Hussar Ballad

1962 film

Hussar Ballad

A 1962 poster for the Hussar Ballad

Directed by| Eldar Ryazanov
Written by| Eldar Ryazanov
Aleksandr Gladkov
Starring| Larisa Golubkina
Yury Yakovlev
Igor Ilyinsky
Tatyana Shmyga
Music by| Tikhon Khrennikov
Distributed by| Mosfilm

Release dates

* 1962 (1962) (Soviet Union)
* July 13, 1963 (1963-07-13) (United States)

Running time

| 96 min.
Country| Soviet Union
Language| Russian

The Hussar Ballad (Russian: Гусарская баллада, romanized: Gusarskaya ballada) is a 1962 Soviet musical film by Eldar Ryazanov, filmed on Mosfilm. In effect, it is one of the best loved musical comedies in Russia.

With most of its dialogue delivered in verse, Ryazanov's script romanticizes the adventures of Nadezhda Durova during the Napoleonic wars. The swift paced, action packed, humor filled adventure is ingeniously mixed with light-hearted acting bravado and memorable operetta pieces. The film's musical score and songs were written by Tikhon Khrennikov.

The leading roles — those of the cavalry maiden Shurochka Azarova and the dashing hussar Poruchik Dmitry Rzhevsky — were played by Andrei Mironov's future wife Larisa Golubkina and the People's Artist of the USSR Yuri Yakovlev, respectively. Comedian Igor Ilyinsky appeared as one-eyed Field-Marshal Prince Mikhail Kutuzov.

The film is based on the play A Long Time Ago by Alexander Gladkov.[1]

The film proved so popular with Soviet audiences that poruchik Rzhevsky became quite a folklore character, featured in numerous jokes. See Russian jokes#Poruchik Rzhevsky for samples.[1]

## Cast

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* Larisa Golubkina as Shura Azarova
* Yury Yakovlev as Poruchik Dmitry Rzhevsky
* Igor Ilyinsky as Field-Marshal Kutuzov
* Nikolai Kryuchkov as Ivan
* Viktor Koltsov as Major Azarov
* Antoni Khodursky as Count Nurin
* Tatyana Shmyga as Louise Germont
* Lev Polyakov as Pelymov
* Yuri Belov as hussar-partisan

## Interesting facts

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* The director was planning to take Alisa Freindlich for the leading role. She was even auditioned several times for the role. No one doubted that she would get the role. However, at the last moment, Larisa Golubkina, who was not known to anyone yet, was confirmed for the role of Shurochka. It was her debut in the movie.
* Before Freindlich, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Valentina Malyavina, Tatyana Nikulina and Svetlana Nemolyaeva were auditioned for the role of Shurochka.
* The film was made especially for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino. The premiere of the film was held September 7, 1962, the day of the battle, in the Moscow cinema "Russia".
* A few of the costumes created for the film War and Peace were used during the filming.
* Sergei Yursky and Vyacheslav Tikhonov were first auditioned for the role of Lieutenant Rzhevsky.[2][3][4]

## References

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1. ^ a b Emil Draitser, Making War, Not Love: Gender and Sexuality in Russian Humor (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.) ISBN 0-312-22129-0, p.120 -- a review Archived 2008-08-21 at the Wayback Machine in Journal of Folklore Research
2. ^ "Гусарская баллада". kinopoisk.ru.
3. ^ "7 интересных фактов о фильме "Гусарская баллада"". 9 September 2017.
4. ^ "Гусарская баллада. История создания". www.vokrug.tv.

## External links

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* Hussar Ballad at IMDb
* Hussar Ballad at AllMovie
* Film with English subtitles on YouTube

* v
* t
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Films by Eldar Ryazanov

* Spring Voices (1955)
* Carnival Night (1956)
* The Girl Without an Address (1957)
* The Man from Nowhere (1961)
* Hussar Ballad (1962)
* Give Me a Book of Complaints (1964)
* Beware of the Car (1966)
* Zigzag of Success (1969)
* Grandads-Robbers (1971)
* Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia (1973)
* The Irony of Fate (1975)
* Office Romance (1977)
* The Garage (1979)
* Say a Word for the Poor Hussar (1981)
* Station for Two (1982)
* A Cruel Romance (1984)
* Forgotten Melody for a Flute (1987)
* Dear Yelena Sergeyevna (1988)
* Promised Heaven (1991)
* Prediction (1994)
* Hello, Fools! (1996)
* Old Hags (2000)
* Still Waters (2000)
* Key to the Bedroom (2003)
* Carnival Night 2 (2006)
* Andersen. Life Without love (2006)

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