12 stulev

This is pure genius - every word, every movement, and yet it doesn`t seem like they are orchestrated. There`s a feeling of improvisation through the movie. Mironov is like a flying comet, you almost see the sparks.The humor is so powerful that gets tears rolling, but I`m afraid only for those who are acquainted with Russian history and can understand the situations. I`m not at all sure that any translation could bring this across cultural boundaries. It should be watched in Russian and with good prior knowledge. Ten out of ten and it flows over that ! P.S. Previous, older version of "12 chairs" is not even comparable with this masterpiece.

This my first time writing a review on IMDb, but I could not resist 'cause this movie is a brilliant, exceptional masterpiece. It is larger-than-life (or at least as close to it as only possible)! It is extremely funny, sad and philosophically loaded at the same time. About how many things could one say that!? The tandem Mironov-Papanov here is one of the best in the history of cinema.

Many years ago I saw an American movie (do not remember which one) where the character was explaining that if there was a fire and he could save either the last copy of a Shakespeare play or a human life he would save the Shakespeare copy. Although I completely disagree with this attitude, one of the things I would ALMOST choose to save in such a situation instead of a human life would be the '12 chairs' with Mironov-Papanov...

The supporting cast and locations are good, the music delightful, but I was disappointed by Mironov and Papanov. Mironov is surprisingly wooden and humorless, without the sparkle that characterizes Ostap Bender. The film suffers for it. Papanov takes his cue from Mironov's performance, plodding through the film without contributing much. They were capable of far better things. Lenoid Gaidai's version is not perfect, but on the whole, it conveys the feel of the book better. On the plus side, this version retained many of the minor characters dropped from the earlier film, but if you haven't read the book, they won't be missed one way or another.

I don't speak Russian (though Russia accounts for 100% of my ancestry) but I've had occasion to get familiar with those works of Ilf & Petrov that have been translated into English. I've read and own every translation and while I was at it, decided to acquire as many of the cinematic adaptations as I could, which wound up being most of them, through various online sources.

12 CHAIRS has given rise to 15 available video versions (some for TV, one the recording of a stage musical) with one from India yet to follow. Some just use the basic plot as a springboard, eight are relatively faithful to the novel and differ primarily in tone and approach. If you know the novel well, they're easy to follow, even without Russian fluency. This miniseries being among them.

While I agree with the posters who believe the 1971 Gaidi feature film is superior -- it may be the iconic adaptation of the story, plus it's simply brilliant filmmaking -- this 1977 miniseries has its advantages and charms. It seems clear that director Mark Zakharov was very interested in channeling the spirit of the 20s in which it is set, and in doing so by emulating styles of performance, comedy, music and cinema of the period. He doesn't emulate them so much as put them through a filter to form a coherent contemporary film with an old school sensibility. The controversy (in these IMDb reviews) about Andrey Miranov's interpretation of Ostap Bender stems from (what seems to me) the fact that he's fulfilling Zakharov's 1920-esque vision. The look and the style are very consciously reminiscent of high-style, yet somewhat cool, romantic leading men like Valentino (in fact I'm willing to bet that Valentino was a conscious model). And I think whether or not you dig the miniseries will depend on whether or not you sign on for the particular ride the director wants to take you on. I was happy to go along.

My caveat is that despite the brilliance of individual sections, over the long haul the pacing seems slow-ish. (The '71 Gaidi film is perfectly paced, by contrast.) But it's still a fascinating miniseries, for its cultural perspective alone.

Also highly recommended for followers of Ostap are the two Russian adaptations of his second adventure, THE (LITTLE) GOLDEN CALF. Check out the stunningly brilliant 1968 film starring Sergei Yursky, and the periodically brilliant but always very good (and wonderfully cast) 2005 miniseries starring my favorite Ostap of all, Oleg Menshikov.

I am not wondering that this movie has such a low rating in imdb. As you can see from the current valuation of this movie, it has a very high average mark, more then movies from top 10 of imdb. It is understandable, because this is the best comedy ever made. I have seen almost all movies from top 250 of imdb and I don't hesitate to admit that this movie is the best. The reason why this movie is so underestimated is a poor marketing of this movie. I am even convinced that it is not translated to any language. Although, if someone can't enjoy this movie in original, a lot would be lost. So, it is even worth to learn Russian to watch this masterpiece. This movie has the best script, the best actors and the best director. The previous make of Soviet Union movie industry was not so brilliant as this one. The reasons of failure of previous product are a not enough elaborated script and the choice of not appropriate actors. I am forced to acknowledge that some Russian actors and one director are better then anyone in Hollywood or Western Europe. I am not a Russian and I even don't like Russians' mentality and traits and features of character of "an average Russian". I hope the Russian movie industry will redeem this error by a far better marketing of this Zakharov's masterwork. However, I doubt about it. This movie should be in top 10 of imdb!