''The Safety Match'', or ''The Swedish Match'' () is a 1954

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 ...

comedy film directed by

Konstantin Yudin Konstantin Konstantinovich Yudin (; 1896–1957) was a Soviet film director. Biography Born in the Semyonovskoe village near Dmitrov (now Dmitrovsky District, Moscow Oblast) into a Russian working-class family, one of the five children of Konst ...

, an adaptation of

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

's 1884 story of the same name.State Central Museum of Cinema. National adaptations of Anton Chekhov's writings
at ProfiCinema, 30 January 2015 (in Russian) The film tells the story of a meticulous investigator who unravels a web of deceit, obsession, and mistaken motives while searching for a missing man presumed murdered, only to uncover him alive and drunk in an unexpected hiding place.

Plot

Gardener Yefrem notices that his master, retired cornet Klyauzov, has suspiciously not woken up for a week and hasn't left his bedroom. Klyauzov's manager, Psekov, concludes that Klyauzov has been murdered and informs the local constable. Investigator Chubikov and his assistant Dyukovsky arrive and break down the bedroom door, only to find that Klyauzov—dead or alive—is not there. The meticulous Dyukovsky, attentive to every detail, deduces that Klyauzov was smothered with a pillow (which bears teeth marks) while removing his boots (one boot is in the bedroom, the other later found in the garden). He also discovers a burned Swedish match on the floor, unusual since Klyauzov used sulfur matches. Suspicions fall on Klyauzov's servant Nikolay and manager Psekov. Dyukovsky, who knows everyone's secrets, uncovers a potential motive: both men (along with Chubikov and Dyukovsky himself) were infatuated with Akulka, a woman of questionable virtue who favored Klyauzov over them. However, Dyukovsky realizes inconsistencies in his theory: someone like Psekov wouldn't commit such a murder personally, and someone like Nikolay wouldn't use a pillow. He concludes that Klyauzov's sister, an Old Believer with her own motive, might be involved. The Swedish match then leads Dyukovsky to another accomplice—Olga Petrovna, the young wife of the constable, who was hopelessly in love with Klyauzov. Indeed, Chubikov and Dyukovsky find Klyauzov alive, healthy, and predictably drunk, being held as a "prisoner" by Olga in an abandoned bathhouse.

Cast

Alexey Gribov Alexey Nikolayevich Gribov (November 26, 1977) was a Soviet and Russian actor, "master of all types of Russian national character"Inna SolovyovaAlexey Nikolayevich Gribovarticle at the Moscow Art Theatre website (in Russian) mostly remembered fo ...

as Magistrate Nikolai Yermolayevich Chudikov * Andrei Popov as Detective Emil Dyukovsky *

Mikhail Yanshin Mikhail Mikhailovich Yanshin () (20 October 1902 – 17 July 1976) was a Soviet stage and film actor. Biography Yanshin was born in the city of Yukhnov, located in the present-day Kaluga Oblast. As a young man he worked as a carpenter. In 1919 ...

as Police Capt. Yevgraf Kuzmich *

Nikolai Gritsenko Nikolai Olimpievich Gritsenko or Mykola Olimpiiovych Hrytsenko (December 8, 1979) was a Soviet theater and film actor. He appeared in more than 30 films between 1942 and 1978. Gritsenko also was member of the Vakhtangov Theatre company in Mosco ...

as Psekov, estate manager * Nikolai Kurochkin as Yefrem, majordomo * Vladimir Kolchin as Nikolai Tetekho *

Tamara Nosova Tamara Makarovna Nosova (; 21 November 1927 – 25 March 2007) was a Soviet and Russian actress, who was awarded the title of People's Artist of Russia in 1992. She appeared in 27 films between 1948 and 1999. She was married to writer Vita ...

as Akulina * Ksenia Tarasova as Maria Ivanovna Klyauzova * Marina Kuznetsova as Olga Petrovna *

Mikhail Nazvanov Mikhail Mikhailovich Nazvanov (; 12 April 1918 – 13 July 1964) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was awarded Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1949. Biography Mikhail Nazvanov was born in Moscow in the wealthy family of a large t ...

as Mark Ivanovich Klyauzov * Vladimir Pokovsky as The Doctor * Georgy Gyeorgiu as Police Official

Critics

Elena Bauman of the

Soviet Screen ''Soviet Screen'' () was an illustrated magazine published in the USSR with varying frequency from 1925 to 1998 (with a break from 1941–1957Fifty years from the date of the first issue of Soviet Screen — 1975. — P. 18-19.) The magazine co ...

magazine called the movie "one of the first signs of the new "free" cinema" (referring to 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 ...

era) "which — as it seemed — accidentally stepped over the stone-dead canons, playfully challenged the sedate art style of those years". According to her, even the title challenged the official patriotic campaign against

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

s, while the movie itself worked as a satire on

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

. At the same time, she noted the superb ensemble cast that consisted of some of the biggest comedy names and a very authentic portrait of

's period and writings.

Legacy

During 2015 which was declared the Year of Literature in Russia ''The Safety Match'' was widely shown at various film festivals and retro movie screenings across the country as part of the programme dedicated to 155 years since

's birth.The end of the second day of the XXI Russian film festival "Literature and Cinema"
at the

Gatchina Gatchina (, ) is a town and the administrative center of Gatchinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies south-south-west of St. Petersburg, along the E95 highway which links Saint Petersburg and Pskov. Population: It was pr ...

city portal, 18 April 2015 (in Russian)

References

External links

* *
The Safety Match
' at

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, d ...

1954 films Soviet crime comedy films 1950s Soviet films 1950s Russian-language films 1950s crime comedy films Mosfilm films Films based on works by Anton Chekhov 1954 comedy films Films based on short fiction Russian-language crime comedy films {{1950s-USSR-film-stub