The Diamond Arm (1969)

one of comedies who preserves the flavor of a period. and reflects the sensitivity of a generation. so, it is not only a comedy but a trip in Soviet every day reality. the inspired cast, the smart use of clichés, the gags and, more important, the chaos are the best ingredients for create a lesson about the East under Communism. a film who explores situations for a fresh image of social situations. a comedy who has the gift to do different picture of a regime , using irony and the clichés , desires and nuances. a film who remains lovely decade by decade. and that fact is the basic virtue of film. so, a classic. in a special sense.

Fmovies: Here you can read the lyrics "The song about hares" in Russian (Cyrillic char set Windows 1251) from the film. Also it has the accords for the guitar.

http://www.muzland.ru/songs.html?auth=20&song=8&simpl=on

The translation is:

"The song about hares"

In the dark-blue forest Where aspens are trembling, Where from the oaks-magicians The leaves fall - On the glade, the grass was mowed by the hares And while doing that they sang Strange words:

"So, it all is equal to us So, it all is equal to us Even though we're afraid Of a wolf and an owl. The business we have At this horrible hour - We mow magic "no care"-grass".

And oaks-magicians whisper something in the fog. Near the foul marshes someone's shadows arise. The grass was mowed by the hares - "no care"-grass" on the glade. And from horror more and more quickly They sing a little song:

"So, it all is equal to us So, it all is equal to us Even though we're afraid Of a wolf and an owl. The business we have At this horrible hour - We mow magic "no care"-grass".

It's the mostly liked by the several generations of the Russian people comedy of Leonid Gaidai together with 'Operatsiya Y' and 'Kavkazskaya plennitsa', full of light irony and brilliant folksy humor of the late soviet time. The performance of the main actors (Andrei Mironov, Yuri Nikulin and Anatoli Papanov) is absolutely superb. Perhaps though it's not much appreciated amongst some high-minded intellectuals, which have their own cinema.

The Diamond Arm fmovies. After watching "Brilliantovaya ruka" I can well believe that it's with very good reason that it has such a beloved reputation among Russian language comedies. The vibe it generates it of an extremely high level of breezy fun, and it sustains that with supernatural consistency all the way through.

Combine that with an abundance of simply good jokes drawing from farce, slapstick, and everything in between. The performances are just the right level of broad to pull the maximum number of laughs. The almost constant underscoring perfectly compliments the fact that the pacing is masterfully timed and the fact that all the location filming simply looks fantastic to make this one of the most all-around fun viewing experiences you could imagine.

Moments such as the walking-on-water, the set-up seduction, and the division of the "two parts" are among hilarious moments that also draw in character for their humor and even border somewhat on what might be called "Pythonesque" in style. At the same time, roots in the best of silent comedy, farce, and adventure film are happily evident.

I can easily image how this comedy would reward reviewing, which it evidently for many other commentators here.

This movie was never intended for foreign audiences. It is simply way too Russian (or too Soviet, actually) to be funny for anyone not familiar with the realities of local life. Most of the real comedy comes from Mironov and Papanov, who play hilarious villains on the track to recover stolen jewels, mistakenly put into Nikulin's arm cast. Russian-speaking audiences will enjoy Papanov's one-of-a-kind "Ukrainian" accent, but the jokes are too ethnic for anyone else to understand. Nikulin (a circus clown turned great comic actor) isn't particularly believable in an unfamiliar role of a good guy (his characters usually also were drunken and hilarious crooks), but turns in an adequate performance. Mironov is at his usual fast-talking, silly self, and Papanov is a riot. Mordyukova steals several scenes in a small role of a house superintendant, a towering woman with a thunderous voice. Overall, a terrific Soviet comedy, the kind they simply don't make anymore.

A regular guy goes on a cruise abroad, gets mistaken for a mafia courier and receives a load of diamonds in the bandage on his broken arm. Mafia tries to return the goods, KGB tries to catch mafia, and our hero struggles in between. Tons of great humor. Many jokes from this absolutely hilarious comedy have made it into everyday language. I would like to invite visitors to see pictures from the movie and watch a detailed trailer at RussArt.com. Those who read Russian can find more materials useful: reviews, actor biographies, articles, etc.

Pictures: http://russart.com/?moviepictures&mid=10

Trailer: http://russart.com/?movietrailer&mid=10