''Springtime'' (russian: Весна, Vesna) is a 1947 Soviet

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 and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

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 ...

and starring

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 ...

Nikolay Cherkasov Nikolay Konstantinovich Cherkasov (russian: Никола́й Константи́нович Черка́сов; 14 September 1966) was a Soviet and Russian actor. People's Artist of the USSR (1947). Career He was born in Saint Petersburg (lat ...

and

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 ...

Plot

Director Arkady Gromov decides to make a film about the life of scientists, presenting them as grim hermits detached from life, completely immersed in research. As a prototype the director decides to use a real scientist – Irina Nikitina, director of the Sun Institute. For the role of "Nikitina", Gromov finds Vera Shatrova, a young

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

actress who is an exact mirror image of her character. Not wanting to interrupt her work in the operetta, Shatrova meets Nikitina and asks her for the time being to double for her on the set. Thus Nikitina for the first time gets to know director Gromov and the screenplay of the future film about scientists. She strongly opposes Gromov's views about the scientific world and explains to the director the errors of his outlook. In turn Nikitina sees how complex and painstaking is the work of filmmakers. Because of the "swap" Nikitina and Shatrova get into many absurd situations but at the end of the film all is resolved swimmingly...

Cast

– Prof. Irina Petrovna Nikitina / Vera Giorgievna Shatrova, actress *

– Arkadi Mikhailovich Gromov, director *

– Margarita Lvovna, Nikitina's housekeeper *

Rostislav Plyatt Rostislav Yanovich Plyatt (russian: Ростислав Янович Плятт; — 30 June 1989) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1961 and awarded the USSR State Prize in 1982. Biograph ...

– Vladimir Ivanovich Bubentsov, sciolist, Margarita Lvovna's admirer * Nikolai Konovalov – Leonid Maksimovich Mukhin, director assistant *

Tatyana Guretskaya Tatiana (or Tatianna, also romanized as Tatyana, Tatjana, Tatijana, etc.) is a female name of Sabine-Roman origin that became widespread in Eastern Europe. Variations * be, Тацця́на, Tatsiana * bg, Татяна, Tatyana * germa ...

– Tatyana Ivanovna, director assistant * Mikhail Sidorkin – Nikolai Semyenovich Roshchin, journalist * Vasiliy Zaychikov – Prof. Ivan Nikolayevich Melnikov * Boris Petker – Akeki Abramovich, theater director *

Rina Zelyonaya Ekaterina Vasilyevna Zelyonaya (russian: link=no, Екатерина Васильевна Зелёная); ( — 1 April 1991, Moscow), better known by her stage name Rina Zelyonaya, was a Soviet actress, singer and comedian. She was named Peopl ...

– gabby film makeup artist

Filming

*The film marked the first appearance of the "Mosfilm" intro with the image of the famous sculpture "

Worker and Kolkhoz Woman ''Worker and Kolkhoz Woman'' () is a sculpture of two figures with a sickle and a hammer raised over their heads. The concept and compositional design belong to the architect Boris Iofan It is 24.5 metres (78 feet) high, made from stai ...

". *The picture incorporates elements of science fiction: in the fictional Sun Institute Irina Nikitina leads the scientific research on the invention of liquid that can accumulate and send out solar energy, and in the finale Nikitina puts on a successful experiment. *Filming took place in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

at the "

Barrandov Studios Barrandov Studios is a set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe. Several major Hollywood productions have been made here, including '' Mission Impossible'', ' ...

" because "

Mosfilm Mosfilm (russian: Мосфильм, ''Mosfil’m'' ) is a film studio which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's film monopoly, its output incl ...

" was not yet fully restored after the war. *In the 1950s, the film was subjected to the censorship: scenes were removed with the building carrying the name "Metropolitan Kaganovich" on one of the stations of the

Moscow Metro The Moscow Metro) is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first unde ...

. This was due to the expulsion of Lazar Kaganovich from the ranks of the ruling elite. In the 1986 "restored" version of the film these scenes have been re-added. *"Irina Nikitina" actually does have an existing prototype -

Zinaida Ershova Zinaida Vasilyevna Yershova (russian: Зинаида Васильевна Ершова; 23 October 1904 — 25 April 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chemist, physicist and engineer. She spent her entire career working with radioactive elements an ...

, Doctor of Chemical Sciences. *The oft-repeated phrase in the movie "The mass of the sun is two

octillion Two naming scales for large numbers have been used in English and other European languages since the early modern era: the long and short scales. Most English variants use the short scale today, but the long scale remains dominant in many non-Eng ...

tonnes" corresponds to scientific data.

Awards

At the

8th Venice International Film Festival The 8th Venice International Film Festival was held from 23 August to 15 September 1947. Screenwriter Vinicio Marinucci was appointed as the President of the Jury. Formally, it still was not the Golden Lion to designate the highest honor of the ...

in 1947 Lyubov Orlova received a special prize for best female acting. The film was also screened at the Mariánské Lázně International Film Festival in the same year and at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

in July 1948.

References

External links

* {{Grigori Aleksandrov Mosfilm films 1940s Russian-language films 1947 musical comedy films 1947 films Films directed by Grigori Aleksandrov Soviet musical comedy films Russian science fiction comedy films Films scored by Isaak Dunayevsky Films shot at Barrandov Studios Soviet black-and-white films 1940s science fiction comedy films Russian black-and-white films