Le bras de diamant

A regular guy goes on a cruise abroad, gets mistaken for a mafia courier and receives a load of diamonds in the bandage on his broken arm. Mafia tries to return the goods, KGB tries to catch mafia, and our hero struggles in between. Tons of great humor. Many jokes from this absolutely hilarious comedy have made it into everyday language. I would like to invite visitors to see pictures from the movie and watch a detailed trailer at RussArt.com. Those who read Russian can find more materials useful: reviews, actor biographies, articles, etc.

Pictures: http://russart.com/?moviepictures&mid=10

Trailer: http://russart.com/?movietrailer&mid=10

a comedy with many virtues - the director, the script, the performance of Yuri Nikulin, the dialog and the wise manner to critic the Soviet regime. part from a long and precious Russian comedies, it seduce first for Gayday courage. because the fake crime story is a precise fresco of society. and the dialogs reflects in great measure that "sin". than, it is a deep human comedy, the small incorrect details , the use of innocence and, maybe, the end, does it a form of parable , more than satire. a film for each age, beautiful and fresh, full of emotion and laughter. an old fashion Russian film. who can reminds, in a crazy period, the importance of small real important ingredients of life.

This movie was never intended for foreign audiences. It is simply way too Russian (or too Soviet, actually) to be funny for anyone not familiar with the realities of local life. Most of the real comedy comes from Mironov and Papanov, who play hilarious villains on the track to recover stolen jewels, mistakenly put into Nikulin's arm cast. Russian-speaking audiences will enjoy Papanov's one-of-a-kind "Ukrainian" accent, but the jokes are too ethnic for anyone else to understand. Nikulin (a circus clown turned great comic actor) isn't particularly believable in an unfamiliar role of a good guy (his characters usually also were drunken and hilarious crooks), but turns in an adequate performance. Mironov is at his usual fast-talking, silly self, and Papanov is a riot. Mordyukova steals several scenes in a small role of a house superintendant, a towering woman with a thunderous voice. Overall, a terrific Soviet comedy, the kind they simply don't make anymore.

This is a comedy that stood the test of time. I've recently bought the newly released DVD of this movie and it's worth every penny. Of course I've seen this comedy a million times on TV and video, but the DVD makes this funny in a whole new way. I believe that even english speaking audiences will love this flick if they get the DVD. The translation into English is superb. Speaking Russian myself , it's actually very funny to hear this Soviet cinema classic translated into English , having seen it only in Russian before. Now , I believe that even our friends in Turku, Finland would find this film funny. Mironov , Nikulin and Papanov give superb comical performances by any standards. And the actors who's voices are used to dub this film into english are an excellent match. What can I tell you, go to your nearest Russian video store and get this DVD, you'll love it.

Perfect from the first till the last minute. Not a single word in this movie said in vain - this is absolute masterpiece of comedy. But I do not believe that it is possible to translate it properly into English - so, you have to know Russian language (and you've got to have a good idea of Russian realities of 70th) to be able to fully enjoy it. This movie was, I believe, the first soviet comedy which contained a short "sexual" scene (topless actress shot from behind). Many lines from this film are now living their own lives - you can hear quotations on TV, in people talks, in other movies - while some of those who uses it do not remember the words origin. Must have, must see - anyway!