Twelve Chairs (1971)

Two gentlemen of fortune from the times of Imperial Russia are looking for the uncountable treasure at the dawn of Soviet Union age.

Director:

Leonid Gayday

Writers:

Ilya Ilf (novel), Yevgeni Petrov (novel)

Stars:

Archil Gomiashvili, Sergey Filippov, Mikhail Pugovkin

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Archil Gomiashvili	...	Ostap Bender
Sergey Filippov	...	Kisa Vorobyaninov
Mikhail Pugovkin	...	Father Fyodor
Natalya Krachkovskaya	...	M-me Gritsatsuyeva
Natalya Vorobyova	...	Ellochka Schukina
Glikeriya Bogdanova-Chesnokova	...	Yelena Stanislavovna Bowr
Nina Grebeshkova	...	Musik / Tsaritza Tamara
Yuriy Nikulin	...	Dvornik Tikhon
Natalya Varley	...	Liza
Klara Rumyanova	...	Katerina Alexandrovna, Father Fyodor's wife
Leonid Gayday	...	Varfolomey Korobeynikov
Igor Yasulovich	...	Engineer Schukin
Georgiy Vitsin	...	Stage worker Mechnikov
Saveliy Kramarov	...	Chess club chairman
Viktor Pavlov	...	Kolya

Storyline

A former aristocrat Ippolit Vorobyaninov leads a miserable life in Soviet Russia. His mother-in-law reveals a secret to him - she hid family diamonds in one of the twelve chairs they once had. Vorobyaninov in cooperation with a young con artist Ostap Bender start a long search for the diamonds.

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Plot Keywords:

crook | russia | aristocrat | mother in law | con artist | 

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Taglines:

Amerika Be Seated!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian Lithuanian German Georgian French

Release Date:

2 November 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

12 Chairs

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mosfilm,Eksperimentalnoe Tvorcheskoe Obedinenie

Technical Specs

Runtime:

161 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Georgiy Daneliya was originally set to direct, but he yielded the job to Leonid Gayday who wanted to direct the movie.

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Goofs

During the boat chase, a white triangle, presumably a sail, is seen as Ostap circles the overturned boat; would not be visible during the true night scene.

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Crazy Credits

17 minutes before the ending there is an intertitle stating: There are 00 hours, 17 minutes and 19 seconds before the end of the film.

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Connections

Version of L'eredità in Corsa (1939)

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Soundtracks

Bozhe czarya hrani
(uncredited)
written by Alexis Lvov

User Reviews

Could be better

As a big fan of Ilf and Petrov's masterpieces I couldn't watch this version. It contains quite simple Gaidai's humor but not sharp and intelligent humor of authors. Zakharov's version is much closer to book and embodies original jokes. And, of course, genius Mironov is No2 Ostap Bender after Yurski. Though actors are great in both versions, 77's did the best. The very important part of Ilf & Petrov's literature is the author's voice, which was masterfully implemented in 1977 (by the way the one who worked as author's voice was famous Rolan Bykov, who played Panikovsky in 1968 Zolotoy Telenok (Golden Taurus)) but Gaidai didn't use such feature and lost the majority of book's spirit.