In 1961, one of the most memorable comedies of Soviet cinema, Striped Flight, was released on the big screens. During the year of rental, it was watched by more than thirty-two million viewers throughout the Union. This is not surprising: such a stir in the film "Striped Flight", the actors of which for the most part were already recognized stars, provided a non-trivial script and shooting with wild animals.
The story of the film
Surprisingly, the idea of creating a film appeared spontaneously, but, like many projects of those years, thanks to top management. In 1959, the King of Nepal arrived in the USSR. As expected, the Soviet delegation after official events decided to show guests the sights of the capital. We went to museums and exhibitions, and finally decided to see the performance in the circus.
On Tsvetnoy Boulevard, the trainer Margarita Nazarova spoke with her pets. Nikita Sergeevich liked the number so much that after the performance he decided to express his enthusiasm to the fearless tamer personally. Margarita was invited to the government box. Nikita Sergeyevich told his guest what fearless women are in our country and expressed the idea that films about such people should be made. Naturally, the thought of the “leader” was immediately written down by the subordinates of the first secretary, and a year later Lenfilm was looking for a screenwriter and director to shoot the picture.
Director and screenwriter
At Lenfilm, a year later, a picture of a young trainer and her pets was in the shooting schedule. The script was entrusted to the young author Viktor Konetsky. Surprisingly, the scriptwriter himself laid the foundation of the story for a real incident that happened in his life. Once he had to travel on a ship with two polar bears, who got out of their cages and walked around the ship, terrifying the team. Of course, it was decided to add a love line to the plot - but what would happen without it?
Vladimir Fetin was entrusted with shooting the picture , behind which only a few projects were listed. The film "Stripes Flight", the actors for which were not yet selected, was the first large-scale project of the young man. At a meeting of the Goskino committee, he expressed the conviction that the film will turn out to be good if someone from the film crew and actors remains alive.
Plot
The film “Striped Flight” (the actors and the roles of the picture turned out to be very original) “hooked” the viewer with a non-trivial plot.
Events unfold in the mid 50-ies of the last century on the ship "Eugene Onegin", which was returning from a foreign voyage. The ship, among other things, carries an unusual load - exotic animals for the country's zoos. Inexplicable things begin to happen on the liner: sailors' clothes disappear, things are not going smoothly in the galley either (the team receives borsch with hardware), someone messes up in the cabin ... Oleg Starp blames the barmaid Marianna, the captain’s niece. Gleb Shuleikin is also on the ship - a cook who, due to certain circumstances, introduced himself as an animal trainer (or rather, he was introduced). One fine day, the starter chimpanzee, which was the cause of all the troubles, releases the lion and tigers from the cages, and they, as if nothing had happened, begin to walk around the ship, and the pseudo-tamer can do nothing.
Actors of the film "Striped Flight"
Many interesting stories are associated with casting for major and minor roles in the film. Many actors refused to play when they found out that their colleagues on the set would be ... tigers and lions. As a result, the film "Striped Flight", the actors and whose roles from the first frames conquered the viewer, stalled at the initial stage of filming. So that people and animals looked organically in the frame, it was decided to extend the rehearsals for a while. The addiction of the "artists" to each other took place on the old ship "Sailor Zheleznyak" for several months. The film "Striped Flight", the actors of which, to put it mildly, turned out to be "motley," decided to shoot in the pavilions of the "Lenfilm" and during the voyage from Odessa to Batumi on the ship "Fryazino".
Starring: Evgeny Leonov (Shuleikin), Margarita Nazarova (Marianna), Ivan Gribov (captain Vasily Vasilyevich), Alexey Smirnov (Knysh) and Vladimir Belokurov (boatswain) and Ivan Dmitriev (senior assistant Oleg Petrovich). In the episodes in the film "Striped Flight", the actors and roles of which were very colorful, several stars of domestic cinema were involved. So, the director Fetin managed to attract Vasily Lanovoy, who during this period was on vacation in Odessa. And the role of the barmaid agreed to play Alice Freindlich.
Interesting Facts
Margarita Nazarova, before filming in this picture, took part in several films with animals as an understudy.
Evgeny Leonov during the filming periodically fell into a panic due to fear of working with tigers. Scenes in the bathroom and the cage have become legendary. Initially, it was decided to shoot the scene in the bathroom, protecting the actor from the animal with armored glass. But it gave glare in the camera. Therefore, the director decided to remove the glass without notifying Leonov himself. So the scene of the escape from the bathroom was absolutely not rehearsed.
The episode, when Shuleikin is in a cage, and angry animals attack him, was re-shot several times, as the tigers indifferently passed by and did not react to the artist. Then Leonov was given a piglet in a cage and asked to prick him with a fork so that he would piercely squeak. From this screech, the animals fled to the cage and began furiously attacking the shelter of the pseudo-trainer.
The film "Striped Flight", whose actors were sometimes in a state of panic during the filming, and sometimes even refused to go to the site, after reaching the big screens brought popularity to all of their heroes, without exception.
In the process of filming, ten tigers, one lion and a chimpanzee were involved. By the way, a monkey named Pirate turned out to be a very talented actor, but he was brought to the set during the mating season, so his half came with him. In between filming, the chimpanzee gently hugged his girlfriend and stroked, and then returned to work.
On the set of the film, unfortunately, there were victims. Leo Vasya was old and very sick, he refused to take sleeping pills, so it was decided to shoot the poor fellow. In the scene, when the team drags the beast, he is already dead.
Awards
On June 27, 1961, the film Striped Flight appeared on the big screens. Actors, photos of which after the release of the picture filled all the magazines and posters, woke up real celebrities.
In 1973, the film received the Silver Medal at the Calcutta Festival. The film "Striped Flight", the actors of which for the most part became the leading lights of Russian cinema, was released at the box office and in Germany.