Iwan Wassiljewitsch wechselt den Beruf

I own two copies of this film, one purchased in Russia (no subtitles), and one I've acquired recently to show it to my wife with subtitles. She wasn't very excited about Russian cinema, she isn't a film person and hates to read subtitles, but this time she gave in.

As many reviewers mentioned before, majority of the humor relies on the verbal misunderstandings between the characters from different time eras, that of 1500's and that of 1970's.

I've paused the film no less than a dozen times to explain such details as the meaning of world "liapota," it being the ancient word for the modern equivalent of "beauty," and to explain Visotskii's (a Russian singer whom Ivan the Terrible listens) lyrics. Also, there are many little social comments that those who haven't lived in, visited, or studied Soviet Union wouldn't understand completely i.e. the obvious ridicule of the "social reports" and the black market commentary.

Nevertheless, she liked it, and I was dumbfounded.

This film is popular and remembered because of its many layers. You may enjoy it simply as slapstick, someone else can view it for the language, while yet others can view it as a social commentary. It adds up if you know the Russian language and history, but even if you don't you will still find it funny and charming because there is always something to take away.

This is one of the greatest comedies produced by the Soviet cinema. It continues to be hugely popular among Russian speaking people (who have all seen it). Even if one does not understand any Russian, the movie is quite watchable in subtitled versions.

The plot itself is a rather standard one about ordinary guys thrust into a strange culture with action and adventure. What makes the movie special is superb acting, witty dialog, good pacing, and engaging music.

This movie deserves a place along side other action-adventure comedies such as The Princess Bride.

Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession is a film capable of appealing to audiences outside the Soviet Union with its universally smart humor. From the onset it is obviously influenced by Western cinema; one cannot tell if Shurik's bedroom is Russian or American until Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov begins playing from the TV. This homogeneous consumer culture is evident all throughout the film, especially in the luxuries of Shpak's apartment, the electronics black market, and the character of Shurik's wife (in the dream plot line). In fact, Shurik's wife in the separate dream world seems almost a caricature of Hollywood with her posters and dreams of falling in love with Yakin and finding fame. Gaidai's camera work utilizes quick photography. This is exemplified in the episode in which Miloslavsky is robbing Shpak's apartment and cannot get out; Gaidai cuts to the many faces of statues and paintings that, in context, are shocked and seem to mock him. This is an amusing riff on the Kuleshov Effect. The sets themselves are also fantastic, and Ivan's (the tsar, not the bureaucrat) palace appears lifted straight out of Eisenstein's 1947 feature. Ivan Vasilievich (both of them), too, is an exact copy of Eisenstein's tsar, pointy beard and all! These visual homages would have been obvious, one assumes, to Russian audiences of the time and surely would have made it all the more comedic. However, Gaidai's humor is not intrinsically Russian, like earlier Soviet comedies, but appeals internationally. The humor lies in the situational: the police/Oprichniki chase, the switching of identities, the mad scientist, even a regal food fight. The only context clues to the time are slight jabs at Soviet rations, the black market, and housing codes. These tropes give the film the ability to transcend the trappings of a fifteen- minute fame, and allow it to be just as funny, if not more, decades later.

An adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's story based on a grotesque collision of different historical periods. Some visual humor involved. A couple of awkward chases and a lot of awesome jokes. One of the best Russian comedies, second to none except 'Brilliantovaya ruka' by the same film director.

It is interesting that the film spans not only the time of Ivan the Terrible and the 70's but also the 20's when Bulgakov's original was written. Although the influence of the 20's is mainly atmospheric, it is nevertheless visible in the fact that most of the character's names sound funny in the way usual for the satirical literature of that period.

Contrary to what may seem to a foreign audience, the chase sequences in the movie serve only as a rather ineffectual background for the main comical action, which is almost entirely verbal and basically relies on the combination of contemporary language with its archaic counterpart of the 16th century - a detonating mixture that is guaranteed to kill the native-speaking audience.

Considering the fact that the movie is featuring some of the most popular Soviet actors, it is not surprising that this low-budget and obviously slap-dash production has managed to gain the nationwide reputation of a classic, with most of its memorable quotes nearly approaching the status of catch-phrases.

The film can be tentatively recommended to advanced learners of Russian and certainly to all those who specialize in the study of this language.

Hi!

As the title of the comment points this is one of the best Soviet comedies ever filmed. And that's is the reason for many people from other countries of the world not to get it's meaning. I would say that even modern day Russians - who have never lived in The Soviet Union, who have no idea what Iron Curtain or Warsaw Treaty Organization is will never understand and enjoy it in full. But anyone who is acquainted with Soviet reality will vote 10 of 10 - I am sure. So do not blame Americans or peoples from other countries for not getting Soviet comedies (those were great; and modern day Russian comedies is pure crap - I am sorry) - they were so very oriented to our former reality that are hard to get in modern days. My score is 20 of 10.