Five minutes into Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession, it’s easy to see why this was one the most attended movies in the Soviet Union, selling a whopping 60 million tickets. After the opening credits roll, a title screen declares this is “a non-science fiction, not quite realistic and not strictly historical film” – and then the 1 hour 28 minute comedy commences.
What follows is a Soviet screwball comedy, based on a 1930s play by Mikhail Bulgakov but transplanted to ‘70s Moscow. The storyline is completely bonkers: adorkable scientist Aleksandr Timofeyev builds a time machine and accidentally causes Ivan the Terrible to trade places with his building superintendent and an opportunistic conman. Crazy hijinks and comedy capers ensue across two timelines, accompanied by plenty of Benny Hill-style chase scenes and even a few musical numbers. There’s a subplot about Timofeyev’s sexy actress wife leaving him for her director, plenty of “fish out of water” humour, and in the last minute (spoiler alert) you find out it was all a dream.
So what makes this movie so special? Well for starters, it’s hilarious. Directed by one of the USSR’s most popular comedy directors, Leonid Gaidai, this is the Soviet Union’s answer to Monty Python – a zany farce packed full of physical humour and fourth wall-breaking witty asides.
For another, it’s a visual pleasure, pairing meticulous set designs with fantastically naff special effects (to be honest, the movie is worth watching for the time machine alone, which is clearly nothing more than tin foil, bubbles and smoke machine glued together).
And if those aren’t reasons enough to convince you? It’s also an enjoyable way to learn about two periods of Russian history: the 16th century reign of Ivan IV Vasilyevich, the first Russian Tsar, and life in the 21st century USSR. That makes it practically educational, right?
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