The World Is Laughing

Director: Grigoriy Aleksandrov

Screenplay by: Grigori Aleksandrov, Nikolay Erdman, Vladimir Mass
Music by: Isaak Dunayevsky
Cast: Leonid Utyosov, Lyubov Orlova, Mariya Strelkova, Elena Tyapkina, Fyodor Kurikhin, Arnold Arnold, Robert Erdman

Screening from a 35mm print!

Prior to the screening, Zoltán Sz. Bíró, a historian and expert on Russia, will give an introduction.

Merry Fellows was the first Soviet musical comedy. Set in Odessa and Moscow in the 1930's. Shepherd Kostya Potekhin (Utyosov) is mistaken for an international concert star. He falls in love with Anyuta (Orlova) and plays the "star" for her. In a cascade of comic musical numbers he becomes the leader of a Jazz-Band and gives a hilarious show at the Odessa Music Hall. Now he is destined to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

The copy was provided by the National Film Institute – Film Archive.