Circus (1936 film)

Circus
Film poster
Directed byGrigori Aleksandrov
Isidor Simkov
Written byGrigori Aleksandrov
StarringLyubov Orlova
Vladimir Volodin
Sergei Stolyarov
Pavel Massalsky
James Patterson
CinematographyVladimir Nilsky
Boris Petrov
Music byIsaak Dunayevsky
Production
company
Release date
  • 23 May 1936 (1936-05-23)
Running time
94 min.
CountrySoviet Union
LanguageRussian

Circus (Russian: Цирк, romanized: Tsirk) is a 1936 Soviet melodramatic comedy musical film. It was directed by Grigori Aleksandrov and Isidor Simkov at the Mosfilm studios. In his own words, it was conceived as "an eccentric comedy...a real side splitter."[1]

Starring the glamorous and immensely popular Lyubov Orlova (Aleksandrov's wife), the first recognized star of Soviet cinema and a gifted singer, the film contains several songs which instantly became Soviet classics. The most famous is the "Song of the Motherland" (Широка страна моя родная, Shiroka strana moya rodnaya).[1][2] ISWC code for film music: T-926.406.620-8.

The film was based on a comedy written by Ilf and Petrov and Valentin Kataev and performed by Moscow music hall, Under the Circus Dome (Под куполом цирка), which was seen and liked by Aleksandrov.[1] They made the play into the plot, but during the initial film shooting they went to America. Upon return, they disliked the director's interpretation, and after a conflict they abandoned the work, forbade the mention of their names in the credits, and further work on the plot was continued by Isaac Babel.[3][4]

  1. ^ a b c Salys, Rimgaila (2009). The Musical Comedy Films of Grigorii Aleksandrov: Laughing Matters. Intellect Books. pp. 121–197. ISBN 978-1-841-50282-3.
  2. ^ Roger Manvell, ed. (1949). Experiment in the Film. The Grey Walls Press Ltd. p. 169.
  3. ^ "Пять интересных фактов о легендарном фильме "Цирк" Archived 2015-07-22 at the Wayback Machine, May 25, 2013 (retrieved July 19, 2015)
  4. ^ "Сайт поклонников творчества Ильи Ильфа и Евгения Петрова". Archived from the original on 2015-08-01. Retrieved 2015-07-20.