining room set. The Bolsheviks confiscated the furniture and the chairs are now scattered. Kisa is determined to find the treasure. A con man named Ostap Bender gets wind of it and forces Kisa to accept his help in exchange for a share. Comic situations ensue as they attempt to track down and aquire all of the chairs.

• Иван Васильевич меняет профессию (1973)

  
  Ivan Vassilevich Changes Occupation
  This is the third and final Shurik film and one of the most-loved films of the Soviet era. This time Shurik has built a time machine in his Moscow apartment. When opens a portal into the 16th century everyone panics and in the confusion Ivan the Terrible ends up in the inventor's apartment while a nosy neighbor and a curious burglar who was attracted by the disappearing walls are left stuck in his palace in the past. Comical adventures ensue.

• Большая перемена (1973)

  Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
  The Long Break
  Young and promising historian Nestor Petrovich Severov is offended when Polina, the girl he loves, beats him to a coveted graduate position. He breaks off his relationship with her and goes into self-imposed "exile" as the teacher of a night school. Made for TV in four one-hour episodes.

• Семнадцать мгновений весны (1973)

  Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12
  Seventeen Moments of Spring
  Story of a Soviet spy under cover as a German officer during the Second World War

• Всадник без головы (1973)

  
  The Headless Horseman
  A well-known Soviet Western based on the novel The Headless Horseman by the influential 19th century American novelist Mayne Reid. (Not to be confused with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.) I beautiful girl named Louise falls in love with poor mustanger Maurice Gerald. When her brother is murdered the evidence points to Maurice who is saved from lynching only by the sudden appearance of a mysterious headless man on horseback. Who is this frightening horseman and did Gerald really murder her brother?

• Невероятные приключения итальянцев в России (1974)

  
  The Extrordinary Adventures of Italians in Russian
  An elderly woman dying in a hospital in Italy tells of the treasure she hid in Russia. Her granddaughter travels there to retrieve it, but is followed by two petty crooks and a mafia boss who want to get to it first. Crazy stunts and adventures follow.

• Ирония судьбы, или С легким паром! (1975)

  Part 1 Part 2
  A mother suggests her grown bachelor son invite his girlfriend over for New Year's Eve. She intends to leave them alone together in the hope that he will finally make up his mind and marry the girl. But that afternoon his friends invite him to the public sauna where they all get drunk and they mistakenly put him on a plane from Moscow to Leningrad instead of the member of their group who was supposed to fly. When he arrives he, not yet knowing what has happened, gets into a taxi, gives his home address and is driven to the same address in Leningrad. Due to Soviet standardization there is a building here just like his and an apartment just like his and his key even fits. He does not notice the different furnishings and goes to sleep only to be woken up by a very angry girl who lives there. Much confusion and many difficulties ensue before everything is resolved.

• Дерсу Узала (1975)

  
  The story of Dersu Uzala (1849--1908), a Goldi trapper and hunter and his friend Vladimir Arsenyev for whose expedition he served as guide. Mosfilm got Akira Kurosawa to direct this one. Filmed on location in the Russian Far Eastern wilderness. Won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and other awards. Wikipedia

• Служебный роман (1977)

  Part 1 Part 2
  An Office Romance
  A timid accountant and his overbearing plain-Jane boss fall in love. It is not a musical, but it is know for the songs heard in the background during some scenes. These include "Моей душе покоя нет" with words by Robert Burns (yes, that Robert Burns, translated by Samuil Marshak) and music by Andrei Petrov. This film also contains many sly references to the dysfunctions of the Soviet Union.

• Усатый нянь (1977)

  
  Mustached Nanny
  A young man has dropped out of college and has failed to hold down a steady job. The local Housing Committee is tired of his mooching ways and wants something done. A woman who runs a child care center offers to try him on the night shift.

• Москва слезам не верит (1979)

  Part 1 Part 2
  Moscow Does not Believe the Tears
  This film is known in the West because it won the 1981 Oscar for best foreign film. A girl is asked to look after a posh apartment Moscow in the 1950's. She invites her girlfriend to stay with her invites and several young men hoping to snag an upper-class husband. The girlfriend (who becomes the main character) gets pregnant by one of the young men and has a hard life raising the child alone. Has two or three instances of implied extramarital sex involving the main character including a brief affair with a married man.

• Пираты XX века (1979)

  
  Pirates of the 20th Century
  Through trickery pirates seize a Soviet ship which is carrying cocaine for pharmacutical use. More violent than other Soviet adventure movies. IMDB Wikipedia

• Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон (1979)

  Part 1 Part 2
  Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson
  Doctor Watson notes the strange behavior and strange visitors of his new roommate, one Sherlock Holmes. He suspects that Holmes is is connected with the criminal world.

