THE GREATEST SOVIET COMEDY DIRECTOR WOULD BE 95 TODAY!

If you like Soviet comedies you have definitely heard of Leonid Gaidai

He was one of the most popular Soviet comedy directors, enjoying immense popularity and broad public recognition in the former USSR and modern Russia. His movies broke theatre attendance records and are still some of the top-selling DVDs in Russia.

Here are top 5 Soviet movies directed by Leonid Gaidai that you really should see

5. ДВЕНАДЦАТЬ СТУЛЬЕВ (Twelve chairs), 1971

This brilliant movie is an adaptation of the novel, The Twelve Chairs, written by the Odessan Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov. It tells us a story about a former aristocrat Ippolit Vorobyaninov, who leads a miserable life in Soviet Russia. His mother-in-law reveals a secret to him – she hid family diamonds in one of the twelve chairs they once had. Vorobyaninov in cooperation with a young con artist Ostap Bender start a long search for the diamonds.

4. ОПЕРАЦИЯ „Ы“ И ДРУГИЕ ПРИКЛЮЧЕНИЯ ШУРИКА (Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures), 1965

The movie was a hit and became the leader of Soviet film distribution in 1965. The film consists of three independent parts: “Workmate” (Напарник, Naparnik), “Déjà vu” (Наваждение, Navazhdeniye) and “Operation Y” (Операция „Ы“). The plot follows the adventures of Shurik, the naive and nerdy Soviet student who often gets into ludicrous situations but always finds a way out very neatly.

3. КАВКАЗСКАЯ ПЛЕННИЦА (The Caucasian Prisoner), 1967

Shurik is a main character of this movie too. In this eccentric comedy he goes to the Caucasus for work and meets local chief Saakhov, a man full of guile. He, with an assistance of the famous crooks Trus, Balbes and Byvaly, abducts the beautiful Nina.

2. ИВАН ВАСИЛЬЕВИЧ МЕНЯЕТ ПРОФЕССИЮ (Ivan Vasilievich Changes Professions), 1973

An eccentric comedy based on M. Bulgakov’s play “Ivan Vassilevich” about a time machine, which helps czar Ivan the Terrible get into the XXth century, and a house-manager Bunsh burglar Gorge into Old Russia.

1. БРИЛЛИАНТОВАЯ РУКА (The Diamond Arm), 1969

It’s a brilliant comedy about a modest clerk, Semyon Semyonovich, who during his tour abroad gets into the middle of a smuggling operation. He is taken for a messenger and a piece of plaster of Paris jewelry is applied on his hand to get them over the border.

Have you ever seen the Goidai’s movies, and what’s your favorite? Let us know in a comment