Marionettes (film)

Marionettes (Russian: Марионетки) is a 1934 Soviet satirical antifascist film starring Anatoli Ktorov and directed by Yakov Protazanov and Porfiri Podobed.

Marionettes
Theater Poster in the USSR
Directed byYakov Protazanov
Porfiri Podobed
Written byYakov Protazanov
Vladimir Shvejtser
StarringSergei Martinson
Anatoli Ktorov
Nikolai Radin
Valentina Tokarskaya
Music byLeonid Polovinkin
CinematographyPyotr Yermolov
Production
company
Release date
3 February 1934
Running time
97 minutes
CountrySoviet Union
LanguageRussian

The film is a hybrid of several genres: musical comedy, social satire and political propaganda.

Plot

The film begins with a prologue in which a master of ceremonies (Igor Arkadin) introduces the principal cast - all of whom are named after the seven notes of the musical scale (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, and Ti) - in the form of marionettes on a puppet stage.

The scene then transitions to the fictional European constitutional monarchy of Boufferia, which is racked by economic chaos and political unrest. The nation's major political factions - monarchists, liberals, fascists, and socialists - squabble fruitlessly in parliament, while the common people grow increasingly radicalized by the example of the USSR, with which Boufferia shares a heavily militarized border. The king is unable to exert a stabilizing influence, being only a boy of seven, so the country's secret rulers - a cabal of wealthy capitalists - decide to replace him with a more mature and capable figure. The most suitable candidate is the prince Do (Anatoli Ktorov), a dissipated playboy living abroad and mired in debt.

The prince accepts the throne, but on the way to Boufferia, he has too much to drink, leans too far out an airplane window, and falls out, unnoticed by the other passengers and aircrew. When the plane lands, the cheering crowd mistakes the Do's barber and valet So (Sergei Martinson) for the prince, and - despite his inarticulate protests - he is acclaimed as the new sovereign and carried off to the palace.

Meanwhile, prince Do miraculously survives his fall from the airplane into a river, and manages to stumble to shore. However, he is in the vicinity of the Soviet-Boufferian border, and finds himself arrested by an overzealous detachment of frontier guards, who mistake him for a Bolshevik infiltrator.

The frightened So is dressed in royal regalia and declared king. At first, he is mute with terror, but when pressed on policy questions by parliamentary delegations, he blurts out non sequiturs related to his profession, personal grooming. His answers are willfully misinterpreted in the spirit of whatever the inquiring parties wish to hear, and the "prince" is acclaimed as a font of Solomonic wisdom. In particular, when asked about measures to resolve the state crisis, So suggests "hot compresses and lead lotions," delighting the leader of the fascist faction, Fa (Konstantin Zubov).

Gradually, So comes to feel more and more confident in his assumed role and begins to make more assertive statements, earning the support of a reactionary coalition consisting of the fascists, the archbishop Re and the industrial cabal. Prince Do manages to extricate himself from the border post and makes it to the capital and the palace, where no one recognizes him. He assumes the position of barber-valet to king So, who does recognize him, but his initial terror is quickly replaced with confidence once he realizes that his position is unassailable. Prince Do's glamourous fiancée, the singer and actress Mi (Valentina Tokarskaya) arrives from abroad and is shocked to find So in the royal apartments, haughtily ordering around Do, who awkwardly tries to preserve his dignity in front of Mi. The cabal arranges for an artillery battery to launch an unprovoked surprise attack against the Soviet Union, in order to start a Boufferian-Soviet war; simultaneously, prince Do finally loses his temper and assaults So for his insolence, chasing him around the palace. At the exact moment the cannon at the border fortress fires, the irate prince beans the valet over the head with a heavy volume entitled "The Philosophy Of Fascism," presented to him earlier by an intellectual sycophant.

At this point, the film transitions to the same tableau being enacted by marionettes, which freeze in position. The master of ceremonies appears again and assures the viewers that all they have seen is mere absurdity, and the marionettes fall lifeless as the unseen puppeteer above lets go of the strings.

Cast


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