Karnavalnaya noch / Carnival Night

Eldar Ryazanov: Карнавальная ночь / Carnival Night (SU 1956) starring Lyudmila Gurchenko as Lena Krylova.

Карнавальная ночь / Karnavalnaja notsh (translitteration FI) / Karnevaaliyö / Karnevalsnatten.
    SU 1956. PC: Mosfilm. D: Eldar Rjazanov / Ryazanov. SC: Boris Laskin, Vladimir Poljakov / Polyakov. DP: Arkadi Koltsaty - Magicolor. M: Anatoli Lepin. Conductor: Eddie Rozner. Lyrics: V. Lifshits, V. Korystylev.
    Starring Igor Iljinski / Ilyinsky (Serafim Ivanovitsh Ogurtsov), Ljudmila Gurtshenko / Lyudmila Gurchenko (Lena Krylova), Juri Belov / Yuri Belov (Grisha Koltsov), Georgi Kulikov (Serjozha Usikov).
    78 min.
    An import print of Kosmos-Filmi with Finnish / Swedish subtitles.
    Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 22 May 2008.

An old print with soft image, bleak colour and old subtitles photographed from glass.
    A backstage revue film, a cavalcade of entertainment and a satire of bureaucracy. The directive to have fun at New Year, "the carnival is no laughing matter". Debates about culture and entertainment. Catchy tunes conducted by Eddie Rozner.
    Igor Iljinsky hams it up perfectly as the stuffy and overbearing bureaucrat, who is completely out of touch. The debut of the popular star Ljudmila Gurtshenko. The breakthrough of the popular comedy director Eldar Rjazanov.
    This film is famous as the thaw era response to Volga Volga, also starring Iljinski. Jevgeni Dobrenko comments that the carnival has been made official. It is not spontaneous, it does not threaten the official order. Only the dull Ogurtsov is satirized, but he is a symbol of the past, and the present and the future belong to the new officials. There are no two cultures. This is the celebration of the state-owned carnival show.