Cinema
Volga-Volga
Волга-Волга
Grigori Aleksandrov · 1938
Synopsis
In Melkovodsk, a small town on the Volga, the postwoman Dunya Petrova, nicknamed the Arrow, defends the town's amateur talents against the bureaucrat Byvalov, who does not believe in them. When Moscow announces a musical Olympiad, she gathers singers and musicians, and a song about the Volga that she has composed. Byvalov, scenting profit, organizes the journey on his own account on an old steamer, and the amateurs go down the river towards the capital.
Context
Written by Mikhail Volpin, Nikolai Erdman and the director himself, the screenplay is set to music by Isaak Dunayevsky. Lyubov Orlova plays the postwoman and Igor Ilyinsky the bureaucrat Byvalov. The film, produced by Mosfilm, was released on 24 April 1938 and received, according to Belcanto, a first-class State Prize. It was Stalin's favourite film, and he knew lines from it by heart.
Who it is for
A musical comedy of about an hour and a quarter, cheerful and sung, which a family audience can watch.
Prizes and reception
A musical comedy carried by the music of Isaak Dunayevsky and by Lyubov Orlova, star of her husband's films.