Say a Word for the Poor Hussar

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Say a Word for the Poor Hussar
Stanislav Sadalskiy
Oleg Basilashvili
Valentin Gaft
Yevgeny Leonov
Narrated byAndrei Mironov
CinematographyVladimir Nakhabtsev
Music byAndrey Petrov[1]
Production
company
Release date
January 1981
Running time
167 minutes
CountrySoviet Union
LanguageRussian

Say a Word for the Poor Hussar[2] (Russian: О бедном гусаре замолвите слово),[3] translit. O bednom gusare zamolvite slovo. Literary “Put a good word for a poor hussar”) is a 1981 Soviet film directed by Eldar Ryazanov, shot in the style of a historical tragicomedy.

Plot

A regiment of

Russian Emperor
with a special mission.

Some officers of the hussars regiment are suspected of "

penal servitude
.

For the role of the "conspirator" Merzlyaev hires Bubentsov, an actor who is in jail for stupid carelessness. Merzlyaev's ruse goes perfectly, but all of a sudden

Cornet
Alexei Pletnev, one of the officers who should carry out an execution, lets the "rebel" Bubentsov go free.

Merzlyaev is ready to take any action to save his plan and his reputation, to create any abomination, but is unable to defeat love and generosity of honest people...

Cast

Music

The music for the film was written by the prominent Soviet composer

Mikhail Arkadyevich Svetlov. Later, an album of music based on the film was released, which was recorded with the participation of the USSR State Committee for Cinematography Orchestra (conductor Sergei Skripka
) and the State Wind Orchestra of the RSFSR.

Filming scandal

The film proved to be an ordeal for Eldar Ryazanov. The screenplay was written in the summer and autumn of 1978. The

political police
" represented in the movie by Gendarmes. Despite all his attempts to change the decision of TV authorities, Ryazanov could not do anything.

Then Ryazanov and Gorin made a decision to rewrite the script. The general meaning of the film was immediately distorted, the story developed numerous inconsistencies and logical absurdities. Merzlyaev became an indistinct official with special assignments. To emphasize his involvement in the secret services, he was awarded the rank of Actual Privy Councilor. Such rank, equal to that of the

general
, in the Russian Empire, could be held only by high-ranking officials of the ministerial level. It looked unlikely that an official of such rank would personally come to a provincial town and get engaged in petty intrigues.

Total control and censorship continued in the course of the filming. In his autobiography Ryazanov tells of flagrant cases of such intervention. For example, in one of the humorous episodes, actor Bubentsov (played by Yevgeny Leonov) was supposed to quote the famous poem by

Pushkin
's poem: "I sit behind bars in a damp prison ..."

Ryazanov, wrote in his book: Working over the film "Say a Word for the Poor Hussar" was not only a test for professionalism, it was a test for integrity, honesty and generosity. The content of the movie corresponded to our lives, to our work. The provocations, intrigues, infamies, that were described in our scenario, we had tested on ourselves while shooting the movie. Every scene that was planned to be shot tomorrow, as a rule, was remodel, refined, and appended the day before, which also increased the chaos and confusion on the film set. Perhaps "Say a Word for the Poor Hussar" was my most difficult work. Blows rained down on from all sides, from within and without. [5]

References

  1. ^ Дискография Андрея Петрова
  2. ^ "О бедном гусаре замолвите слово". Kinopoisk.ru. 2013-08-19. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  3. ^ "О бедном гусаре замолвите слово (1980) - информация о фильме - советские фильмы - Кино-Театр.РУ". Kino-teatr.ru. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  4. ^ Дубль семь. Несыгранные роли ЖЖ Станислава Садальского. 1 августа 2014
  5. ^ Эльдар Рязанов «Заэкранье» Воспоминания Retrieved 2009-09-17.

External links

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