''Volga-Volga'' (russian: Волга-Волга) is a

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 ...

musical comedy directed by

Grigori Aleksandrov Grigori Vasilyevich Aleksandrov or Alexandrov (russian: Григо́рий Васи́льевич Алекса́ндров; original family name was Мормоненко or Mormonenko; 23 January 1903 – 16 December 1983) was a prominent Soviet ...

, released on April 24, 1938. It centres on a group of amateur performers on their way to

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 ...

to perform in a talent contest called the Moscow Musical Olympiad. Most of the action takes place on a steamboat travelling on the

Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

. The lead roles were played by Alexandrov's wife,

Lyubov Orlova Lyubov Petrovna Orlova (russian: link=no, Любовь Петровна Орлова ; – 26 January 1975) was a Soviet and Russian actress, singer, dancer and People's Artist of the USSR (1950). Life and career She was born to a family o ...

, and

Igor Ilyinsky Igor Vladimirovich Ilyinsky (russian: И́горь Влади́мирович Ильи́нский; 24 July 1901 – 13 January 1987) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, director and comedian. Hero of Socialist Labour (1974) and People ...

. According to Orlova, the name of the film is taken from a popular Russian folk song, '' Stenka Razin'', that Alexandrov sang while rowing with

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

. Chaplin jokingly suggested the words as a title for a movie, but Alexandrov took it seriously and named his new film ''Volga-Volga''. The feature was said to be Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin's favourite film.

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

in his memoirs says that in the pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

period Stalin laughed at him since he resembled a character from the film. The film is a glorification of

Moscow Canal The Moscow Canal (russian: Кана́л и́мени Москвы́), named the Moskva–Volga Canal until 1947, is a canal in Russia that connects the Moskva River with the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Mosc ...

but there is not any hint in the film that this canal was built by

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

prisoners. In 1961, a new version of a movie was released, with the "Joseph Stalin" ship cut. In 2006, a colorization of the original black-and-white film began. The colorized version premiered on the Russian First Channel on February 14, 2010.

Background

Before ''Volga-Volga'',

Grigory Aleksandrov Grigori Vasilyevich Aleksandrov or Alexandrov (russian: Григо́рий Васи́льевич Алекса́ндров; original family name was Мормоненко or Mormonenko; 23 January 1903 – 16 December 1983) was a prominent Soviet ...

wrote a script about a female

taper Taper may refer to: * Part of an object in the shape of a cone (conical) * Taper (transmission line), a transmission line gradually increasing or decreasing in size * Fishing rod taper, a measure of the flexibility of a fishing rod * Conically t ...

(a ballroom cinema pianist), Katya Muratova, who could not find a better job after finishing her conservatory studies. It was based on his wife

's biography. When the film is torn, as was a regular occurrence in the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

era, it takes time to repair the film, and the pianist has to fill the gap in order to calm down the audience, who is shouting "Bunglers!" and whistling in rage. So, the female pianist plays classical music and it usually works. But one time, the projectionist, delighted with her performance, deliberately delays the repair, and Katya Muratova performs the entire classical piece. The "purist" part of the public demanded that the theatre perform "the classics" instead of vulgar films; the other, of course, is against it. A fight ensues, and in the end, the cinema is smashed to pieces, and the taper is fired as a result. Unfortunately, the original film script was never given a green light, but the conflict between supporters of classical and contemporary music was incorporated into the film ''Volga-Volga'' by the director, with the addition of

angst Angst is fear or anxiety (''anguish'' is its Romance languages, Latinate cognate, equivalent, and the words ''anxious'' and ''anxiety'' are of similar origin). The dictionary definition for angst is a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insec ...

and Lyubov Orlova playing the opposite of her Katya Muratova part.

