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Volga-Volga

 Volga-Volga
type
TVTItem
 Volga-Volga
label
Volga-Volga
 Volga-Volga
page
VolgaVolga
 Volga-Volga
comment
Volga-Volga is a 1938 film from the Soviet Union, directed by Grigori Alexandrov."Strelka" Petrova lives in a quiet village on the Volga River. She is a letter-carrier called strelka ("arrow") for her swiftness in completing her appointed rounds. Her boyfriend Alyosha is a tuba player and bandleader at the local music college, while Strelka herself is a talented amateur singer and songwriter.The village leader, a self-important blowhard bureaucrat named Byvalov, gets a telegram (carried by Strelka) announcing a "musical Olympiad" in Moscow. This starts a fight between Strelka, who insists that she and all her amateur musician friends should go and play Russian songs for the contest, and Alyosha, who says that he and his classically-trained friends should go and play Schubert. Byvalov unsurprisingly backs Alyosha's orchestra, leading Strelka to organize a rival group of her local friends, who board a second Volga riverboat and attempt to outrace Alyosha's group to Moscow. Meanwhile, Strelka writes a song, "Soul of the Volga", about the river that is thought to be key to the Russian nation.That gossamer-thin plot is just an excuse to string together a lot of songs and musical numbers. Volga-Volga was reportedly Josef Stalin's favorite movie; he sent a copy to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.note Stalin also liked American cowboy movies. This cheerful, peppy musical played in Russian theaters at the height of the Great Terror in which Stalin executed as many as 700,000 Russians and sent millons to the gulags, where hundreds of thousands more died.
 Volga-Volga
fetched
2023-10-21T20:18:00Z
 Volga-Volga
parsed
2023-10-21T20:18:00Z
 Volga-Volga
processingComment
Dropped link to BornInTheTheater: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
 Volga-Volga
processingComment
Dropped link to CallBack: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Volga-Volga
processingComment
Dropped link to TheMusical: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Volga-Volga
processingUnknown
BornInTheTheater
 Volga-Volga
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Volga-Volga / int_27e9edc
type
Undercrank
 Volga-Volga / int_27e9edc
comment
Undercrank: The local who complains to Byvalov about the poor quality of his balalaika flips and twirls it around in a routine made to look faster by undercranking.
 Volga-Volga / int_27e9edc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_27e9edc
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1.0
 Volga-Volga
hasFeature
Volga-Volga / int_27e9edc
 Volga-Volga / int_40eff02d
type
Impractical Musical Instrument Skills
 Volga-Volga / int_40eff02d
comment
Impractical Musical Instrument Skills: A completely random moment has one of Strelka's peasant friends play a few notes on his flute, then stick the end of the flute up his nose and play it like that.
 Volga-Volga / int_40eff02d
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1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_40eff02d
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 Volga-Volga
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Volga-Volga / int_40eff02d
 Volga-Volga / int_46754750
type
Inadvertent Entrance Cue
 Volga-Volga / int_46754750
comment
Inadvertent Entrance Cue: Alyosha says "I wish Strelka was here." Cue a whistle as her riverboat pulls up alongside his.
 Volga-Volga / int_46754750
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1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_46754750
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 Volga-Volga
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Volga-Volga / int_46754750
 Volga-Volga / int_48b9731f
type
Paper-Thin Disguise
 Volga-Volga / int_48b9731f
comment
Paper-Thin Disguise: A dunking in the river leads to Strelka on Alyosha's boat, dressed in a sailor's coat. She has, in the meantime, told Alyosha that the author of the song "Soul of the Volga" is her friend "Dunya". Somehow, when Alyosha sees Dunya rehearsing the song with the orchestra, he fails to recognize his own girlfriend. She didn't even change her hair!
 Volga-Volga / int_48b9731f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_48b9731f
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 Volga-Volga
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Volga-Volga / int_48b9731f
 Volga-Volga / int_5fcb9ad1
type
Time Skip
 Volga-Volga / int_5fcb9ad1
comment
Time Skip: Occasionally the camera will fix on shots of the steamship's paddle while the words "1st day...2nd day...3rd day..." scroll past the frame.
 Volga-Volga / int_5fcb9ad1
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1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_5fcb9ad1
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 Volga-Volga
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Volga-Volga / int_5fcb9ad1
 Volga-Volga / int_86ee8070
type
World of Ham
 Volga-Volga / int_86ee8070
comment
World of Ham: Let's just say the Method had not made it to the Soviet Union. All the acting is way, way over-the-top hammy.
