THE SOVIET DETECTIVE FILM: HISTORY OF CREATION AND FEATURES OF THE GENRE
Authors: Braterska-Dron Maryna ,   Kyiv National I. K. KARPENKO-KARYI University of Theatre, Cinema and Television
Published: February 2023

The article is devoted to the issue of formation and development of the detective genre on the Soviet cinema screen. Detective is one of the favorite genres of the mass audience. It came from literature in the intriguing story of the American writer Edgar Allan Poe — “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841). It is there that the author formulates the main features of the detective genre. The detective shows a person “strained to the limit” of his mental and physical capabilities. Another peculiarity of the detective is an appeal to the logical capabilities of the recipient. Cinema has turned its attention to the detective since its early years. The founder of this genre was the French director V. Jasset, who directed a series about detective Nick Carter in 1908-1909. “The Rumyantsev Case” (1955) is considered to be the first Soviet detective movie. Probably, this film laid the foundation of the Soviet detective film: psychologically in-depth image of the protagonist, that often weakened the plot, dramaturgical content of other characters, including negative, understanding and desire to support a missteped person, emphasized the moral aspect. The times of the “Khrushchev Thaw” especially accentuated the problem of choosing between the official law of society and the human individual conscience. In 1966, the film “Beware of the Car” was released. It was probably one of the latest outbreaks of the “thaw” era in a desperate desire to defend one’s dreams and ideals, to adjust the system by conscience. The end of the 1960s was marked by the coming of the so-called “Stagnation”. Cinematographers, like tightrope walkers, balance on a thin and sometimes dangerous line between the laws of the genre and the efforts of editors (they were also ideological censorship), because the Soviet detective had to not only entertain but also educate both aesthetically and morally, because no one is allowed to break the law, the thief will always be found and punished. Cinema, as it could, delighted its viewers with not frequent, but such desired detectives. In the late 1960s, purely Soviet detectives appeared: “The Master of the Taiga”, “Village Detective”, and their sequels. In the 1970s, everyone’s favorite series, “Investigations Held by ZnaToKi”; a trilogy about our Commissioner Maigret – Colonel Zorin (“The Return of Saint Luke”, “The Black Prince”, “The Colonel Zorin’s Hypothesis”), appeared on television. Ukrainian film studios also did its part in the development of the detective genre: “Born to a Revolution”, “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”, “The Man in the Courtyard”, “Criminal Inspector”, “Inspector Losev”, “Criminal Investigation Weekdays”, “Vertical Race” and others. The Soviet film detective had its disadvantages, but it also had its advantages. There was not much blood, brutal killings, loud shootings, and breathtaking persecution. However, there were psychologically filled, interesting images with their history, life experience, faith in man, though a kind of naive, but sincere attempts to correct it, to help in difficulties.