Customer Reviews

Shostakovich - Cheryomushki (Cherry Town)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Cheryomushki" (1963) is a wonderful film with a wonderful story. I found that I really loved the music and the songs were in my head for days. The film is basically a light musical romantic comedy, with lots of singing and dancing but it offers a glimpse into life in the USSR in the 1960's. I highly recommend it. Many people might think that a Soviet film could somehow be drab or depressing, but this film is anything but; it is extremely uplifting and even inspiring. The film is done in Russian, but the subtitles are so well done that English speakers will hardly notice that.

Apparently Shostakovich is widely regarded as the one of the best composers of the 20th century. After viewing this film I did a bit of research on him and I stumbled on a DVD biography. I was amazed by the man's life story. He was indeed an amazing talent, and this film proves it, even if nothing else did. "Cheryomushki" is a film to own. I can't recommend it highly enough.

The transfer to DVD is virtually flawless, which is unusual for a film made back in 1963 (or for any film). The soundtrack is great. I read the small print and the DVD was made in Europe, in Western Germany, but of course the version sold here is set up to work with American DVD players (region 1-6 or basically the whole world - NTSC).

This DVD is NOT, as stated by Amazon, Region 2 encoded.
It is an NTSC Region 0(1-6) DVD, and is playable on all standard DVD players. Don't know why it has been listed as Region 2.
I just received my copy from Amazon, and am very pleased. It's great to have this entertaining film and intersting historical document finally available to Shostakovich fans in the west.

"Cheryomushki" (1963) directed by Gerbert Rappaport - is a screen adaptation of the Musical (operetta) written by one of the greatest Composers of the 20th Century, Dmitriy Shostakovich. The music, indeed is splendid, the voices are marvelous and some of the duets are simply great (Lida and Boris singing and dancing in the costumes of the different epochs). The film itself is a typical Soviet comedy of the 60th which plot revolves around four couples who all try to move into an apartment in the new neighborhood, Cherymushki. This comedy is entertaining and well acted but too sugary and lightweight to be truly memorable.

Cheryomuski

Soviet Union
Musical Comedy/Operetta
1963 - Color - 87 minutes - DVD region 1-6(0)
Russian, with English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese subtitles.
Based on 1958 Operetta Moscow, Cheryomushki
Studio: Lenfilm
Director: Gerbert Rappaport
Libretto and Screenplay by: Vladimr Mass and Mikhail Chervinsky
Music: Dmitri Shostakovich
Orchestra: Leningrad Philarmonic
Musical Director: Nikoli Rabinovich

One of the most popular examples of Khrushchev era Soviet Edutainment. The movie is set in a housing project in Moscow, although most of the film was probably made at the Lenfilm Studios in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. Shostakovich appears to have a brief background walkthrough in one of the scenes. He reportedly met his third wife Irina, a script editor, during filming of the movie.

The plot revolves around three Moscow couples, all who appear to be in their late 20's, and their attempts to find housing in the post-war, post-Stalin housing boom. The story centers on Boris, a demolitions expert who has traveled throughout the Soviet Union and now wants to settle down and get married. He is smitten with Lidochka, an attractive museum guide, an expert in the 17th Century. The clash between his brash, "explosive", personality, and her old-fashioned, more conservative, personality serves the main plot of the movie. Their Apollonian Creed vs. Dionysian Challenge personality conflict appears to serve as a metaphor in an attempt to portray the Soviet Union as the new way, as the older, as the conservative, western capitalism "smolders on the ash-pit of history".

The other characters are Sergey, a school friend of Boris, who drives light truck for a housing administration. Sergey is in love with Lyusya, a crane operator for the same housing development, but he to shy to express his real feelings. Masha and Sasha are friends of Lidochka, who have been married for 6 months, but have been unable to find an apartment to live with each other. They seem to spend a lot of time dancing in circles. Their attempts at domestic bliss are thwarted by Barashkin, the corrupt, scheming housing manager. Drebednev is his middle-aged superior, and has much younger, blonde bombshell, ambitious 4th wife Vavachka, who is a childhood friend of Boris and Sergey.

The film contains many enjoyable songs, as well as several dance numbers. All the cast seem to be excellent dancers, although I would describe the choreography as repetitive, which is probably due to official interference. All the songs are overdubbed, which was common with American movie musicals of the same time period. I enjoyed Masha and Sasha's housing lament, Sergey and Lyusya's "What Love is" duet, and the sentimental newlywed's ride through a Springtime Moscow. The chase scene with Boris and a firefighter appears to be derivative of a Charlie Chaplin or Harold Lloyd silent movie.

The film cannot be considered as historically accurate. It seems to try and convince the Soviet people, and other people of the world, of the superiority of the Soviet way of living. The music is not as sophisticated as his symphonies, and it probably was never intended to be. It is an interesting piece of Soviet kitsch, and an interesting glimpse at turbulent time in history.

If you are a band geek like myself, you may have played the "Gallop from Moscow, Cheryomuski", edited by Donald Hunsberger. The music accompanies Boris and Lida's dance duet, where they seem to parody 19th century opera, the Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble, the Three-Penny Opera, and what looks like American teenagers of the late 50's or early 60's. Unfortunately, several frames are missing, either from poor editing, or damaged frames in the original negative

I ordered this DVD entirely for the music of Shostakovich, my candidate for the greatest 20th C composer of all. Well, the music, although charming, is deliberately light-weight and not at all the most interesting thing about this production. It says something about the soviet "experiment" that a composer of Shostakovich's earnestness would have written such a gentle bit of populism. Can you imagine Milton Babbit or Thomas Ades, or any high-art western composer writing such music without being condescending?
The movie Cherry Town was filmed in 1963. The fact that it, or any other soviet popular art form, was never noticed in any way in the USA seems to me to speak volumes about the conduct of the Cold War. People in the USA were satisfied to know only one side of the story. The USSR was so demonized during the 50s, 60s, and later that this film will be hard for most Americans to watch honestly and evaluate fairly. It's a musical comedy, closest in style and appeal to the Bing Crosby stuff of the 50s, or to "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and "Oklahoma". It's wonderfully innocent and romantic, and OPTIMISTIC! IDEALISTIC! ??? In Russia? Yes, in Russia. But it's not a white-wash of soviet society. In fact, it's sharply satirical of bureaucratic corruption, of inefficiency, and of the new-man culture of newly urbanizing Russia. Watch it with an open mind. Can you remember any comparably pointed social commentary in any American musical comedy of the same era?
All in all, however, it's probably a one-time viewing production, which is why I've given it only a four-star. But I confess that I'm not a musical comedy fan; I wouldn't give five stars to any Broadway musical other than Porgy and Bess.

What a great artist Shostakovich was! A masterpiece that overwhelm thousands of composers. The film is in perfect tune with the music. Own it and show it to all your friends! Shostakovich is simply the 2oth centrury best composer.