Secrets of "Merry Fellows": how the first Soviet musical comedy film appeared, and why for Lyubov Orlova it became fateful

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

December 25, 1934 was released the film "Funny guys", which became the first independent work directed by Grigory Alexandrov and film debut actress Lyubov Orlova … At the end of filming, their creative tandem became a family union, although both were not free at that time. The film, which today is called a classic of Soviet comedy, was an incredible success both in the USSR and abroad. However, not all of the people involved in the creation of the "Funny Fellows" could enjoy this triumph.

For the previous 10 years, Grigory Alexandrov worked as an actor, assistant and co-director with his teacher Sergei Eisenstein, and "Merry Guys" became his directorial debut. The idea for the film came to him during a three-year trip abroad: after seeing musicals in Hollywood, Aleksandrov decided to shoot a Soviet version of the musical film.

The main male role was written specifically for Leonid Utesov, who at that time was the soloist of the Leningrad Music Hall. But with the performer of the main female role, problems arose: dozens of candidates were considered, from famous actresses to ordinary collective farmers, but it was not possible to find Anyuta. There are two versions of events, as a result of which the role went to Lyubov Orlova. According to some reports, the director saw the actress in the performance "Perikola" by Nemirovich-Danchenko's studio and invited her to audition. According to other sources, she herself set out to get the role, did not pass the audition, after which she persuaded her friend to invite Alexandrov to visit and convinced him to give her a chance.

This film was the first not only for the director and actress, the musical comedy was the debut for the composer Isaac Dunaevsky, and for the poet Vasily Lebedev-Kumach, and for Leonid Utesov as an actor. The comedy starred not only himself, but his entire jazz band. They say that this is what determined half the success of the film: the audience loved the music no less than the actors who played the main roles.

The comedy was filmed in Gagra, where Aleksandrov arrived with his family - his wife and little son, and Lyubov Orlova - with her civil husband, an Austrian diplomat. However, the director and the actress spent all the time both on the set and after them, so their other half soon had to return to Moscow. And after the premiere of "Merry Fellows" Alexandrov and Orlova got married.

During the filming, a lot of curiosities happened to the four-legged actors. According to the scenario, the animals burst into the dining room and pogrom on the banquet table. The piglet did everything as it should: he sipped cognac from the plate, walked around the table, staggering, and dropped the bottles. But after the bull was drunk with vodka, he became violent and began to chase people. They calmed him down only with vodka and bromine. There was an episode in the script where the main character jumps on the back of a bull and tames it. But Utesov flatly refused to do it. Orlova ventured into a risky trick. The actress jumped on the bull's back, but he threw her to the ground and almost trampled on. She badly hurt her back and lay in bed for about a month.

Not everyone involved in the making of the film could enjoy the triumph. Cameraman Vladimir Nielsen was arrested and then shot. Screenwriters Nikolai Erdman and Vladimir Mass were arrested during the filming period for politically sharp poetry and parodies. They were sent into exile, and their names were removed from the credits. All the laurels went to Aleksandrov and Orlova - after the "Merry Fellows" they were given a hectare of land in Vnukovo, where they built a dacha.

"Jolly Fellows" could never be released: the People's Commissar of Education, the film seemed hooligan and counter-revolutionary. However, Stalin approved the comedy, and then the "Merry Fellows" were not only shown in all cinemas of the country, but also sent to Venice for a film festival. Abroad, a painting called "Moscow Laughs" was an incredible success. Even Charlie Chaplin praised her, after watching the comedy he wrote: “Before the“Merry Fellows,”the Americans knew only Dostoevsky’s Russia. Now another Russia has appeared. Healthy laughter is better propaganda than shooting and any speeches."

After this film, Lyubov Orlova became the # 1 star and favorite actress of Stalin: the most beautiful film star of the 1930-1940s.