• Собака Баскервилей (1981)

  
  The Hound of the Baskervilles
  Sherlock Homes is asked to help Sir Henry Baskerville whose estate is being terrorized by a giant hound which calls to mind a figure from a local myth. Holmes sends Doctor Watson to investigate.

• Будьте моим мужем (1982)

  
  Be My Husband
  A scatterbrained and hot-tempered divorced woman with a young son tricks a pediatrician on vacation into looking after her son for a few hours. She then tricks him into pretending to be her husband.

• Женатый холостяк (1982)

  
  A Married Bachelor
  Tamara, a young woman with a child has been repeatedly abandoned and divorced by his husband whom her parents have never met. Now she is going home to visit them. A nice young man on a train to whom she tells her story decides on his own to go to her parents house and pretend to be her husband to help her save face. Her parents are thrilled to meet him. Only Tamara has a problem with the situation.

• Спортлото-82 (1982)

  
  Sport Lottery 82
  Action adventure comedy. Four strangers traveling together in one railway compartment are all reading identical copies of the same mystery novel. The young man eats the girl's food my mistake and buys her a lottery ticket to make up for it. She picks numbers and give him the ticket to hold for her. He puts it in his book. When a few days later he learns that her ticket has won the 20,000 ruble jackpot he finds he has the wrong book. Meanwhile the other two passengers also know she won and are trying to get their hands on the ticket.

• Сокровища Агры (1983)

  
  Part 1 Part 2
  The Treasures of Agra
  Based on the Sherlock Holmes stories The Sign of the Four and A Scandal in Bohemia.

• Вокзал для двоих (1983)

  
  Railway Station for Two
  A man has taken the blame for an auto accident in which a pedestrian was killed even though it was actually his wife who was behind the wheel. Now he is awaiting trial in a prison camp in Siberia. He is summoned by the governor of the prison and told he is getting a pass for a few days so he can meet his wife for a conjugal visit in a village 10 kilometers outside the camp and pick up an accordian for the camp. If he comes back late he will be considered to have escaped. He immediately meets with misadventures which delay him and throw him into the company of a waitress named Vera who serves him in a railway station restaurant. Vera rejects the boyfriend with home she has been living and he rejects his faithless wife so they can be together.

• Любовь и голуби (1984)

  
  Love and the Doves
  A married man lives in a village and raises doves. As compensation for an occupational injury he gets a free trip to the seaside. There a fancy lady seduces him and he takes up living with her. But when he hears that she has visited his wife, he returns home. In time his wife forgives him, but his son is not willing to forgive.

• Гостья и будущего (1985)

  Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
  Guest from the Future
  A schoolboy follows a mysterious woman into a time machine and ends up 100 years on the future. There he learns that space pirates intend to steal a mind-reading device from a girl scientist. To prevent this he snatches the device and flees into his own time with the pirates and the girl in persuit. Similiar in style and feel to Doctor Who from the same time period though because the main characters are all young children it sometimes has the feel of a Stratmeyer Syndicate novel. Story by well-known science fiction author Kir Bulychev. A classic of children's television. Introduced the hit song Прекрасное далёко.

• Самая обаятельная и привлекательная (1985)

  
  The Most Charming and Attractive A vivacious girl working in a research institute is distressed that at 30 she is still unmarried. She accepts the help of a girlfriend to make herself more attractive to men so that she can catch a particular man women find attractive. This leads to various comic situations, life valuable lessons learned, and of course to true love.

• В поисках капитана Гранта (1986)

  (7 Parts)
  In Search of Captain Grant
  A high-quality version of Jules Verne's The Children of Captain Grant. A wealthy benefactor takes the son and daughter of this missing captain Grant to look for him. They visit South American and Australia having numerous adventures. Made for TV in seven one-hour episodes.

• Двадцатый век начинается (1986)

  Part 1 Part 2
  The Twentieth Century Begins
  Based on four Sherlock Holmes stories: The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb, The Adventure of the Second Stain, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans His Last Bow.

• Человек с бульвара Капуцинов (1987)

  
  A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines
  A tongue-in-cheek western. Mr First comes to a Western town with a new technology: the motion picture. He arranges showings in the local saloon. This raises the cultural tone in town until Mr. Second shows up and starts showing low-brow slapstick films.

• Забытая мелодия для флейты (1987)

  
  A Forgotten Melody for Flute
  An ironic melodrama with fantasy elements. Leonid Filimonov, a former flute player, has a comfortable but soul-sucking job in a Soviet agency where his job is to makes sure there is no politically dangerous ambiguity in the arts. When he has a heart attack and meets a nurse named Lida with whom he starts an extramarital affair. His wife kicks him out, but later changes her mind and asks him to return. Afraid of loosing his career, he does so but dreams of rebelling and telling the bosses exactly what he thinks of their worthless organization and going to live with Lida.