Bacardia is a country known to domestic viewers for the adventurous film detectives “The Adventures of Prince Florisel”, created at the Lenfilm film studio based on the works of Robert Lewis Stevenson's “Diamond Raji” and “Suicide Club”.
Plot. Tie
The young ruler of the distant European country of Bakardia, Prince Florisel (Oleg Dal) suffers from boredom - a disease inherent in many wealthy people. He was tired of death and receptions, and balls, and social life. In an attempt to escape from her, he decides to live incognito in England, away from his homeland called Bacardia. This country is clearly European and "dwarf".
Only a few loyal servants go to Britain with a prince. Even outwardly, the prince is no different from ordinary citizens. Together with his close friend and adviser, Colonel Geraldine (Igor Dmitriev), the young ruler often makes boardwalks through the streets of London. One day they meet a strange man, a potential suicide man, who, having hung a stone on his neck, is going to take his own life by jumping into the river. Bacardia is a country where you rarely see this, so they stop the unfortunate person and ask about the reasons for such an act.
Interest circle. Intrigue
A failed suicide turns out to be a desperate freelance artist Perkins (Askhab Abakarov). He brings to the attention of Florisel and Geraldine the story of the mysterious “Suicide Club” led by an ominous and mysterious figure - the Chairman (Donatas Banionis). According to Perkinson, having paid an entry fee of £ 40, anyone can become a member of the club and have the opportunity to go into the light of a different "like a true gentleman." Having learned about the activities of such a strange “circle of interests”, the prince, feeling unkind, instantly forgets about his spleen and intends to make a lot of efforts to bring the Chairman’s rogues to fresh water. Bacardia is a country in which responsive and conscious citizens live, crowned persons are no exception.
Filmmakers and filmmakers
The three-part film “The Adventures of a Titled Person, or the Suicide Club” was created in 1979 in two versions: for a television show and for movie theaters. Director Yevgeny Tatarsky and screenwriter-writer Edgar Dubrovsky were able to masterfully combine the plots of two well-known short novels by Stephenson into an exciting detective-adventure narrative with a famously twisted plot. Their efforts, coupled with the highest level of work done by costumers, decorators, and participation in the filming of the leading stars of the Soviet film industry, such as Oleg Dal, Mikhail Pugovkin, Donatas Banionis, Elena Solovey, Igor Dmitriev, Evgeny Kindinov, Lyubov Polishchuk, Vladimir Shevelkov, Vladimir Basov and Elena Tsyplakova, provided the film with increased interest and love of the viewer. After viewing each conscious layman was in some embarrassment. It was clear to everyone that Bacardia was a country. Where this state is located is what interested the curious.
Atmosphere as the main advantage
For many compatriots, the adaptation of Stevenson's works was the first truly adventure movie. The viewer of that era was quite demanding, so a set of Hollywood aphorisms and banal scuffle would definitely not suit him. In addition to the action scenes, he needed an intricately twisted intrigue and some intellectual lining in strict accordance with the ideological coloring of the worldview.
The named 1979 film met all of the above criteria. Although it was rather difficult to say something new about Victorian Britain after Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, Stevenson and director Tatarsky perfectly solved this problem. The viewer looks at what is happening through the eyes of the crowned person. And the whole narrative of the picture is in the same style - the tone of that era - a period that is familiar to the average man (in addition to Jack the Ripper) by A. Crowley with the Satanic Bible and T. Quincy with his Confession of the Englishman Who Smoked Opium. The only thing that baffled the Soviet audience was Bacardia. The country, of course, is fictional, but many after watching the film more than once turned over the atlas in a desperate attempt to find it on a world map.
Analysis of the information received
If you try to analyze the information about the mysterious country available in the plot, you can try to speculate on the geopolitical and geographical position of the homeland of Prince Florizel. If we compare the date of arrival of the titled person in London (1885) and his name, similar to French, then we can assume that this is Burgundy (barely surviving between the Holy Empire and Louis IX) or Belgium. Bacardia, on the other hand, is a country whose geographical position is similar to Southern Germany - Baden. According to all the statements of the main character and his retinue, we can conclude: it is located between France, Italy and Germany, well, just monarchical Switzerland. This is how the viewer is lost in conjecture for many decades after the release of this film.