Zolotoy telyonok

The film is a screen adaptation of the cult novel "The Golden Calf" by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov. The book is the sequel to "Twelve Chairs" and both are among the most deservingly famous and adored, wittiest satirical books written during the Soviet period. I believe that the film "Zolotoy Telyonok" is the most successful adaptation of Ilf and Petrov's works due to the skillful directing by Mikhail Schweitzer, spectacular B/W cinematography and unmatched performances by some of the most talented Soviet actors.

"The Twelve Chairs", the first Ostap Bender novel is the funny story with the dramatic end that depicts the adventures of a con-man (Ostap) and a former nobleman (Kisa Vorobianinov) in post-revolution Russia of 1920th in search for a chair with the hidden diamonds. Presumably dead at the end of the first book, charming and irrepressible Ostap Bender – who respected the law and knew hundreds of legal ways to make people part with their money (Sergey Yursky, the best screen Ostap) was resurrected in a sequel, "Zolotoy telyonok" ("The Golden Calf"), an equally humorous but more serious and sharper satire on the drawbacks of the Soviet System. In "Zolotoy Telyonok", Bender discovers an "underground Soviet millionaire", Alexander Koreiko (Bender meets his match in the seemingly plain and insignificant accountant with 46 rubles per month salary Alexander Ivanovich Koreiko) and blackmails him in hopes to extort one million rubles and fulfill his "crystal" dream of moving to Rio de Janeiro. In his quest, he has been helped by the hilarious trio of the characters - young and naive ex-convict, Shura Balaganov, an older unlucky con-man, Panikovsky (the brilliant performance by one of the most beloved Russian actors, Zinoviy Gerdt) and the sad-eyed driver of the unique and ugliest car, Adam Kozlevich. Bender eventually learns that it is easier to get a million rubles in Soviet Russia than to spend it. Would he be able to cross the border and see Rio de Janeiro?

The version I watched not long ago of Ilf and Petrov's previous novel of Ostap Bender, "The Twelve Chairs" distinguished itself by unashamedly combining a 1920s setting with a 1970s look and feel. This film goes a very different route with no less success and goes all out for a reconstruction of the film style of the 1920s, complete with authentic-looking title cards to set the scenes. Combined with its sound (and excellent 1920s music) and accommodating running time, it makes for an unusual, pleasant and suitable feel.

This film's greatest advantage is that it is completely in the spirit of Ilf and Petrov's hilarious, adventurous, subversive, and even somewhat humanizing novel. The book builds its effect on may small incidents, and it would have seemed a challenge to choose which to include even in a two-part film adaptation, but this one makes these choices seem perfectly natural.

The biggest asset of them all is Sergey Yurskiy, who for me now embodies the hero Ostap Bender. He's a con man you can feel for (He just wants to go to Rio De Jinero!), and his wry, knowing looks and addresses at the camera are, funny, effective at building sympathy, and at the same time as they are a tribute to the time of such artists as Oliver Hardy and Charley Chase, they also add a postmodern touch.

If this adaptation is not as much fun as is source material, it is only for taking less time to finish!