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Adventures of Captain Wrongel
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Wikipedia article
'Adventures of Captain Wrongel'[https://www.amazon.com/The-adventures-captain-Wrongel-NTSC/dp/B002PWQLJK Amazon.com: The adventures of captain Wrongel (DVD NTSC)]. Wrongel is an adaptation of the Russian pun. In the original, captain's name is Vrungel, from "vrun" - "liar". (, translit. 'Priklyucheniya kapitana Vrungelya') is a 1976-1979 Soviet musical adventure animation miniseries by David Cherkassky, Kievnauchfilm, loosely based on the novel with the same name by Andrey Nekrasov. The series consists of 13 episodes, of which 1-3 were filmed in 1976, 4-6 in 1977, 7-9 in 1978, and 10-13 in 1979.
The book by Nekrasov was first published in the 'Pioneer' magazine in 1937 (shortened, in the form of a comic). A full text publication was issued in 1939. The novel is a parody of the popular sailor tales of the 1930s and of stereotypes, then prevalent in the Soviet Union, of foreigners and foreign countries. The film received awards at Yerevan all-union film festival and the Czechoslovakia international TV film festival. The songs and music were performed by the soloists' ensemble of the State Symphony Orchestra of the UkSSR, conducted by N. Basov
Plot
An important exhibit is stolen from the Royal Museum of Arts. The watchman Fuchs, a gambler, has been blackmailed by a mafia boss, who is also Chief of a Yacht Club, to steal the statue of Venus. The time of the theft was linked to an international regatta so that Fuchs could smuggle the stolen goods out of the country.
A Soviet naval school teacher and former sea captain, Wrongel, receives a telegram asking him to participate in the regatta. He and his pupil Lom ( - rus. "Crowbar") decide to set sail for the starting port, although by one of the many freak accidents that occur during the adventure, their ship's name is changed from "Pobeda" ( - rus. "Victory") to "Beda" ( - rus. "Trouble"). Throughout almost the entire journey, Wrongel and Lom have no idea about the hidden purpose of the regatta. At that point in time, everything is going smoothly and according to plan for Fuchs. Many newspapers of the world have written extensively about this "crime of the century". The Regatta is in danger of cancellation.
When Wrongel's yacht 'Beda' arrives, three more crew members are needed to participate in the regatta. Lom quickly finds Fuchs, who is desperate in his attempts to get to the 'Black Cuttlefish' yacht as arranged with the mafia chief. As a result, the much sought after statue of Venus ends up on the 'Beda', instead of the 'Black Cuttlefish', which was supposed to smuggle it out of the port.
Meanwhile, Agent 00X is chasing the statue, as well as the mafiosi Bandito and Gangsterito, who are looking for Fuchs in order to take it away from him.
Cast
* Zinovy Gerdt as Captain Christopher Bonifatievich Wrongel
* Yevgeny Paperny as Lom / Archibald Dandy, Chief / Zoo Director / Reporter 1 / Yacht Club Member 2 / Giulico Banditto (singing voice)
* Georgy Kishko as Sailor Fuchs / Customs Officer / Mailman / Reporter 2 / Market Gambler 2 / Plane Passenger 1
* Grigory Shpigel as Agent 00X
* Giora Kislyuk as Agent 00X (singing voice)
* Eduard Nazarov as Captain of "Black Cuttlefish"
* Semyon Farada as Giulico Banditto / Reporter 4
* Aleksandr Burmistrov as De La Voro Gangsteritto / Theatre Director / Yacht Club Member 1 / Market Gambler 1 / Plane Passenger 2
* Veniamin Smekhov - Admiral / Radio Announcer / Reporter 3
Trivia
* In the original Russian version of the cartoon Wrongel was called Vrungel; it is a parody of a Wrangel surname, where the first part made from a colloquial word "vrun" (), Russian for liar. Following the release of this film, Vrungel became a colloquial name in Russia, a kind of Baron Munchausen. But as Nekrasov himself explained Vrungel's prototype was his mate Vronsky, who loved to tell tale stories from his life. His surname was suited for the protagonist so well that initially the book was named Adventures of Captain Vronsky, but Nekrasov later reconsidered the name because of his desire not to hurt his friend's feelings.
* Agent 00X and his storyline is a pun on the western character Agent 007. He was not present in original book.
* 'Pobeda' (stress on the second syllable) is Russian for 'Victory', 'Beda' (stress on second syllable) is Russian for 'Trouble', or 'Grief'. The English translation of the novel changed the pun to "Courage" and "Rage", or, in a shortened retelling, to "Triumph" and "Umph".[https://archive.org/details/AndreiNekrasovAdventuresOfCaptainWrungel The Adventures of Captain Wrungel]'[https://archive.org/details/2Compressed/page/n1/mode/2up Visiting Captain Fibbur]'
* As Nekrasov explained, Lom's prototype was a naval school cadet Ivan Mann. In German his surname means 'man' (Mann), and in French - L'Homme (reads as Lom) [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927043941/http://chgk.zaba.ru/questions/antib03_4_6.html]
* The surname Fuchs means 'fox' (from the German 'Fuchs')
* Fuchs hid the Venus sculpture inside a double bass case
* This cartoon was made using the cut-out technique, similar to South Park and Monty Python, as well as traditional hand-drawn animation. Most of the cartoon features cut-outs. Some of the puppet animation techniques were also applied, for example rather than drawing ropes, pieces of real thread was used and it was stop-motion-animated; rather than drawing soap bubbles, animators used soap water / shaving cream on a glass, which they moved around frame-by-frame.
* Many backgrounds in this cartoon (such as the ocean, waves, etc.) had been filmed in real life and were rear-projected behind the characters.
See also
*The New Adventures of Captain Wrongel, a 1978 film
References
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