Tonino101

Well, if only this could be as great as the book... The Yursky film proved that there can be a proper adaptation of this novel. In fact, it was very watchable. But this dud is overly long and plain boring. Also, there are too many actors who can't act. Menshikov, being a decent actor, is an exception, but even he overacts more often than not. It doesn't seem like he wants to be in this movie. The others, though, are much, much worse. And the director is most at fault, as she turned this yarn into an unfunny attempt at farce. I don't know who is so patient that he can sit through all these episodes. I definitely wasn't.

I didn't expect much, but, all in all, it is not a bad film. Very strong performance by both leads portraying a city girl and a country girl as lifelong friends, and the storyline is rather moving. The writing at times is a suspect, as it often gets overly ridiculous. The man obsessed with hens, etc., etc. The depiction of country life is bordering caricature. With a better writer, this could be a seriously good film. But even what we've got in the end is very watchable and engaging.

This combination of fantasy, musical, extravaganza and silliness doesn't really work. It could be a brilliant satire, a "The Good Soldier Svejk"-like grotesque; it could be something similar to Milos Forman's "The Firemen's Ball", but, unfortunately, it isn't. The basic premise had the potential; the idea of turning guns into clarinets and vice versa was a good one. However, the directors were too obsessed with playing it safe in Communist Czechoslovakia and making the viewers "have a good time". In the end, silliness prevails, and the film doesn't live up to its cult status.