Leonid Gaidai

(YouTube Streaming, December 2022) A side effect of praise is a halo effect that comes to affect the perception of things that aren’t similar. If, like me, you’re running down the classics of world cinema, the highlighted Russian output tends to be very specific to Eisenstein and Tarkovsky and a little bit of Kalatozov. While Eisenstein can be interesting (especially in looking at the Russian editing style of early cinema) and we’re going to take Tarkovsky’s talent as undeniable, the truth is that the most celebrated Russian filmmakers are glum. They make deathly serious films with seemingly infinite running time. And while newer Russian filmmakers are just as fun and entertaining as anything Hollywood produces, I’m not sure I could have named, not sure I could have conceived, of a Russian comedy film prior to the mid 2000s. But now there’s The Diamond Arm to prove me wrong and open up that area of filmmaking. Not only is it a comedy, it’s a slapstick crime comedy, dating from the depths of the cold war. Not that you’re likely to care, because the entire thing is filmed in the kind of poppy bright colourful style that was popular in early 1960s Hollywood, and looks as if it could have been made at any time between 1960 and 1980. Our characters go on holiday in friendly countries and get embroiled in all sorts of complications when diamonds are involved. The standout performer here is Andrei Mironov, who combines movie-star good looks with some great comic timing to be the funniest actor in the film. I was very impressed by the opening minute’s frantic speed, but you may want to temper your expectations somewhat—it’s not sustained. It’s also a good idea not to expect to understand too much: a lot of the humour appears to be locked behind an insider’s knowledge of how things worked in late-1960s Russia, so we westerners may have a while to catch up. Still, the film is a bit of a ray of sunshine, illuminating a very different kind of classic Russian filmmaking. I’m told that writer-director Leonid Gaidai went on to make even better films later on, and it’s going to be interesting to track down some of them. In the meantime, if you’re curious, the film’s Mosfilm studio has officially made the film available for free on YouTube, complete with English subtitles.