# Soviet comedy film recommendations

I’m a big fan of the Soviet comedy directors [Eldar Ryazanov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldar_Ryazanov), [Leonid Gaidai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Gaidai), and [Georgiy Daneliya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgiy_Daneliya). Almost anything by them is worth watching, but here are my favorites (filtered for things that have a free YouTube version with good English subtitles, **bold** are the highest-recommended):

![Я вам покажу!». За что Рязанов наказал Мягкова | Аргументы и Факты](https://aif-s3.aif.ru/images/020/737/946354b0faabaefa2a3efa972ef7ac2d.jpg)

Scene from "The Garage"

Ryazanov
========

*   1966 [Beware of the Car](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beware_of_the_Car) (Берегись автомобиля) [\[YouTube\]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ33mMmfvaM)
    *   Comedy about a benevolent car thief who steals to donate to charity 
*   1975 [The Irony of Fate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate) (Ирония судьбы или с легким паром!) [\[YouTube\]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpmZnRIMKs)
    *   A New Year’s classic premised on the uniformity of Soviet apartment buildings—a guy gets drunk on NYE and ends up in a different city but finds an identical building that his key can access
*   1977 [Office Romance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Romance) (Служебный роман) [\[YouTube\]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR-1QGMK75c)
    *   Romantic comedy and satirical portrayal of Soviet office life
*   **1979** [**The Garage**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garage_(1979_film)) **(Гараж)** [**\[YouTube\]**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VahEhy4HJu4)
    *   Comedy set in a single room where people argue about who should lose their garage after the government decides to build a road through the plot they were collectively building garages on
*   **1987** [**Forgotten Melody for a Flute**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Melody_for_a_Flute) **(Забытая мелодия для флейты)** [**\[YouTube\]**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCIb0R_8Ww4)
    *   Satirical romantic comedy about Soviet bureaucracy and its decline in power in the late 80s, great opening song (translate the lyrics)
*   **1991** [**The Promised Heaven**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promised_Heaven) **(Небеса обетованные)**
    *   Sadly couldn’t find an English-subtitled YT link for this but I like it too much to miss off[^06e2rfan0b76]
    *   Tragic comedy about the lives of people made recently homeless during the Perestroika period, very sad and of its time

Gaidai
======

*   1966 [Kidnapping, Caucasian Style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style) (Кавказская пленница, или Новые приключения Шурика) [\[YouTube\]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2_sjEURwgo)
    *   One of the most famous Soviet comedies—a naive visitor to the Caucasus is convinced to assist in the “bride kidnapping” tradition
*   1969 [The Diamond Arm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Arm) (Бриллиантовая рука) [\[YouTube\]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvVpbNaSk6k)
    *   Another one of the most famous Soviet comedies—diamonds end up being smuggled in the wrong guy’s cast because he happens to injure himself and say the “codeword” in front of the smugglers’ hideout
*   **1971** [**The Twelve Chairs**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Chairs_(1971_film)) **(12 стульев)** [**\[YouTube\]**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8t2dbJ7YXY)
    *   Film adaptation of the satirical novel by Soviet authors [Ilf and Petrov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilf_and_Petrov) set in post-revolutionary Russia

Daneliya
========

*   **1977** [**Mimino**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimino) **(Мимино)** [**\[YouTube\]**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgFLr2bjUNM)
    *   Romantic comedy about a Georgian bush pilot
*   **1986** [**Kin-dza-dza!**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin-dza-dza!) **(Кин-Дза-Дза!)** [**\[YouTube\]**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYHv8eJrW2Y)
    *   Funny low-budget sci-fi

Bonus recommendations
=====================

*   **1973** [**Seventeen Moments of Spring**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Moments_of_Spring) **(Семнадцать мгновений весны)** [**\[YouTube\]**](https://youtu.be/jtazv8uPvvA)
    *   Extremely popular Soviet spy thriller set during WW2
    *   [Source of “Stierlitz jokes”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_jokes)
*   1975 [Hedgehog in the Fog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog_in_the_Fog) (Ёжик в тумане) [\[YouTube\]](https://youtu.be/nKDeMBzXnpg)
    *   Classic short (10mins) animated children’s film, great atmosphere

![Юрий Норштейн: «Ежик в тумане» появился после криков и сердечных капель -  KP.RU](https://s16.stc.yc.kpcdn.net/share/i/12/9838510/de-1200x900.jpg)

Still from "Hedgehog in the Fog"

*Addendum: there is now a* [*follow-up post*](https://ninarimsky.substack.com/p/soviet-detective-series) *on my blog with two detective series recommendations*

[^06e2rfan0b76]: $10 bounty to anyone who finds a link to a free version of this with high-quality English subtitles