The Village Detective: A Song Cycle (2021) Movie Script
(water splashing)
(machine whirring)
(guitar music)
Dah.
(water bubbling)
(dramatic music)
(film static)
(upbeat news music)
There actually were four rolls
of 35 millimeter films.
And I was hoping
this was something very old
because they looked old.
What I started doing is
I put newspaper on the floor
and then I started
unwinding the films.
There were a lot of rust
on the reels.
We had to scrape that rust away.
Theres still some
brown dust in the films.
You can have a look at them.
(clicking)
What is--
Is this?
What is this?
(TV static)
(banging)
Well, I would say that
Zharov was obviously
one of the most popular actors
of the Soviet era.
Both in theater,
most in film of course.
He was known by 99 percent of
the population of this country.
And now if were talking
about Hollywood
its the level of popularity
of Humphrey Bogart
or Clark Gable.
This scale.
The highest award in Russia
was Peoples Artist
of the USSR.
And he got this in 1949.
You can more or less easily
spot out, lets say,
a dozen films out of the,
whatever, 50 or 60 that he made
where he is really acting.
And when there was
a strong directors hand
like the hand of Eisenstein,
for example, in cinema
then he was different
and very different.
This film was supposed
to be a rehabilitation
of Stalins violence
so that there is violence
but it is needed
for the sake of,
you know,
having a strong country.
So Stalin was in favor
of the film,
or the first part of it
and then the second part,
thats exactly where
Zharov appears,
this is a film about how cruelty
can only give birth to cruelty.
And that it is impossible
to stop
even if the purpose is noble.
And how the Tsar
eventually becomes a maniac
and a character that Zharov
is playing
is his main weapon,
should we say, his axe.
For the first one,
they all get a Stalin Prize.
When Stalin saw the film,
the second part was banned
and there was a third one
which was never completed.
(indistinct chattering)
(solemn music)
(static)
(accordion music)
(muffled breathing)
(static)
(static)
(indistinct chattering)
(accordion music)
(guitar music)
(static)
(ominous music)
(clacking)
(overlapping remarks)
(soft guitar music)
(shattering)
(gunshot firing)
(chuckling)
(laughing)
(chuckling)
(ominous music)
He had three Stalin Prizes
all in the 40s.
So, this was his position
by the end of the 40s.
At the beginning of the 50s,
there was a very famous
anti-Semitic campaign,
Case of Doctors.
And his wife was Jewish,
and her father was
a very famous physician,
and it was one of those
who was accused
as having a plot against
a group of Soviet authorities.
Nothing horrible
happened to him.
He was never arrested,
he was never, you know,
kicked out of his theater,
but this was not
the best time for a career.
(somber music)
(melancholic music)
(indistinct remarks)
(accordion music)
(solemn music)
Zharov was getting older,
and so what was left
are those comical parts,
more or less repeating
his clichs.
The Village Detective,
or the Rural Detective,
for many a symbol
of this downfall,
and a film which was,
I would say, despised
by the critics and by
the general cinefiles, right?
But, loved by the audience,
and it was very successful
at the box office.
So successful that
Zharov eventually made
several sequels to the film,
and was playing the same part
for almost a decade.
(somber music)
(solemn accordion music)
Ah.
You know, when I heard about
the reels being found,
I was expecting
a lost silent masterpiece,
and not a film which we have
in our collection
on camera negative
on which has been shown
on television month to month.
(overlapping remarks)
(whirring)
I think that was
probably just on a ship,
and probably a Russian ship.
Almost every big ship
had some kind of a projector
and a
little collection of films,
which was, you know,
exchanged once in a while.
So, I guess these several reels
were from one of those ships,
which were, for example, torn,
or for some reason
were not really watchable again,
and they were just dumped
one way or another.
I know its a strange way
of disposing film,
but who knows?
And in the net,
there were almost
four reels together
in one haul.
Thats also a miracle.
Maybe the reason might be
that the Russians,
they kept their film reels
in a certain can.
It could have been
protected in this can
for many years
on the bottom of the sea
if it fell from a ship above.
Then, this metal starts to rust.
And the strange thing is
that the metal rusts,
and then you have
this celluloid
in a certain condition
which you can handle.
(solemn accordion music)
(cheering)
(whirring)
(waves sloshing)
(burbling)
Across the field
I hear
The bluebirds calling
(melancholic music)
Across the field
I hear
Thunder
Across the field
I hear
I hear the wan cry
Across the field
I hear
The bluebirds calling
Across the field
I hear
The darkness
Across the field
I hear
The crow call
Across the field
I hear
The wind fly past me
Across the field
I hear
The drums
Across the field
I hear my friend
I hear him calling
Across the field
I hear his voice
I hear him calling
Across the field
I hear the drums
Calling
Across the field
I hear the field
Calling me
I cross the field
I cross the field
I cross the field
I cross the field
I cross the field
(burbling)
(machine whirring)
(guitar music)
Dah.
