Very funny and kind movie. Creates great atmosphere, makes one smile along with the actors. Leaves very warm overall impression. I have seen it many times and have been spellbound by it again and again. A great combination of cheeky and kind humor, music, songs that have become everlasting hits, touching naivety and sincerity. Undeniable and ageless masterpiece. Should be properly and carefully restored. A small comment to IMDb the movie was shot in CRIMEA and not in Odessa. Please correct!

music, acting, humor, message, image. it is more than a comedy. or music hall. it is a travel in time. not for its venerable age but for its time. because, in dark period of Stalinism, this demonstration of pure joy, this manifesto of profound freedom is unique. sure, not extraordinary script and the waves of songs are essential virtue. but it remains special. for the gorgeous naivety with flavor of childhood adventure. for memorable scenes. for the impressive demonstration of animal tights. for drops of love and, sure, for extraordinary voices. and, at first sigh, it is enough. but, after each new view, it is different. out of charming atmosphere it is strange tension. and testimony of a form, subtle, delicate, special of courage. because it is one of films - letter for future.

Leonide Outessov (Kostia, a prosperous shepherd), Lioubov Orlova (Aniouta, a fair-haired servant girl), Mariya Strelkova (Elena, a statuesque but extremely well-proportioned rich girl), Elena Tepkina (Elena's beautiful step-mother and Aniouta's employer), Fedor Kourikin (owner-driver of the catafalque), G. Arnold (the real conductor), Robert Erdman (music teacher).Director: GRIGORI ALEXANDROV. Screenplay: Vladimir Mass, Nikolai Erdman, Grigori Alexandrov. Photography: Vladimir Nilsen. Film editor: E.V. Tobak. Art director: A.A. Utkin. Music: Isaac Douanaevski. Producer: Grigori Alexandrov.A Kinocombinat Production, not copyright 1935 by Amkino. New York opening as Moscow Laughs at the Cameo, 24 March 1935. French release title: Joyeux Compagnons. DVD title: Joyeux Garçons. DVD running time: 96 minutes. (The 1978 "restored" version is available on a Bach Films DVD with excellent sound. Some of the visuals are still below standard but the quality improves considerably as the film progresses. The movie is also available with English sub-titles on a 1996 POLart VHS).SYNOPSIS: Difficult to write up as the picture went through a considerable number of transformations as the Party Line changed. Finally, when the wealthy peasants (as depicted by Outessov) were rounded up and sent to Siberia, Stalin decided to suppress the film altogether, despite his admiration for Lioubov Orlova, easily his favorite movie star. Briefly, the plot concerns a prosperous, singing shepherd, who regards animals more highly than human beings, until he falls in love with a servant girl. But hardly has this romance subsided, when he is mistaken for -- and takes the place of -- a famous conductor, and thus ends up with a bitchy orchestra called "Amity" which is anything but.COMMENT: "Hooray for Life! Hooray for Happiness, and Hooray for Love!" our hero sings as soon as the amusing trick credits are out of the way. Best seven minutes I've ever spent in the cinema, directed with a pace and style that is simply out of this world. It's a mighty catchy song too! Unfortunately, it's not possible to keep this pace and inventiveness going indefinitely. And thus, alas, after another grandly inventive long take along a beach front, the movie quickly becomes more Mack Sennett than Julien Duvivier. Mind you, it's slapstick with a budget beyond Sennett's wildest dreams, but slapstick it is. And by the way, Joe, you can keep your Lioubov Orlova. If I had my druthers, I'd take Mariya Strelkova any day. What a dish! The director, photographer and costumer are obviously in love with her too. And what a shame she made so few movies! IMDb has her down for only five.

This first Soviet musical comedy on film still shows signs of silent era mentality, mainly because the sound is so poorly coordinated with the picture, as if it were an afterthought, but also because the gags are predominantly visual. You'll wince at many of the shots too, especially those close-ups of the actors delivering each single line -- it's hard to be subtle when the camera's 18 inches from your face. Also obvious is the political subtext -- a jolly peasant demolishes the upper crust's airs and way of life. It's interesting that, in this as in many Soviet films that try to be light-hearted, food and drink fairly tumble off the screen, as if to feed those in abject poverty who have come to watch it.For all that, the director, Grigori Aleksandrov, challenged himself and his crew with some awesomely complex shoots. The opening scene of the shepherd marching his animals out of the pen and through the farmland, past peasants and workers, is quite lengthy, but only involves four takes spliced subtly together. (Oh, but would the sound have matched better!) Similarly, the would-be female singer strolls down the beach past a cornucopia of beach activity, some in the extreme foreground, some mid-field, some in the back behind her. It's one long take, and yet it manages to be interesting and funny at times, and it even manages to set up a later gag while it's at it.And the music: It's jazz from the acoustic era, with tubas providing the bass line, pretty quaint and good-timey. But about half of the music in the soundtrack is full orchestral material composed by Isaak Dunayevsky, with a rousing salute to the simple peasant life getting a full-blown treatment both at the beginning and the end of the picture, the equivalent of Socialist Realism for music. It's a great little melody you can whistle on the way home as you wonder where your next meal will come from.