 Volga-Volga / int_86ee8070
featureApplicability
1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_86ee8070
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 Volga-Volga
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Volga-Volga / int_86ee8070
 Volga-Volga / int_884e513b
type
Medium Awareness
 Volga-Volga / int_884e513b
comment
Medium Awareness: At the beginning, the opening song says the movie is called Volga-Volga, and the song names the characters and the actors who play them. At the end, the whole cast addresses the camera directly, saying that they hoped the audience enjoyed the movie. The happy, upbeat ending song includes an absolutely chilling, terrifying line about how the Soviet Union has to get rid of all the Obstructive Bureaucrats like Byvalov. ("We must clear all the rubbish/Sweep it off with our hands.")
 Volga-Volga / int_884e513b
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1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_884e513b
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 Volga-Volga
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Volga-Volga / int_884e513b
 Volga-Volga / int_9bcc38c6
type
Thanking the Viewer
 Volga-Volga / int_9bcc38c6
comment
Thanking the Viewer: At the end, the cast sings directly to the audience, saying "We are glad you laughed."
 Volga-Volga / int_9bcc38c6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_9bcc38c6
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 Volga-Volga
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Volga-Volga / int_9bcc38c6
 Volga-Volga / int_a8556a04
type
Video Credits
 Volga-Volga / int_a8556a04
comment
Video Credits: The opening credits have clips of all the actors, accompanied by a singer who identifies each character and the name of the actor playing them.
 Volga-Volga / int_a8556a04
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1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_a8556a04
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 Volga-Volga
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Volga-Volga / int_a8556a04
 Volga-Volga / int_b5b4c0cf
type
The End
 Volga-Volga / int_b5b4c0cf
comment
The End: The film ends with the cast members flipping up big golden cardboard letters that spell конец ("end").
 Volga-Volga / int_b5b4c0cf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_b5b4c0cf
featureConfidence
1.0
 Volga-Volga
hasFeature
Volga-Volga / int_b5b4c0cf
 Volga-Volga / int_cc5c18b6
type
Iris Out
 Volga-Volga / int_cc5c18b6
comment
Iris Out: One random gag has an iris out effect centered on the riverboat steaming away—only the boat seems to be too big, as the iris shrinks and bounces back out. On the fourth try the iris is finally able to close over the boat and end the scene.
 Volga-Volga / int_cc5c18b6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_cc5c18b6
featureConfidence
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 Volga-Volga
hasFeature
Volga-Volga / int_cc5c18b6
 Volga-Volga / int_e144beb6
type
Everything Is an Instrument
 Volga-Volga / int_e144beb6
comment
Everything Is an Instrument: It seems everyone in Strelka's little middle-of-nowhere village is a talented musician, like the bartender, who can tap out a tune by clinking glasses and bottles while he sings.
 Volga-Volga / int_e144beb6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_e144beb6
featureConfidence
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 Volga-Volga
hasFeature
Volga-Volga / int_e144beb6
 Volga-Volga / int_ed51d0
type
That Russian Squat Dance
 Volga-Volga / int_ed51d0
comment
That Russian Squat Dance: It's a movie celebrating Russian peasant culture, so yes, they do the squat dance. More than once, in fact, during big numbers.
 Volga-Volga / int_ed51d0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_ed51d0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Volga-Volga
hasFeature
Volga-Volga / int_ed51d0
 Volga-Volga / int_f237981e
type
The Alleged Car
 Volga-Volga / int_f237981e
comment
The Alleged Car: The Alleged Boat. The steamboat carrying Byvalov, Alyosha, and the orchestra has a fine engine but is crumbling. Leaning too hard on the pilot house partially collapses it. Someone leans on a smokestack and knocks it into the river. Byvalov jumps up and down in a rage and winds up crashing through four decks into the water. It's specified to be an American steamship.
 Volga-Volga / int_f237981e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Volga-Volga / int_f237981e
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 Volga-Volga
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Volga-Volga / int_f237981e
 Volga-Volga / int_name
type
ItemName
 Volga-Volga / int_name
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 Volga-Volga / int_name
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 Volga-Volga / int_name
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Volga-Volga / int_name
 Volga-Volga / int_name
itemName
Volga-Volga

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Volga-Volga
hasFeature
Born in the Theatre / int_73ed66fa
 Volga-Volga
hasFeature
Impractical Musical Instrument Skills / int_73ed66fa
 Volga-Volga
hasFeature
The End / int_73ed66fa
 Volga-Volga
hasFeature
Video Credits / int_73ed66fa