''Gentlemen for a Day'' ( bg, Господин за един ден, italic=yes, translit=Gospodin za edin den) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film released in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, directed by Nikolay Volev, starring Todor Kolev and

Itzhak Fintzi Itzhak Fintzi (Izko Finzi) ( bg, Ицхак Финци (Ицко Финци)) (born 25 April 1933) is a Bulgarian film and stage actor. He was born in Sofia, where he graduated from the dramatic art academy. He graduated from the Bulgarian Nat ...

. The screenplay is written by Nikola Statkov based on his short stories ''“The Outlander”'' and ''“The Mister”''. The main character Purko (Todor Kolev) is a poor peasant with many children, constantly starting extravagant initiatives to get out of poverty during the hard times between the two

world wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

. The only consolation he finds in the music with his

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

and his inborn musical talent until one day he meets an elegant couple from a town. They promise him prosperity if he mortgages his house and invests the money in their business. This is the second out of three super hit films, featuring Todor Kolev in the leading role, released during the 1980s. The others are '' The Double'' (1980) directed also by Nikolay Volev and '' Dangerous Charm'' (1984) directed by

Ivan Andonov Ivan Asenov Andonov ( bg, Иван Асенов Андонов; 3 May 1934 – 29 December 2011) was a Bulgarian film director and actor. He directed more than thirty films, and is best known for his cinematography on '' Ladies' Choice'' (198 ...

. The performance by Kolev, with a reference to the great comedians of the silent cinema,Details
at

Bulgarian National Television The Bulgarian National Television ( Bulgarian: Българска национална телевизия, ''Balgarska natsionalna televizia'') or BNT (БНТ), stylized as ·Б·Н·Т· since 2018, is a public television broadcaster of Bulgaria ...

received a broad critical acclaim.

Cast

* Todor Kolev as Asparuh Kanchev - Purko *

as the tax-collector *Yordanka Stefanova as Purko's wife * Stoyan Gadev as the priest *

Ivan Grigorov Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

as Mito the barefooted (a fellow-villager) * Nikola Pashov as the village mayor *

Ivan Obretenov Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

as a fellow-villager * Trifon Dzhonev as Bay Linko, the tavern-keeper *Veliko Stoyanov *

Pavel Popandov Pavel (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian, Russian language, Russian, Serbian language, Serbian and Macedonian language, Macedonian: Павел, Czech language, Czech, Slovene language, Slovene, Romanian language, Romanian: Pavel, Polish language, Po ...

* Georgi Mamalev as the engineer Kerkelezov (eccentric inventor) *Boris Radinevski *Kina Mutafova

References

Sources

* *

External links

*
''King for a Day''
at the

{{in lang, bg 1980s Bulgarian-language films 1983 films 1983 comedy-drama films Bulgarian comedy-drama films Films set in Bulgaria Films shot in Bulgaria