It Can’t Be! (1975)

A satirical comedy

Mosfilm, 1975

Director: Leonid Gaidai

Screenplay: Vladlen Bakhnov, Leonid Gaidai

Cinematography: Sergei Poluyanov

Composer: Alexander Zatsepin

Song lyrics: Leonida Derbeneva

Cast: Mikhail Pugovkin, Nina Grebeshkova, Vyacheslav Nevinny, Mikhail Svetin, Natalia Selezneva, Oleg Dahl, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Yevgeny Zharikov, Larisa Yeremina, Mikhail Kokshenov, Leonid Kuravlev, Valentina Telichkina, Georgy Vitsin, Sergei Filippov, Savely Kramarov, Lyudmila Shagalov?

Box-office leader (1975, 6th place): 50.9 million viewers

Comedy based on the tales of Mikhail Zoschenko. The movie consists of three different skits, each with its own independent subject and heroes – Crime and Punishment, A Funny Adventure and The Wedding Incident. All the action takes place in a provincial town in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

The film begins with the words: “The story that we are about to tell you is not just any old fact, but the honest truth…” Leonid Gaidai’s film pokes fun at “individual shortcomings” in our lives. The satire is not bristly, however, and there is not a hint of irascibility. Every scene in the movie can be described either as “funny” or as “very funny.” The director’s impeccable taste does not fail him for a second, not even in the representation of such grotesque figures as the chubby NEP men, though there is a very fine line here between humour and vulgarity. Although the action takes place in the historical perspective, the heroes and the situations are amazingly lifelike and instantly recognisable – a sure sign of true comedy. Another feature of real comedy is the selfless play of the actors. Not even the harshest critic will find a single neglected episode. The heady cocktail of temperaments, the wealth of hysterical mimicry and the virtuoso acting make this film a comedy classic.