Karnaval'naja noč'

"The good mood won’t decline anymore," one of the songs says. In fact, the charm of this 1950ies musical remains unbowed 60 years after its creation and can’t be explained by the thaw context alone. The plot - a group of Varieté artists prevent their humorless leader spoiling the New Year's Gala - also works beyond political charges. This revue of a love story about couples of different generations has timeless elegance. Two great idols of Soviet cinema also emerged out of this culture-war parable: Comedy director Ėl'dar Ryazanov and "actress of the people" Lyudmila Gurčenko.