Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1973


Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future

Buy Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




'Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession' is a Soviet comic science fiction film directed by Leonid Gaidai in June 1973. In the United States the film has sometimes been sold under the title 'Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future'.[http://www.allmovie.com/movie/ivan-vasilievich-back-to-the-future-v169720/releases For example] as released on DVD by Image Entertainment in December 2002 This film is based on the play 'Ivan Vasilievich' by Mikhail Bulgakov.; It was one of the most attended films in the Soviet Union in 1973, with more than 60 million tickets sold.[http://www.kinokultura.com/plus/prokat2.html Leaders of distribution]

Plot



The story begins in 1973 Moscow, where engineer Aleksandr "Shurik" Timofeyev (Aleksandr Demyanenko) is working on a time machine in his apartment. By accident, he sends Ivan Vasilievich Bunsha (Yury Yakovlev), superintendent of his apartment building, and George Miloslavsky (Leonid Kuravlyov), a burglar, back into the time of Ivan IV "The Terrible". The pair is forced to disguise themselves, with Bunsha dressing up as Ivan IV (tsar) and Miloslavsky as a knyaz (duke) of the same name. At the same time, the real Ivan IV (also played by Yury Yakovlev) is sent by the same machine into Shurik's apartment, he has to deal with modern-day life while Shurik tries to fix the machine so that everyone can be brought back to their proper place in time. Superintendent Bunsha and Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible are lookalikes but have completely different personalities, which results in funny situations of mistaken identity. As the police (tipped off by a neighbor who was burgled by Miloslavsky) close in on Shurik, who is frantically trying to repair the machine, the cover of Bunsha and Miloslavsky is blown and they have to fight off the Streltsy, who have figured out that Bunsha is an impostor. The movie ends with Bunsha, Miloslavsky, and Ivan IV all transported back to their proper places, although the entire episode is revealed to be a dream by Shurik... or was it?

Cast



* Yury Yakovlev (Ivan the Terrible/Ivan Vasilievich Bunsha, building superintendent)

* Leonid Kuravlyov (George Miloslavsky, burglar)

* Aleksandr Demyanenko (Aleksandr 'Shurik' Timofeyev, inventor)

* Savely Kramarov (Feofan the clerk)

* Natalya Seleznyova (Zinaida, his wife)

* Natalya Krachkovskaya (Uliana Andreevna Bunsha, superintendent's wife)

* Natalya Kustinskaya (Yakin's mistress)

* Vladimir Etush (Anton Semyonovich Shpak, dentist)

* Mikhail Pugovkin (film director Yakin)

* Sergey Filippov (Swedish ambassador)

* Edward Bredun (black market seller)

* Natalia Gurzo (Shpak's dental nurse)

* Nina Maslova (Tsaritza Marfa)

* Viktor Uralsky (Police sergeant-major)

* Leonid Gaidai (Yakin's light assistant)

* Ivan Zhevago (Psychiatrist)

Locations



Film locations



*Moscow, USSR

The modern Moscow location is New Arbat Avenue, formerly Kalinin Prospekt - then, and perhaps still now, a fairly prestigious location of Moscow, which is not too far from the Kremlin. The church depicted in the juxtaposed historical and current militia chases was the Church of St Simeon on the same street. At the time the church building was in use as a museum, as can be seen by the signs in the film, but it has since been restored and is once again in use as an active church.

*Rostov, USSR

*Yalta, USSR

Deviations from the original play



The original play was written by Bulgakov in 1935 (albeit not published until 1965) and, therefore, used a setting typical to the 1930s. The film, released in 1973, made changes to the setting to make it contemporary. For instance, Shpak's phonograph was replaced in the film with a tape recorder, and the time machine was envisioned as using more advanced technology such as transistors. In addition, inventor Timofeyev is inspired to travel to Ivan IV's era after seeing Sergei Eisenstein's film on television, as opposed to listening to the opera 'The Maid of Pskov' on the radio.[http://www.ng.ru/saturday/2003-01-31/13_gayday.html ]

There were other deviations, not related to changes designed to modernize the setting. While the inventor's surname Timofeyev was retained, he was called Nikolai (nicknamed "Koka" by his wife Zinaida), while in the film, his name is Alexander (called "Shurik" informally). He is presumably an older version of the protagonist of two previous Leonid Gaidai films: 'Operation Y and Other Shurik's Adventures' and 'Kidnapping, Caucasian Style', played by the same actor, Aleksandr Demyanenko; this connection, though, is not stated outright and neither of these earlier films are referenced.

In addition, the reason for the time machine malfunction was changed. In the original play, Bunsha and Miloslavsky knowingly disable the machine to seal the gateway between the two time periods, but are dragged into the past, along with the key to the machine, forcing Timofeyev to make a replacement key. In the film, the time machine is accidentally damaged by a halberd, and Timofeyev has to search for some transistors to repair it.

Finally, while the "all just a dream" ending is present in both the play and the film, the play ends on a revelation that Shpak's apartment has been robbed in reality, not only in the dream. This twist is absent in the film.

In the play, Ivan Vasilievich Bunsha is the son of a nobleman, something which, as a conscientious Soviet bureaucrat, he tries to hide. This isn't mentioned in the film, and would have been an anachronism in 1973.

Bunsha's full surname in the play is Bunsha-Koretsky.

References






Buy Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 1973



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1109779796.