The story begins in 1973 Moscow, where Engineer Aleksandr (Shurik) Timofeev (Aleksandr Demyanenko) is working on a time machine in his apartment. By accident, he sends Ivan Vasilevich Bunsha (Yuri Yakovlev), superintendent of his apartment building, and George Miloslavsky (Leonid Kuravlev), a small-time burglar, back into the time of Ivan IV "The Terrible". The pair is forced to disguise themselves, with Bunsha dressing up as Ivan IV (tsar) and Miloslavsky as a knyaz (duke) of the same name. At the same time, the real Ivan IV (also played by Yuri Yakovlev) is sent by the same machine into Shurik's apartment, he has to deal with modern-day life while Shurik tries to fix the machine so that everyone can be brought back to their proper place in time. Superintendent Bunsha and Tzar Ivan IV the Terrible are lookalikes but have completely different personalities, which results in funny situations of mistaken identity. As the police (tipped off by a neighbor who was burgled by Miloslavsky) close in on Shurik, who is frantically trying to repair the machine, the cover of Bunsha and Miloslavsky is blown and they have to fight off the Streltsy, who have figured out that Bunsha is an impostor. The movie ends with Bunsha, Miloslavsky, and Ivan IV all transported back to their proper places, although the entire episode is revealed to be a dream by Shurik. Or was it? Read more on Wikipedia.
MPAA Rating: | G |
Genre: | Adventure, Comedy, Musical, Sci Fi |
Directed By: | Leonid Gayday |
Written By: | Leonid Gayday, Vladlen Bakhnov, Mikhail A. Bulgakov |
Cast: | Nina Maslova, Yuriy Potyomkin, Vladimir Etush, Leonid Kuravlyov, Vasiliy Nosik, Lyubov Mysheva, Eduard Bredun, Yuriy Chernov, Aleksandr Vigdorov, Sergey Filippov, Anatoliy Kalabulin, Natalya Seleznyova, Larisa Eryomina, Viktor Uralskiy, Vladimir Myshkin, Ivan Zhevago, Aleksandr Demyanenko, Valentin Grachyov, Nikolay Gorlov, Mikhail Pugovkin, Valeriy Zolotukhin, Viktor Shulgin, Natalya Gurzo, Natalya Krachkovskaya, Saveliy Kramarov, Natalya Kustinskaya, Anatoliy Podshivalov, Nikolay Malikov, Elena Volskaya, Yuriy Yakovlev |
In Theaters: | Jun 01, 1973 |
Runtime: | 1 hour 33 minutes |
Production: | Mosfilm |