If you don't include the 'Up the Creek' comedies or other cruise-themed TV, this might be the last of my maritime comedies that I can think of! "The Diamond Arm" (1969) is one of the best-loved Russian comedies/films of all time (people quote tons of it to this day), and is an absolute delight to watch. It features the legendary Yuri Nikulin as Semyon Gorbunkov, the quiet, unassuming hero who takes his first cruise abroad and is unwittingly involved in an organised syndicate's smuggling of jewellery concealed in a plaster cast, which hilariously clumsy villains (Andrei Mironov and Anatoliy Papanov) struggle to reclaim. The film is bursting with so many memorable lines (like the one on slide 1) and perfect comedic moments, when Kozodoyev (Mironov) thinks he's having a religious experience (he's not), the gently bemused helpfulness of Gorbunkov's new friends in the police, Nonna Mordyukova as the larger-than-life overbearing landlady, and my favourite of all, the bubbling chaotic hilarity of the scene at the Weeping Willow, when Kozodoyev tries to get Gorbunkov drunk so he can eventually conk him out (this involves flying ducks and swans in a restaurant and a classic song about rabbits).
It's a lovely colourful film that also shows us Soviet holiday makers abroad, filled with many little jokes, and the most unlikely lovable common hero, the right 'wrong man' who appears to do very little but manages just fine. It's also a great introduction to the innocently anarchic sparkle of director Leonid Gaidai, which may remind some (me) of Dick Lester and the Carry Ons, but has a brightness all its own (PS when I first wrote this, the film was just celebrating its 50th anniversary!) Xo
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