Jolly Fellows (1934)

Original title

Весёлые ребята

Directed by

Grigori Aleksandrov

Genre

comedy film, musical film, melodrama

Country

Soviet Union

Runtime

1h 36m

Rated

15

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 22 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A musical comedy where a zany shepherd and a clever maid take part in a series of mishaps and musical numbers. Their antics lead to a big public performance that puts their talents on display.

upbeatplayfullivelywhimsicalnostalgicbrightenergetic

What happens

Jolly Fellows (Russian: Весёлые ребята, romanized: Vesyolye rebyata), also translated as Happy-Go-Lucky Guys, Moscow Laughs and Jazz Comedy, is a 1934 Soviet musical film, directed by Grigori Aleksandrov and starring his wife Lyubov Orlova, a gifted singer and the first recognized star of Soviet cinema. The script was written by Aleksandrov, Vladimir Mass, and Nikolai Erdman (whose father briefly appears on screen as a German music teacher). It features several songs which instantly became classics across the Soviet Union. The most famous song — "Kak mnogo devushek khoroshikh" (Such a lot of nice girls) — enjoyed international fame, covered as "Serdtse" (Heart) by Pyotr Leshchenko. Music was by Isaak Dunayevsky, the lyrics were written by the Soviet poet Vasily Lebedev-Kumach. Both Orlova and her co-star, the jazz singer and comic actor Leonid Utyosov, were propelled to stardom after this movie. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• Garmon (1934)
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• Beautiful Garden (1935)
• Circus (1936)
• Accidental Meeting (1936)
• The Miracle Worker (1936)
• The Wedding (1964)