''Carnival Night'' () is a 1956

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

. It is

Eldar Ryazanov Eldar Aleksandrovich Ryazanov (; 18 November 1927 – 30 November 2015) was a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter, poet, actor and pedagogue whose popular comedies, satirizing the daily life of the Soviet Union and Russia, are celebrat ...

's first big-screen film, and Lyudmila Gurchenko's first role. It is also one of the most famous films starring popular comedian Igor Ilyinsky. Produced during the

Khrushchev Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw (, or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s when Political repression in the Soviet Union, repression and Censorship in ...

, the film became the Soviet box office leader of 1956 with a total of 48.64 million tickets sold. Today it remains a highly popular

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

classic in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and the

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

Plot

It is

Novy God ''Novy God'' or ''Noviy God'' () is a New Year celebration observed in Russia, in post-Soviet states, and globally by the diasporas of post-Soviet states. The holiday was promoted by the Soviet Union as a secular holiday that would supplant ...

and the employees of a House of Culture are ready with their annual New Year's entertainment program. It includes a lot of dancing and singing,

jazz band A jazz band (jazz ensemble or jazz combo) is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a ho ...

performance and even magic tricks. Suddenly, an announcement is made that a new director has been appointed and that he is arriving shortly. Comrade Ogurtsov arrives in time to review and disapprove of the scheduled entertainment. To him, holiday fun has a different meaning, he imagines speakers reading annual reports to show the club's progress over the year and a lecturer speaking for 40 minutes about the possibility of life on the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. And, perhaps, a bit of serious music, something from the Classics, played by the Veterans' orchestra. Obviously, no one wants to change the program with only a few hours before the show, much less to replace it with something so boring. So everyone teams up in order to prevent Ogurtsov from getting to the stage. They manage to trap Ogurtsov by any means necessary so that the acts can perform their scheduled pieces, and celebrate New Year's Eve as originally planned.

Cast

* Igor Ilyinsky as Serafim Ivanovich Ogurtsov, acting club director * Lyudmila Gurchenko as Lena Krylova * Yuri Belov as Grisha Koltsov, electrician * Andrei Tutyshkin as Fyodor Petrovich Mironov, bookkeeper * Olga Vlasova as Adelaida Kuzminichna Romashkina, librarian * Tamara Nosova as Tosya Burigina, Ogurtsov's secretary * Georgi Kulikov as Seryozha Usikov, painter * Gennadi Yudin as Jazz band Conductor * Vladimir Zeldin as Nikolayev, Tip Clown * Boris Petker as Nikolay Sidorov, Top Clown * Sergei Filippov as Comrade Nekadilov, lecturer * Shmelev Sisters as Singing Waitresses * Gusakov Brothers as Step Dancers * Tamara Sokolova and Petr Pomazkov as Dancers

Crew

*Director:

*Writers: Boris Laskin, Vladimir Polyakov *Cinematography: Arkady Koltsaty *Composer: Anatols Liepiņš ( Anatoly Lepin) *Music orchestration: Eddie Rosner, also jazz band leader (uncredited)

Production

Mosfilm's director of that time Ivan Pyryev was the one who appointed Eldar Ryazanov to direct the picture despite Ryazanov not having interest in musicals at that time. Pyryev was heavily involved in the making of the film, assisting Ryazanov every step of the way. Because the picture was Ryazanov's first directorial experience, the young director was met with severe skepticism and after seeing half of the filmed material the artistic council was convinced that the film would turn out to be a huge failure. Initially Lyudmila Gurchenko was rejected for the role of Lena Krylova by director Eldar Ryazanov and the artist council. Another actress was hired, however she could not handle the part. Then Ryazanov came to Pyryev with the appeal to hire a new actress, adding that anyone but Gurchenko should be signed up for the role of Krylova. But when Pyryev later saw Gurchenko in the Mosfilm corridor, he decided that there was something special about her. Pyryev brought her to the set and announced that she will act in the film. The film was made in five months, with most of the scenes shot in the Russian Army Theatre.

Soundtrack

The song «Любовь — это счастье» ("Love is a Happiness") sung by Gurchenko was not included in the film.

Sequel

In 2006 Ryazanov made a sequel to the picture, called ''Carnival Night 2, or Fifty Years Later'' starring

Alyona Babenko Alyona Olegovna Babenko (; ; born March 31, 1972) is a Russian film and theater actress, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (2013). Biography Elena Baranova, known professionally as Alyona Babenko was born in Kemerovo, Russian SFSR, Soviet ...

and

Sergei Bezrukov Sergey Vitalyevich Bezrukov (; born 18 October 1973) is a Soviet and Russian film and stage actor, singer, People's Artist of Russia, the laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation. He currently works at Tabakov Studio (the theatre of ...

. The film garnered mostly negative reviews.Грандиозный провал
In Russian

References

External links

* 1956 films 1956 musical comedy films 1950s Soviet films 1950s Russian-language films Films directed by Eldar Ryazanov Mosfilm films Soviet musical comedy films Films set around New Year 1956 directorial debut films Russian-language musical comedy films {{1950s-USSR-film-stub