Volga-Volga
1938 film by Grigori Aleksandrov / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Volga-Volga (Russian: Волга-Волга) is a Soviet musical comedy directed by Grigori Aleksandrov, released on April 24, 1938. It centres on a group of amateur performers on their way to Moscow to perform in a talent contest called the Moscow Musical Olympiad. Most of the action takes place on a steamboat travelling on the Volga River. The lead roles were played by Alexandrov's wife, Lyubov Orlova, and Igor Ilyinsky.
Volga-Volga | |
---|---|
Directed by | Grigori Aleksandrov |
Starring | Lyubov Orlova Igor Ilyinsky |
Edited by | Yeva Ladyzhenskaya |
Music by | Isaak Dunayevsky |
Release dates | 24 April 1938 (Soviet Union) 16 May 1941 (U.S.) [citation needed] |
Running time | 104 min. |
Country | Soviet Union |
Language | Russian |
According to Orlova, the name of the film is taken from a popular Russian folk song, Stenka Razin, that Alexandrov sang while rowing with Charlie Chaplin in San Francisco Bay. Chaplin jokingly suggested the words as a title for a movie, but Alexandrov took it seriously and named his new film Volga-Volga.[1]
The feature was said to be Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin's favourite film.[2] Nikita Khrushchev in his memoirs says that in the pre-World War II period Stalin laughed at him since he resembled a character from the film.
In 1961, a new version of a movie was released, with the "Joseph Stalin" ship cut.
In 2006, a colorization of the original black-and-white film began. The colorized version premiered on the Russian First Channel on February 14, 2010.