Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession

melinda2001, this film does not Benny Hill, you fool! Benny Hill - is silly faces, lust and antics. Ivan Vasilievich - this is a profound satire. Russian do not like the silly faces, lust and antics Benny Hill. Russian need intelligent comedy, satire, allegory different. In this film, the humor in words, as they say in the characters, as they say, and items that you probably did not understand without knowing Russian. And the Russian will always watch this movie. Today in Russia do not remove these movies - it means "Ivan" and other Soviet satirical comedy will be popular. Until new satirical masterpiece comedy . Unfortunately today all over the world to take off stupid, and Russia in this way. New Russians comedy - idiotia as the worst in American comedies. :(

This film is the classics for those who speak Russian. Many of the charachter's sayings passed into a proverb and are widely used in informal talk. But to enjoy the language one should have a notion about old-Slavic language. As for the comment about the thief looking as a * star and the probability that the producer intended this - it is absolutely impossible. Soviet cimetography never used pornographic details, besides Soviet viewer din't see any porno films until maybe late 80s and there were nothing to hint to in 1973 (!). In this respect, the soviet viewer was absolutely innocent and naive.

This film is not only very funny, but also the product of a deep knowledge and love of classic Russian cinema. Some cadres are clearly inspired by Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible, part I (Ivan Vasilevich looking from the window, Ivan Vasilevich sitting with the scribe) and their presence in the comedy context (in a world turned upside-down, as Bachtin would have it) is the silver bullet that provides laughter and delight to the intellectual as well as to the unsophisticated viewer, who may be content with recognizing on the apartment's wall a reproduction of Repin's "Ivan Grozny killing his own son". Building on this, Gaidai displays his own masterly craft: he can make you laugh with just one word (Tsar Ivan looking at contemporary Moscow - devastated by modern buildings - and bursting out "Beauty!"). Great acting by everyone, Miloslavski (Leonid Kuravliov) being my personal favourite.

I saw this in Russian without subtitles, so I missed most of the dialogue. Luckily about half the humor is purely visual, so I was still entertained. One doesn't need to speak Russian to understand that Ivan the Terrible is confused by the elevator. In terms of the visual humor it is well done. Most of the humor comes in the form of extended chase sequences with high film speed. The thief is especially funny, although with the mustache he came across looking like an armature * star at first. I think this was intentional. Also, the footage of the black cat climbing up things and looking flustered is well done and cute. I recommend this film to those looking for well done slapstick type humor. From laughter by those present who spoke fluent Russian I think that there are probably some fairly good verbal jokes too.

For those Americans who cannot understand the movie and appreciate it entirely, I suggest that you watch it for its visual value. I myself have moved out of Russia when I was 7 so I did not get to study the history culture and language of Russia that much, so movie like these I use as an educational tool. I've learned a lot about the clothes, speech, and history from this movie than I did anywhere else. My heart is more in this than perhaps yours might be, but educationally this film is worth it, as well as providing humor and fun. It's not a preachy, soapy, cramped kind of comedy. It is fast paced, energetic, and fun.

This movie might had been something and original at its time but this movie just isn't exactly my idea of a great or hilarious comedy. It's not like I hated it, I actually still quite enjoyed it but that doesn't prevent this movie from being an overrated one. Most of the movie its comedy comes from the character looking and talking into the camera and comical sequences that are being played fast-forward, "Benny Hill"-style. It just doesn't work out as being THAT funny. The movie of course has a couple of nice moments but overall the comedy is really lacking, which is a disappointing aspect of the movie. The story however is quite original, at least for its time it was. It involves time traveling and mistaken identities, when Ivan The Terrible find himself in 'modern' Russia, while another man from the modern Russia and Czar Ivan look-alike takes over his place in return, in the 16th century. This concept of course provides the movie with plenty of comical situations but still I feel that this movie didn't exploited all of its potential. The movie and its comedy mostly remain very simplistic and therefore also somewhat predictable. Aside from its horrible bleak '70's Moscow look, this movie is a quite good looking one, with professional looking sets and costumes. No doubt that this was quite a cheap movie to make but for most of the time this doesn't show on screen. Directing-wise the movie is quite flawed, as some of the sequences don't flow in well with each other and the movie features some little mistakes, such as a boom-mike hanging in frame. Leonid Gaidai was a director who felled comfortable within the comedy genre and worked with a lot of famous Soviet comedians during his career. This movie is perhaps his best known- and most popular one. The actors also didn't convinced much within this movie but luckily saying your lines convincingly isn't the most needed required for a comical movie. Nothing too horrible but also far from the best that the genre has to offer. 6/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Shurik (a character in several other comedy films) is experimenting at home with an invention which goes wrong and puts him, a passing burglar, and the apartment supervisor back into the time of Ivan the Terrible. There are a lot of chases and action, so you can still enjoy the film even if some of the Russian dialogue passes you by. Good views of several historic buildings, and an insight into 1973 Moscow as well as a bit of a history lesson. Not all Russian films are doom and gloom.