(water bubbling)
(dramatic music)
(film static)
(upbeat news music)
There actually were four rolls
of 35 millimeter films.
And I was hoping
this was something very old
because they looked old.
What I started doing is
I put newspaper on the floor
and then I started
unwinding the films.
There were a lot of rust
on the reels.
We had to scrape that rust away.
Theres still some
brown dust in the films.
You can have a look at them.
(clicking)
What is--
Is this?
What is this?
(TV static)
(banging)
Well, I would say that
Zharov was obviously
one of the most popular actors
of the Soviet era.
Both in theater,
most in film of course.
He was known by 99 percent of
the population of this country.
And now if were talking
about Hollywood
its the level of popularity
of Humphrey Bogart
or Clark Gable.
This scale.
The highest award in Russia
was Peoples Artist
of the USSR.
And he got this in 1949.
You can more or less easily
spot out, lets say,
a dozen films out of the,
whatever, 50 or 60 that he made
where he is really acting.
And when there was
a strong directors hand
like the hand of Eisenstein,
for example, in cinema
then he was different
and very different.
This film was supposed
to be a rehabilitation
of Stalins violence
so that there is violence
but it is needed
for the sake of,
you know,
having a strong country.
So Stalin was in favor
of the film,
or the first part of it
and then the second part,
thats exactly where
Zharov appears,
this is a film about how cruelty
can only give birth to cruelty.
And that it is impossible
to stop
even if the purpose is noble.
And how the Tsar
eventually becomes a maniac
and a character that Zharov
is playing
is his main weapon,
should we say, his axe.
For the first one,
they all get a Stalin Prize.
When Stalin saw the film,
the second part was banned
and there was a third one
which was never completed.
(indistinct chattering)
(solemn music)
(static)
(accordion music)
(muffled breathing)
(static)
(static)
(indistinct chattering)
(accordion music)
(guitar music)
(static)
(ominous music)
(clacking)
(overlapping remarks)
(soft guitar music)
(shattering)
(gunshot firing)
(chuckling)
(laughing)
(chuckling)
(ominous music)
He had three Stalin Prizes
all in the 40s.
So, this was his position
by the end of the 40s.
At the beginning of the 50s,
there was a very famous
anti-Semitic campaign,
Case of Doctors.
And his wife was Jewish,
and her father was
a very famous physician,
and it was one of those
who was accused
as having a plot against
a group of Soviet authorities.
Nothing horrible
happened to him.
He was never arrested,
he was never, you know,
kicked out of his theater,
but this was not
the best time for a career.
(somber music)
(melancholic music)
(indistinct remarks)
(accordion music)
(solemn music)
Zharov was getting older,
and so what was left
are those comical parts,
more or less repeating
his clichs.
The Village Detective,
or the Rural Detective,
for many a symbol
of this downfall,
and a film which was,
I would say, despised
by the critics and by
the general cinefiles, right?
But, loved by the audience,
and it was very successful
at the box office.
So successful that
Zharov eventually made
several sequels to the film,
and was playing the same part
for almost a decade.
(somber music)
(solemn accordion music)
Ah.
You know, when I heard about
the reels being found,
I was expecting
a lost silent masterpiece,
and not a film which we have
in our collection
on camera negative
on which has been shown
on television month to month.
(overlapping remarks)
(whirring)
I think that was
probably just on a ship,
and probably a Russian ship.
Almost every big ship
had some kind of a projector
and a
little collection of films,
which was, you know,
exchanged once in a while.
So, I guess these several reels
were from one of those ships,
which were, for example, torn,
or for some reason
were not really watchable again,
and they were just dumped
one way or another.
I know its a strange way
of disposing film,
but who knows?
And in the net,
there were almost
four reels together
in one haul.
Thats also a miracle.
Maybe the reason might be
that the Russians,
they kept their film reels
in a certain can.
It could have been
protected in this can
for many years
on the bottom of the sea
if it fell from a ship above.
Then, this metal starts to rust.
And the strange thing is
that the metal rusts,
and then you have
this celluloid
in a certain condition
which you can handle.
(solemn accordion music)
(cheering)
(whirring)
(waves sloshing)
(burbling)
Across the field
I hear
The bluebirds calling
(melancholic music)
Across the field
I hear
Thunder
Across the field
I hear
I hear the wan cry
Across the field
I hear
The bluebirds calling
Across the field
I hear
The darkness
Across the field
I hear
The crow call
Across the field
I hear
The wind fly past me
Across the field
I hear
The drums
Across the field
I hear my friend
I hear him calling
Across the field
I hear his voice
I hear him calling
Across the field
I hear the drums
Calling
Across the field
I hear the field
Calling me
I cross the field
I cross the field
I cross the field
I cross the field
I cross the field
(burbling)