''A Girl with Guitar'' (russian: Девушка с гитарой) is 1958 Soviet

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

film directed by Alexander Feinzimmer. After the success of the film ''

Carnival Night ''Carnival Night'' (russian: Карнавальная ночь, Karnavalnaya noch) is a 1956 Soviet musical film. It is Eldar Ryazanov's first big-screen film, Lyudmila Gurchenko's first role and also one of the most famous films starring popular ...

'' starring

Lyudmila Gurchenko Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko (née Gurchenko; russian: link=no, Людмила Марковна Гурченко; 12 November 1935 – 30 March 2011) was a popular Soviet and Russian actress, singer and entertainer. She was given the honorary title ...

the script of the film ''A Girl with a Guitar'' was written counting on her popularity. The film was shot on the eve of the

6th World Festival of Youth and Students The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students was held from 28 July to 5 August 1957 in Moscow, capital city of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The festival attracted 34,000 people from 130 countries. This became possible after the po ...

, held in Moscow in the summer of 1957, and became the first Soviet feature film dedicated to this significant event. The film premiered on September 1, 1958. The film was a success with the audience. At the end of the year, ''А Girl with Guitar'' took the tenth place in the attendance rating, gathering over 31.9 million viewers,Magdalena Waligórsk
"Music, Longing and Belonging: Articulations of the Self and the Other in the Musical Realm"
2014, pp. 19-21 although it could not repeat the success of ''Carnival Night''.

Plot

Pretty salesgirl of the music store Tanya Fedosova (Lyudmila Gurchenko) dreams of becoming an actress. She often sings. There are always a lot of customers around her. But they annoy the shop director (

Mikhail Zharov Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov (russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Жа́ров; 27 October 1899 – 15 December 1981) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor and director. People's Artist of the USSR (1949) and Hero of Socialist Labour ...

), who is afraid of losing a valuable employee. He tries to prevent the possible career of Tanya, who has all the data to become an actress. Acquaintance of the girl with the young composer (Vladimir Gusev) helps her dream to come true.

Cast

According to kino-teatr.ru: *

as ''Tanya Fedosova'' *

as ''Arkady Sviristinsky'' * Vladimir Gusev as ''composer Korzikov'' *

Faina Ranevskaya Faina Georgievna Ranevskaya (russian: Фаина Георгиевна Раневская, born Faina Girschevna Feldman, — 19 July 1984), is recognized as one of the greatest Soviet actresses in both tragedy and comedy. She was also famous for ...

as ''Zoya Sviristinskaya'' *

Yuri Nikulin Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin (russian: Юрий Владимирович Никулин; 18 December 1921 – 21 August 1997) was a Soviet and Russian actor and clown who starred in many popular films. He is best known for his roles in Leonid ...

as ''pyrotechnic'' * Sergey Blinnikov as ''Vasily Fedosov, Tanya's father'' * Boris Petker as ''Apollon Starobarabantsev'' *

Oleg Anofriev Oleg Andreyevich Anofriyev (sometimes spelled Anofriev, russian: link=no, Олег Андреевич Анофриев; 20 July 193028 March 2018), PAR, was a Soviet and Russian theatreРусский драматический театр: Энци ...

as ''Vanya Savushkin'' *

Larisa Kronberg Larisa Ivanovna Kronberg (also known as Larisa Kronberg-Sobolevskaya and Larisa Sobolevskaya, russian: Лариса Ивановна Кронберг; May 23, 1929 – April 23, 2017) was a Soviet Russian actress and a KGB agent. Biography K ...

as ''cashier'' *

Sergey Filippov Sergey Nikolayevich Filippov (russian: Сергей Николаевич Филиппов, 24 June 1912— 19 April 1990) was a Soviet and Russian film and stage actor and comedian, best known for his parts in films ''Adventures of Korzinkina'' ...

as ''Mamin'' * Boris Novikov as ''Tsyplakov'' *

Mikhail Pugovkin Mikhail Ivanovich Pugovkin (russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Пу́говкин; July 13, 1923, Rameshki, Chukhlomsky District of Kostroma Oblast — July 25, 2008, Moscow) (aged 85) was a Soviet and Russian comic actor named a People' ...

as ''Penkin'' * Sergey Golovanov as ''Kolosov, Chairman of the jury'' * Svetlana Kharitonova as customer *

Georgy Vitsin Georgy Mikhailovich Vitsin (russian: Георгий Михайлович Вицин; 18 April 1917 – 22 October 2001) was a Soviet and Russian actor. People's Artist of the USSR (1990). Biography Vitsin was born in Terijoki, former Finla ...

as buyer * Evgeny Kudryashev as the contestant who told the fable *

Valentin Bryleev Valentin is a male given name meaning "strong, healthy, power, rule, terco". It comes from the Latin name ''Valentinus'', as in Saint Valentin. Commonly found in Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Scandinavia, Latin America ...

as buyer (uncredited) * Gigi Marga as singer from Bucharest (uncredited) * Zinaida Sorochinskaya as shopper (uncredited)

Critical reception

Official Soviet criticism met the film with hostility: "Another Girl", "To the light genre by the… easy way", "Dangerous roll", "In captivity of bad taste" said headlines of Soviet newspapers. Gurchenko gained a reputation the actress of the lung and musical genre. This film was the debut for

. He performed episodic role of the unlucky pyrotechnics so vividly that both the spectators and the directors immediately turned their attention to the novice actor.

Ronald Bergan Ronald Bergan (né Ginsberg, 2 November 1937 – 23 July 2020) was a South African-born British writer and historian. He was contributor to ''The Guardian'' (from 1989) and lecturer on film and other subjects as well as the author (or co-author) ...

, writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', described the film as "bouncy, colour musical full of spectacular numbers, in which Gurchenko plays a pretty young clerk in a Moscow music shop, who sings several songs enchantingly".

br>Lyudmila Gurchenko obituary
The Guardian, 3 April 2011

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Girl with Guitar Soviet musical comedy films 1958 musical comedy films 1958 films Mosfilm films