Volga-Volga

Volga-Volga (Russian: Волга-Волга) is a Soviet musical comedy directed by Grigori Aleksandrov, released on April 24, 1938. It centres on a group of amateur performers on their way to Moscow to perform in a talent contest called the Moscow Musical Olympiad. Most of the action takes place on a steamboat travelling on the Volga River. The lead roles were played by Alexandrov's wife, Lyubov Orlova, and Igor Ilyinsky.

According to Orlova, the name of the film is taken from a popular Russian folk song, Stenka Razin, that Alexandrov sang while rowing with Charlie Chaplin in San Francisco Bay. Chaplin jokingly suggested the words as a title for a movie, but Alexandrov took it seriously and named his new film Volga-Volga.

The feature was said to be Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin's favourite film. Nikita Khrushchev in his memoirs says that in the pre-World War II period Stalin laughed at him since he resembled a character from the film.

In 2006, a colorization of the original black-and-white film began. The colorized version premiered on the Russian First Channel on February 14, 2010.

Plot
The events of the film revolve around a small provincial troupe of artists from the city of Melvodsk, who are sent to Moscow for an amateur art contest called the Moscow Musical Olympiad. Most of the movie's scenes take place on a wheeled steamer sailing along the Volga.

The main ones in this troupe are the letter-bearer Dunya Petrova, nicknamed "Strelka" from an amateur ensemble performing folk music, and Alexey Trubyshkin, the head of a symphony orchestra playing classical music. Alex praises Strelka with his playing the tuba, and Strelka performs the song that Dunya allegedly composed and asks him to rate this song. This does not like Alexei, and they quarrel.

All this happens on a ferry that broke on the river. The arrow on this ferry carried a lightning telegram to the head of the department of small handicraft industry in the city of Melvodsk, Ivan Ivanovich Byvalov, a bureaucrat and careerist who dreams of serving in Moscow. This telegram had to be read from the ferry. It turned out that it contained an invitation to Moscow for the Musical Olympics, but Byvalov was sure that there were no talents in Melvodsk that could adequately perform at a competition of such a high level. However, Strelka and Alyosha insist that the performance take place.

Before Byvalov, the artists of Melvodsk began to show their vocal abilities. From every angle, dancers, accordionists or spoon-dogs jumped at him from time to time, and in the square he was stunned by fanfare by the Trubyshkin Orchestra. Even the policeman, whom Byvalov had desperate for help, instead of the usual whistle, began to draw nightingale trills from his whistle.

In the end, Alexey found the right approach to Byvalov, offering to send his musicians under his "sensitive guidance" on the ship "Sevryuga". But Strelka, not wanting to give the primacy to Alexei, gathered her associates and in a roundabout way made her way to the capital to present a song about the Volga (which she wrote herself, but told everyone that it was Dunya's song) to the jury and the audience. Her team is going, going and sailing in a roundabout way - first on foot, then on rafts, and then - on an old sailing ship miraculously kept afloat.

Both ships are stranded due to the fault of the pilot, but the sailing vessel, nevertheless, is catching the Byvalov steamer. On the way, Strelka, along with her friends, was learning a song about the Volga. The leaders of the ensembles inadvertently change places, and both teams decide: to jointly perform the Strelka song about the Volga at the Olympics. The musicians of the symphony orchestra record the melody on Byvalov's name sheets, but during the storm the leaves fly away.

The song immediately gains deafening popularity, and Strelka comrades accuse him of plagiarism. In Moscow, Byvalov is considered the author of the song, but he is forced to confess and organize the search for Dunya, as everyone believes that she is the author. At the Olympics they bring all Dun from Melodovsk. All of them show their talents: they sing and dance, but the author is not among them. Then, Strelka recognizes the authorship of the song and receives a well-deserved award at the Olympics.

Cast

 * Igor Ilyinsky - Ivan Byvalov, head of management at a small handicraft industry in the city Melkovodsk
 * Lyubov Orlova - Dunya Petrova (aka Arrow), letter carrier
 * Vladimir Volodin - old pilot
 * Pavel Olenev - Kuzma Ivanovich, water carrier/chef (reciter)
 * Andrey Tutyshkin - Alesha Trubyshkin, accountant
 * Sergey Antimonov - janitor Okhapkin
 * Anatoly Shalaev - young composer
 * Maria Mironova - Zoya, secretary of Byvalova
 * Nikita Kondratyev - Philip Ivanovich, waiter
 * Vsevolod Sanayev - bearded lumberjack/member of the symphony orchestra
 * Aleksey Dolinin - policeman
 * Ivan Chuvelev - chairman of the jury of the Olympics