1976
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 ...
four episode
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...
television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
directed by
Mark Zakharov
Mark Anatolyevich Zakharov (russian: Марк Анатольевич Захаров; 13 October 1933 – 28 September 2019) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film director, screenwriter and pedagogue best known for his fantasy parable movies. He ...
Ilf and Petrov
Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Feinsilberg or russian: Илья Арнольдович Файнзильберг, 1897–1937) and Yevgeny Petrov (Yevgeniy Petrovich Katayev or russian: Евгений Петрович Катаев, 1902–1942 ...
.
It is the second full length adaptation of the novel in the Soviet Union (the first was directed by Leonid GaidaiThe very first partial film adaptation in the USSR was made by Alexander Belinsky who shot the television film "The Twelve Chairs" in 1966; the film was not a full adaptation of the novel, but merely an adaptation of some chapters) and is the sixth one in the world.
Plot
The film takes place in 1927 from April to October in the Soviet cities of Stargorod,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, Vasyuki,
Pyatigorsk
Pyatigorsk (russian: Пятиго́рск; Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody where there is an international airport and about ...
,
Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz (russian: Владикавка́з, , os, Дзæуджыхъæу, translit=Dzæwdžyqæw, ;), formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () and Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia. It is located i ...
,
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
, and
Yalta
Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Cri ...
.
The quiet life of registrar Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov is rocked by the sudden death of his mother-in-law Claudia Ivanovna, who admits that she sewed her diamonds into the seat of one of the twelve chairs belonging to their former living room set in order to hide it from Soviet forces, who had been confiscating treasures from everyone.
Vorobyaninov decides to track down the treasure. Before he can begin his quest, Ippolit Matveyevich meets a young swindler named Ostap Bender who coerces him into agreeing to help in the search in exchange for a percentage of the profit. Unfortunately, the town priest Father Fyodor also learns of Claudia Ivanovna's secret as part of her confession and decides to find the chair himself. Bender dreams of using the profits to move to
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, which he believes to be the greatest place in the world.
The companions go on the hunt for the chairs across the whole country, encountering many unique and interesting characters, and competing against each other along the way. In the end, they find eleven out of the twelve chairs and return to Moscow without finding the treasure. Somehow, Bender manages to track down the last missing chair and informs Ippolit Matveyevich, whom he has taken to calling Kisa, about this before he goes to sleep. Because they have inspected all the other chairs and found nothing, both know that the treasure is hidden in this last chair. Kisa decides to seize the treasure for himself and kills the sleeping Ostap by cutting his throat with a straight razor. However, Vorobyaninov fails to retrieve the treasure because the Railroad Club caretaker had accidentally discovered the diamonds in the chair and "Comrade Krasilnikov", the club's manager, has already built a new club with the money.
Ostap Bender
Ostap Bender (russian: Остап Бендер; in ''The Twelve Chairs'' he called himself Ostap-Suleyman-Berta-Maria-Bender- Bey, in ''The Little Golden Calf'' he called himself Bender-Zadunaysky, in later novels he was also called Ostap Ibragim ...
*
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 Bezenchuk
*
Anatoli Papanov
Anatoli Dmitrievich Papanov (russian: Анатолий Дмитриевич Папанов, links=https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Папанов,_Анатолий_Дмитриевич, translit=Anatoliy Dmitriyevich Papanov, label=; 31 October 1 ...
as Vorobyaninov
*
Rolan Bykov
Rolan Antonovich Bykov (russian: Ролан Антонович Быков; October 12, 1929 – October 6, 1998) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, director, screenwriter and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1990).
Early life
R ...
as Father Fyodor
*
Aleksandr Abdulov
Aleksandr Gavrilovich AbdulovАбдулов Г. Д. Ферганский г� ...
as engineer Schukin
*
Tatyana Pelttser
Tatyana Ivanovna Pelttser (russian: Татья́на Ива́новна Пе́льтцер; german: Tatjana Peltzer; June 6, 1904 in Moscow – July 16, 1992 in Moscow), was a Soviet and Russian theater and film actress. People's Artist of ...
Lyubov Polishchuk
Lyubov Grigoryevna Polishchuk (russian: Любо́вь Григо́рьевна Полищу́к; 21 May 1949 – 28 November 2006) was a popular Russian actress. She was born in the Siberian city of Omsk. After school she decided to become a ...
as dancer
*
Mark Zakharov
Mark Anatolyevich Zakharov (russian: Марк Анатольевич Захаров; 13 October 1933 – 28 September 2019) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film director, screenwriter and pedagogue best known for his fantasy parable movies. He ...
*
Vsevolod Larionov
Vsevolod Dmitriyevich Larionov (russian: Всеволод Дмитриевич Ларионов; September 11, 1928 in Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union – October 8, 2000Vera Orlova as Yelena Stanislavovna Bour
*
Eduard Abalov
Eduard Gaikovich Abalov (Abalyan) (russian: Эдуа́рд Га́йкович Аба́лов (Абаля́н), hy, Էդուարդ Աբալյան); 7 October 1927 – 5 August 1987) was a Soviet film actor and director.
Filmography
As director
...
Themes and analysis
The Twelve Chairs, much like its source material, is a social critique of society, opining on themes such as religion, culture, economic policy, morality and the transformation of Russia under communism. Vorobianinov represents the old guard of Russians of the Russian Empire, while Bender himself is the epitome of the new Russian people under the rule of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
" Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspape ...