From the love of the theater It’s always interesting to know where it came from. The name of Dmitry Timofeevich Lensky is known to a wide range of film lovers from two screen versions of his comedy-vaudeville Lev Gurich Sinichkin, or Provincial debutante (1840): the paintings On the stage (1956) and Lev Gurich Sinichkin (1974). In my opinion, with all the merits of the work of Alexander Belinsky, the film by Konstantin Yudin is both thinner and deeper. I would even use the word “permeable” – this is the “aftertaste” that leaves the picture of 1956 after viewing. The basis for the authorized translation of the play was the French 5-act vaudeville “Le Pere de la debutante / Father of the debutante” by the French playwrights M. Theolon and J. Bayar, the first premiere of which took place in 1837 at the Teatro Variete in Paris. In Russian translation, vaudeville was staged in the St. Petersburg Imperial Company for the next 1838, but the production was not successful and was immediately removed from the repertoire. A year later, French vaudeville attracted the attention of the artist of the Moscow Imperial troupe D. T. Lensky, and he decided to remake the French play in his own way.
Translating the French text and preserving its storyline, Dmitry Timofeevich Lensky became increasingly immersed in the atmosphere of Russian theater and its behind-the-scenes life, which he knew well both as an actor of the Moscow Imperial Company and as the author of many vaudevilles (a total of about 100 of his dramatic plays, many of which were included in the repertoire of imperial troupes) - mainly translations and reworks. As a result, he changed many scenes, giving them familiar features, endowed the characters with the characters of well-known Russian contemporary theatrical figures, inserted quite understandable hints of specific Russian plays and productions and related theatrical stories and even scandals. And since Lensky himself was a very witty man, the play in his author's reworking turned out to be a cheerful parody of the artistic environment of the Russian theater of the early 19th century. For the first time vaudeville was staged in Moscow on November 3, 1839 at the Bolshoi Theatre. Six months later he was transferred to the St. Petersburg Imperial Company. The first performances in both imperial troupes caused general audience delight.
The huge success of this vaudeville contributed to the fact that two years after its premiere, another vaudeville with a very similar name appeared in the repertoire of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre: “Lev Gurich and Ulyana Osipovna Sinichkina, or He is her first, and she is his second”, so called his translation-reworking of the French comic play “Le beneficiaire” by French playwrights M. Theolon and E. Cretu by the Russian translator S. P. Solovyev. And the vaudeville about the first Lev Gurych and his debutante daughter meanwhile confidently won the viewer. The Soviet government, which at first wanted to abandon theaters altogether, but then, mercifully and radically changing the theatrical repertoire, a few years later also allowed to return to this vaudeville (1924). Since then, vaudeville has been repeatedly staged on different stages and, apparently, is not going to leave the theater stage. I made such an impressive introduction solely to emphasize the responsibility of the director, who for the first time dared to film such a successful theatrical work.
It is necessary to pay tribute to Konstantin Yudin - he coped with such a difficult task simply brilliantly! From the very first scene of a father and daughter wandering along the “iron”, to the final shots – a solid “heart holiday”! Undoubted success of the film is an exceptionally accurate selection of actors. No matter how famous they were at the time of filming, the important thing is that matching the characters is just perfect. Vasily Merkuriev is a real “block” of Soviet cinema. On account of his many diverse roles, so the magic of transformation into a new image is well known to him. He played the role of a loving father, ready for the happiness of his daughter to do anything. We do not touch on the ethical side of the issue. Lev Gurich does not elbow people in the queue for happiness, he only helps the daughter to realize what is given to her by nature. Liza Sinichkina performed by Lilia Yudina is a real fireworks of impromptu, acting resourcefulness and talent. Playing the game is never easy, but Lisa did it just virtuoso!
There are many characters in the film, but even in a series of secondary ones, I find it difficult to name “faint” images. Can this “gray” word describe the game of Stanislav Chekan? No way! The coachman of Vetrinsky Stepan is the “power and breadth” of Russia: to walk – so walk, and drink – so drink! The image of playwright Fedor Semenovich Borzikov performed by Mikhail Yanshin is incomparable. So touching in his image, that involuntarily imbued with a false sympathy Lev Gurych for the “dramatic creator”. And Yuri Lyubimov as Count Zefirov? An exquisitely refined image whose phrase "For the love of art" has since become a catchword. And Yuri Yakovlev, who embodies the stage image of actor Chakhotkin? After all, there is a perfect coincidence from the surname to the “ascetic” figure of the 28-year-old actor who first starred in a movie!
A great movie with great actors.