by Leonid Gaidai
The movie opens with a man screaming at his hand. How can you top that?
I don’t even know where to begin with this. It’s a comedy with time travel, tsars and impostors. In some ways it will look pretty camp to 21st century Americans, and maybe the director intended that. There are some chase scenes which look like Benny Hill’s inspiration. There are Russian historic sites pressed into cinematic duty. There is a building superintendent who looks like Ivan the Terrible. Mistaken identities load it up for a screwball comedy of errors.
It’s amazing to think that this came out in the same year as Soylent Green or Westworld. Soviet film was definitely up to something different behind the Iron Curtain. Consider this a peek behind it.
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