Vesyolye rebyata (1934)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Grigori Aleksandrov

Writers:

Grigori Aleksandrov (writer)
Nikolay Erdman (writer)

Release Date:

24 March 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Merry Fellows was the first Soviet musical comedy. Set in Odessa and Moscow in the 1930's. Shepherd...

Cast

Leonid Utyosov	...	Kostya Potekhin
Lyubov Orlova	...	Anyuta
Mariya Strelkova	...	Yelena
Yelena Tyapkina	...	Yelena's Stepmother
Fyodor Kurikhin	...	Mortician (as F.N. Kurikhin)
Emmanuil Geller
A. Arnold	...	Conductor
Robert Erdman	...	German music teacher (as R. Yerdman)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mariya Ivanova

Also Known As:

Весёлые ребята (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Jazz Comedy
Jolly Fellows (USA) (video box title (POLart))
Moscow Laughs (USA)
The Happy Guys
The World Is Laughing (USA) (video title (POLart))

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S

Company:

Moskinokombinat

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Katyn (2007)

Our first musical comedy and definitely one of the greatest

It is a highly musical film completely devoid of any depression and political propaganda. Such films help us to get a close look at ourselves and to understand how lazy we all are nowadays ("we are a lazy generation" - remember "Burnout 3: Takedown"?). Look at today's musical films - they cannot keep the pace with this old comedy. The film was restored in 1978 (if I remember it correctly) and the version I've watched is pretty good. During singing the movement of the actors' lips and the sound of the voice are not always matching each other but that's not important. The quality of the sound is very satisfactory and lets the viewer hear wonderful voices of our best 20th century actors in their full glory.

Among the numerous funny scenes I would like to point out the following "signature moves" which really attracted my attention:

1) the camera's glide along the bodies of sunbathing holidaymakers (feet, backs, buttocks, feet, feet, backs, etc.) - that's something I've never seen in a movie; 2) the "beat-'em-all" sequence: the ultimate "disassembly" of the whole band (instruments included) - that's something even Mr Jacky Chan has to watch closely and admire; 3) "the raining race": the guys from the band "Merry Fellows" are riding a catafalque to get to the theatre and this race looks simply insane.

Together with "Volga - Volga" (1938) it is a brilliant example of our best musical comedies. If you should call some classics of this genre "cult", then don't forget "Vesyolye rebyata" (1934). It is one of those examples when you can easily skip the imperfections and enjoy the whole piece.

Mr Leonid Utyosov gives, quite possibly, his best performance and Mrs Lyubov Orlova shines again.

When I have more time and inclination, I shall add more details to my comment. Meanwhile, 10 out of 10. Thank you for attention.