''Dead Souls'' (russian: Мёртвые души, Myortvye dushi) is a 1984

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

miniseries directed by

Mikhail Schweitzer Mikhail (Moisei) Abramovich Schweitzer (russian: Михаил (Моисей) Абрамович Швейцер, 16 February 1920, Perm – 2 June 2000, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter. People's Artist of the USSR ( ...

, based on Nikolai Gogol's epic poem of the same name. This story has been shared in many different interpretations. In 1930, author Mikhail Bulgakov was commissioned to write the first adaptation of this novel for the Soviet stage at the

Moscow Art Theater The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; russian: Московский Художественный академический театр (МХАТ), ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ)) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was f ...

. The 1984 miniseries was based on the 1960 film adaptation directed by

Leonid Trauberg Leonid Zakharovich Trauberg (russian: Леонид Захарович Трауберг, 17 January 1902 – 14 November 1990) was a Ukrainian Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 17 films between 1924 and 1961 and was awarded the S ...

, which was inspired the Moscow Art Theater script. This story was also adapted as an opera in the 1980s as an American-Soviet production that first opened in Boston. The first cinematic interpretation of this work was directed by

Pyotr Chardynin Pyotr Ivanovich Chardynin (russian: Пётр Иванович Чардынин) ( – 14 August 1934) was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwriter and actor. One of the pioneers of the film industry in the Russian Empire, Chardynin direc ...

in 1909.

Synopsis

This is a small-screen rendering of Gogol's epic poem critiquing the class system in 19th-century Russia by the same name. In this film, main character Tchitchikov travels through the countryside buying dead souls, or serfs who had deceased. By purchasing the deed to these "property," Tchitchikov is able to improve his social standing at a discount as these individuals were still accounted for in property registers postmortem and the rights to ownership for deceased serfs was less than that of the living. Dead Souls is a critique and satire of middle class life in Imperial Russia.

Cast

* Aleksandr Trofimov – Nikolai Gogol * Aleksandr Kalyagin – Chichikov * Yuri Bogatyryov – Manilov *

Larisa Udovichenko Larisa Ivanovna Udovichenko (russian: link=no, Лариса Ивановна Удовиченко; born 29 April 1955, Vienna, Austria) is a Russian actress. People's Artist of Russia (1998).

– Manilov's wife *

Tamara Nosova Tamara Nosova (russian: Тамара Макаровна Носова; 21 November 1927 – 25 March 2007) was a Soviet and Russian actress, who was awarded the title of People's Artist of Russia in 1992. She appeared in 27 films between 19 ...

– Korobochka * Vitali Shapovalov – Nozdryov * Aleksei Zaitsev – Selifan * Viktor Sergachyov – Mizhuyev, Son-in-law *

Maria Vinogradova Maria Sergeyevna Vinogradova (russian: Мари́я Серге́евна Виногра́дова; 13 July 1922 – 2 July 1995) was a Russian actress. She appeared in more than one hundred films from 1940 to 1995. Filmography References ...

– Mavra *

Innokenty Smoktunovsky Innokenty Mikhailovich Smoktunovsky (russian: Иннокентий Михайлович Смоктуновский; born ''Smoktunovich'', 28 March 19253 August 1994) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was named a People's Artist ...

– Plushkin *

Vyacheslav Nevinny Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Nevinny (russian: link=no, Вячесла́в Миха́йлович Неви́нный; 30 November 1934 – 31 May 2009) was a Soviet and Russian actor who was titled a People's Artist of the USSR in 1986. He worked in t ...

– Sobakevich *

Yuri Volyntsev Yuri Vitalyevich Volyntsev (russian: Юрий Витальевич Волынцев; 28 April 1932 – 9 August 1999) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1984).Русский драматический те� ...

– Alexei Ivanovich, Chief of Police * Inna Churikova – Lady, nice in every respect *

Lidiya Fedoseyeva-Shukshina Lidiya Nikolayevna Fedoseyeva-Shukshina (russian: Лидия Николаевна Федосеева-Шукшина; born 25 September 1938, in Leningrad) is a Russian actress and widow of writer, actor and director Vasily Shukshin. She is the mo ...

– Lady, just nice * Irina Malysheva – Governor's daughter *

Yelizaveta Nikishchikhina Yelizaveta is a Russian feminine given name, and is a cognate of Elizabeth. Notable people with the name include: *Grand Duchess Yelizaveta Mikhaylovna of Russia (1826–1845), the second child and daughter of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia ...

– Sobakevich's wife * Valeri Malyshev – Mikhei * Aleksei Safonov – Public prosecutor

References

External links

* * * * * * 1984 films 1984 comedy films Films scored by Alfred Schnittke Soviet comedy films Russian comedy films Mosfilm films Soviet television miniseries Films based on works by Nikolai Gogol Films based on Russian novels Films directed by Mikhail Shveytser 1980s Soviet television series 1980s television miniseries {{1980s-USSR-film-stub