Plot

In the provincial city of Melkovodsk along the banks of the Volga river, the musically inclined letter carrier Dunya Petrova, aka "Arrow" travels on a barge to carry an important message to Ivan Byvalov. Arrow has a great passion for music, and wishes to be a singer. Also travelling with Arrow is her boyfriend Alesha Trubyshkin, the conductor of a classical orchestra. She breaks up with him after he insults her song-writing abilities. Byvalov is an ambitious, pompous and rather boorish apparatchik who is hoping for promotion that will take him to a job in Moscow, and is most interested in her message. Arrow delivers the message to Byvalov, which is that Moscow wants amateur performers for the Moscow Musical Olympiad. Byvalov replies that no one has any musical talent in Melkovodsk, and he can send no performers. Arrow then leads what appears to be the entire population of the city in a series of songs and dances intended to prove the people do have musical talents. Byvalov finally agrees to send performers when he realizes this is a chance to go to Moscow. Two groups of performers led by Trubyshkin and Arrow board a paddle-wheeler to go to Moscow, but Byvalov expels the group led by Arrow under the grounds that they have no musical talent while allowing Trubyshkin and his orchestra to stay. Undeterred, Arrow and her group board a raft and then a sailing boat to race the paddle-wheeler to Moscow. A series of comic mishaps occur as the two groups race to Moscow and along the way, Trubyshkin and Arrow exchange vessels, when both go looking for each other. Arrow and her group finally board the modern ship ''Iosif Stalin'', where she finishes off ''The Song of the Volga'' that Trubyshkin disparaged. Due to a storm, the lyrics and notes for the song are lost. Arrow is heart-broken when she discovers that her song has become the most popular song in the Soviet Union after the lyric notes are discovered, fearing that she will never receive the credit she deserves. Trubyshkin finally recognizes her musical talent and the two reconcile. In Moscow, Byvalov is credited as the author of the song because the lyrics are written on paper from his office; after first trying to take the credit, it is revealed that he has no musical ability. Reflecting his general ignorance, Byvalov names various long dead classical composers as the author before he is forced to admit that Arrow wrote ''The Song of the Volga''. After a frenetic search, Trubyshkin and Arrow appear together at the Moscow Musical Olympiad and sing ''The Song of the Volga'' to great acclaim, winning the prize for best song. In what appears to be a reference to the ''Yezhovshchina'', Arrow breaks the fourth wall to address the audience, saying that apparatchiks such as Byvalov are being disposed of.

Cast

- Ivan Byvalov, head of management at a small handicraft industry in the city Melkovodsk. The antagonist of ''Volga-Volga''. *

- Dunya Petrova (aka 'Arrow' russian: Стрелка,

Strelka Strelka may refer to: Places * Strelka (inhabited locality), several inhabited localities in Russia including: ** Strelka, Amur Oblast ** Strelka, Lesosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai ** Strelka, Vologda Oblast ** Strelka, Voronezh Oblast * a small cape a ...

), letter carrier. The protagonist of ''Volga-Volga''. *

Vladimir Volodin Vladimir Sergeyevich Volodin (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Серге́евич Воло́дин; 1896 – 1958) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1947). He died on March 27, 1958 in Moscow, and ...

- old pilot *

Pavel Olenev Pavel Olenev (russian: link=no, Павел Алексеевич Оленев; 1898 – 1964) was a Soviet and Russian film actor. He died on January 19, 1964, in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR, and was buried at the Vagankovo Cemetery Vagankovo Cemetery (r ...

- Kuzma Ivanovich, water carrier / chef (reciter) *Andrey Tutyshkin - Alesha Trubyshkin, accountant and Arrow's boyfriend. *Sergey Antimonov - janitor Okhapkin *Anatoly Shalaev - young composer *Maria Mironova - Zoya, secretary of Byvalov. *Nikita Kondratyev - Philip Ivanovich, waiter *

Vsevolod Sanayev Vsevolod Vasilyevich Sanayev (Все′волод Васи′льевич Сана′ев; 25 2, o.s.February 1912 in Tula, Russian Empire – 27 January 1996 in Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet film and stage actor popular in the 1960s–1970s. Sanay ...

- bearded lumberjack / member of the symphony orchestra *Aleksey Dolinin - policeman *Ivan Chuvelev - chairman of the jury of the Olympics

Gallery

File:Волга-Волга-кадр-1.jpg,

and Maria Mironova File:Волга-Волга-кадр-2.jpg, Igor Ilyinsky File:Волга-Волга-кадр-3.jpg,

File:Волга-Волга-кадр-4.jpg, Lyubov Orlova File:Волга-Волга-кадр-5.jpg, Andrey Tutyshkin

References

External links

* *
''Stalin's favourite film restored in colour'', AFP, 12/02/2010.
1938 films Mosfilm films Films set in Moscow Films set in Ural Films set in the Soviet Union Films set on ships Soviet black-and-white films 1930s Russian-language films Films directed by Grigori Aleksandrov 1938 musical comedy films Soviet musical comedy films Russian musical comedy films Films shot in Moscow Films shot in Moscow Oblast Films shot in Nizhny Novgorod Films shot in Perm Krai Films shot in Russia Articles containing video clips Films scored by Isaak Dunayevsky Russian black-and-white films {{1930s-comedy-film-stub