'' The Twelve Chairs'' () is a 1976 four-episode

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

directed by

Mark Zakharov Mark Anatolyevich Zakharov (; 13 October 1933 – 28 September 2019) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film director, screenwriter and pedagogue best known for his fantasy parable movies. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1991. Zakharo ...

based on the 1928

novel of the same name A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of '' ...

Ilf and Petrov Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Feinsilberg or , 1897–1937) and Yevgeny Petrov (Yevgeniy Petrovich Katayev or , 1902–1942) were two Soviet prose authors of the 1920s and 1930s. They did much of their writing together, and are almost alway ...

. It is the second full length adaptation of the novel in the Soviet Union (the first was directed by Leonid Gaidai) and is the sixth one in the world.

Plot

The film takes place in 1927 from April to October in the Soviet cities of Stargorod,

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Vasyuki,

Pyatigorsk Pyatigorsk (; Circassian languages, Circassian: Псыхуабэ, ''Psıxwabæ'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located on the Podkumok River, about from the town of Mineralnye Vody, which has an i ...

Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz, formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () or Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus, situated on the Terek (river), Terek River. ...

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, and

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

. The quiet life of registrar Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov is rocked by the sudden death of his mother-in-law Claudia Ivanovna, who admits that she sewed her diamonds into the seat of one of the twelve chairs belonging to their former living room set in order to hide it from Soviet forces, who had been confiscating treasures from everyone. Vorobyaninov decides to track down the treasure. Before he can begin his quest, Ippolit Matveyevich meets a young swindler named Ostap Bender who coerces him into agreeing to help in the search in exchange for a percentage of the profit. Unfortunately, the town priest Father Fyodor also learns of Claudia Ivanovna's secret as part of her confession and decides to find the chair himself. Bender dreams of using the profits to move to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, which he believes to be the greatest place in the world. The companions go on the hunt for the chairs across the whole country, encountering many unique and interesting characters, and competing against each other along the way. In the end, they find eleven out of the twelve chairs and return to Moscow without finding the treasure. Somehow, Bender manages to track down the last missing chair and informs Ippolit Matveyevich, whom he has taken to calling Kisa, about this before he goes to sleep. Because they have inspected all the other chairs and found nothing, both know that the treasure is hidden in this last chair. Kisa decides to seize the treasure for himself and kills the sleeping Ostap by cutting his throat with a straight razor. However, Vorobyaninov fails to retrieve the treasure because the Railroad Club caretaker had accidentally discovered the diamonds in the chair and "Comrade Krasilnikov", the club's manager, has already built a new club with the money.

Cast

* Andrei Mironov as

Ostap Bender Ostap Bender () is a fictional confidence trick, con man and the central antiheroic protagonist in the novels ''The Twelve Chairs'' (1928) and ''The Little Golden Calf'' (1931) written by Soviet authors Ilya Ilf Ilf and Petrov, and Yevgeny Petrov ...

Anatoli Papanov Anatoli Dmitriyevich Papanov (; 31 October 1922 – 5 August 1987) was a Soviet and Russian actor, drama teacher, and theatre director at the Moscow Satire Theatre where he served for almost 40 years. A prominent character actor, Papanov is mos ...

as Vorobyaninov *

Georgy Vitsin Georgy Mikhailovich Vitsin (; 18 April 1917 – 22 October 2001) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. People's Artist of the USSR (1990). Biography Vitsin was born in Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg in 1917 (Soviet documents list h ...

as Bezenchuk *

Rolan Bykov Rolan Antonovich Bykov (October 12, 1929October 6, 1998) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, director, screenwriter and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1990). Early life Rolan Bykov was born to Anton Mikhailovich Bykov and Ol ...

as Father Fyodor *

Aleksandr Abdulov Aleksandr Gavrilovich AbdulovАбдулов Г. Д.
Ферганский г� ...

as engineer Schukin *

Tatyana Pelttser Tatyana Ivanovna Pelttser (; ; June 6, 1904 in Moscow – July 16, 1992 in Moscow), was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actress. People's Artist of the USSR (1972). Biography Tatyana Ivanovna Pelttser (or Peltzer) born into the family ...

as Madame Petukhova *

Lidiya Fedoseyeva-Shukshina Lidiya Nikolayevna Fedoseyeva-Shukshina (; born 25 September 1938, in Leningrad) is a Russian actress and widow of writer, actor and director Vasily Shukshin. She is the mother of actress and TV presenter Maria Shukshina. Biography Lidiya Fedosey ...

as Madame Gritsatsuyeva *

Lyubov Polishchuk Lyubov Grigoryevna Polishchuk (; 21 May 1949 – 28 November 2006) was a popular Russian actress. She was born in the Siberian city of Omsk. After school she decided to become an actress and moved to Moscow. She made her debut in cinema in 197 ...

as dancer *

Vsevolod Larionov Vsevolod Dmitriyevich Larionov (; September 11, 1928 in Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union – October 8, 2000Vera Orlova as Yelena Stanislavovna Bour *

Eduard Abalov Eduard Gaikovich Abalov (Abalyan) (, ; 7 October 1927 – 5 August 1987) was a Soviet film actor and director. Filmography As director * ''At a Quiet Harbor'' (1958) * ''At a Far Point'' (1970) * ''Northern Rhapsody'' (1974) As actor * ''Clea ...

Filming

In the scene of the meeting of the "Union of Sword and Plowshare", according to the director's idea, a talking parrot had to be present. The trainer introduced his pet as "the smartest and most talking parrot", but the bird did not speak after a minute or half an hour. "Well, apparently he's not in the mood to talk today. But now he will definitely show you how contagiously he can laugh," the trainer did not give up and began to laugh, looking expectantly at the bird. The parrot, in response, still stared intently at his master, continuing to be silent. The director, losing patience, gave the command to start shooting, and to voice the parrot in postproduction. But at the words "Camera, motor!" the parrot immediately started up and began to laugh contagiously.

Themes and analysis

The Twelve Chairs, much like its source material, is a social critique of society, opining on themes such as religion, culture, economic policy, morality and the transformation of Russia under early communism. Vorobianinov represents the old guard of Russians of the Russian Empire, while Bender himself is the epitome of the new Russian people under the rule of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. According to Alexander Melman ('' MK''), Zakharov's Bender is "a disappointed intellectual to the core, a sad clown in the highest sense of the word" and all director's theatrical and film works contain a lot of personal: "70-80's, stagnation, you say? And he took the paint of everyday life and painted, composed together with the much-needed Grisha Gorin, brightened up the gray day. These were the happiest creative years. And after all, everyone understood: the Soviet people were complex, irresistible, smart in hindsight, and whatever, so they read all these Zakharov's allusions, hints, maxims at once."."Марк Захаров снимал Остапа Бендера про самого себя"
In Russian

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Twelve Chairs, The (1976 film) 1976 films 1976 television films 1970s comedy mystery films 1970s musical comedy films 1970s Soviet films 1970s Russian-language films Russian-language musical comedy films Soviet musical comedy films Soviet adventure comedy films 1976 in the Soviet Union 1970s crime comedy films Soviet crime comedy films Russian-language crime comedy films Soviet television miniseries 1970s Soviet television series Studio Ekran films Ilf and Petrov Films directed by Mark Zakharov Films scored by Gennady Gladkov 1976 comedy films 1976 musical films