Zoo inspector Chaplygin, concerned about the death of walruses due to panic caused by airplane flights, destroys the only navigational sign and the flights stop. Having failed to understand each other on the spot, the pilot and the zoo inspector go to Moscow - and will settle their dispute in the State Arbitration.
Acting
Kuravlyov's earnest everyman trapped in machinery
Direction
Svetlov lets absurdity breathe without winking
Writing
Dialogue that circles pointlessly toward infinity
Director
Aleksandr Svetlov
Leonid Kuravlyov
Чаплыгин (зооинспектор)
Gennadi Korolkov
Хахов
Boris Ivanov
Сенокосов
Viktor Filippov
Никитич
Mikhail Gluzskiy
Шафир
Oleg Golubitsky
Осокин
Nikolay Grabbe
Колчев
Yuri Gusev
Казинец
Viktor Shulgin
Ахокайнен
Gurgen Tonunts
Симонян
Yevgeny Gurov
прокурор
Aleksei Alekseyev
зам. министра
Stanislav Mikhin
лётчик
Viktor Pavlov
Глебов (врач)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during late Brezhnev stagnation, the film captures Soviet 'administrative utopia' where paperwork replaces purpose.
Kuravlyov was typecast as hapless everymen; this role reportedly earned him actual fan mail from zoo inspectors.
SU
