| Kidnapping, Caucasian Style | |
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Film poster |
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| Directed by | Leonid Gaidai |
| Produced by | Mosfilm |
| Written by | Yakov Kostyukovsky Moris Slobodskoy Leonid Gaidai |
| Starring | Aleksandr Demyanenko Natalya Varley Yuri Nikulin Yevgeny Morgunov Georgy Vitsin Vladimir Etush Frunzik Mkrtchyan |
| Music by | Aleksandr Zatsepin |
| Cinematography | Konstantin Brovin |
| Distributed by | Mosfilm |
| Release date(s) | April 1, 1967 |
| Running time | 77 min. |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
A she-prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures (Russian: Кавказская пленница, или Новые приключения Шурика translit. Kavkazskaya plennitsa, ili Novie priklucheniya Shurika), also known as Kidnapping, Caucasian Style is a Soviet comedy film dealing with the theme of bride kidnapping.
The title is a play on The Prisoner of the Caucasus, which is a poem by Alexander Pushkin as well as a short story by Leo Tolstoy. It was directed by Leonid Gaidai and is the last film featuring the Three Stooges-esque trio Coward — Fool — Experienced (Georgy Vitsin — Yuri Nikulin — Yevgeny Morgunov). The premiere of the film took place on April 1, 1967 in Moscow.
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A kind, yet naïve, anthropology student named Shurik (Demyanenko) goes to a place in the Caucasus to learn the ancient customs of the locals and falls in love with a girl called Nina (Natalya Varley). Her uncle (Frunzik Mkrtchyan) sells her as a bride without her knowledge and arranges to have her kidnapped by the eccentric trio: Coward, Fool and Experienced. After a failed attempt, the uncle decides to trick Shurik into helping with the kidnapping - telling him that it is a traditional custom and that it was Nina's own wish. Shurik goes through with the kidnapping, and does not figure out what has really happened at first, but with the help of a friend he manages to rescue Nina from her captors.
Kidnapping, Caucasian Style followed the success of Leonid Gaidai's previous film Operation Y and Other Shurik's Adventures, which featured some of the same characters (Shurik and the trio Fool, Coward and Experienced) and was largely successful within the Soviet Union.[1]
According to one of the writers, Yakov Kostyukovsky, Gaidai has decided that the trio (Fool, Coward and Experienced) have been used up and did not want to feature them again; he was only convinced to feature them again by Kostyukovsky and co-writer Slobodskoy.[1]
The censors of Goskino did not like the film and were ready to bar it from release. But by chance Leonid Brezhnev,who was sworn in as country's new leader less than a year before, saw the film and liked it so much that he had rewatched it several times. The censors reconsidered and the movie was allowed to be shown.[1]
The film was hugely popular, topping the Soviet box office of 1967 with 76.54 million viewers.[2]
The song was recorded behind the scenes by the voice of Aida Vedishcheva (Vais). Varley lip-synchs it and performs a brief twist dance. The theme of song is somewhat silly, full of optimism, and has a light, fast-paced melody.
The song was performed by Nikulin with Vitsyn and Morgunov joining in on the chorus. Varley performs a dance somewhat reminiscent of the Old Tbilisi dance theme. It is a comical song about the Islamic culture from a Russian perspective.
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