Original subtitles

Gorky Film Studio

Based on the short story by Chekhov Anna 'round the neck

ANNA 'ROUND THE NECK

Screenplay and direction I. ANNENSKY

Director of photography G. REYSGOF

Produced by M. FEDOROVA

Production designer A. DIKHTYAR

Music by L. SCHWARZ

Sound technician D. FLIANGOLTS

Dance director G. SHAKHOVSKAYA

WITH:

Anna - A. LARIONOVA

Pyotr Leontevich - A. SASHIN-NIKOLSKY

Petya - Petya MALTSEV Andrusha - Sasha METYOLKIN

Modest Alexevich - V. VLADISLAVSKY

Artynov - M. ZHAROV

The Prince - A. VERTINSKY

The Princess - N. BELYOVTSEVA

Mavra Grigorievna - I. MURZAYEVA

Dezdemonov - V. SHISHKIN Shegolyev - G. ZAICHKIN

And: A. GRIBOV, D. KARA-DMITRYEV,

A. RUMNEV, B. TERENTEV, T. PANKOVA, V. DONSKAYA, V. SMIRNOV, S. GUMILYEVSKY,

M. SHISHKOV, K. NEMOLYAYEV and others

ORCHESTRA OF THE DIRECTORS OF CINEMA

Conductor G. GAMBURG

Misses, please, go ahead.

Please, have a seat misses.

There is no seat left for the host!

No seat!

There is always a seat for the host! Move over, my dear fellow!

Oh! On the dickey!

There you go.

Nature, embrace me!

Straight on! Straight on!

Turn right! Turn right!

Turn left! Left!

Watch out, old lady!

Giddy-up!

Good morning!

Anya!

Since her mother's death, she never goes out at all.

Her father is a complete lush, as I told you.

One.

Just one.

- Don't, father! - Father, don't!

Don't you dare!

I'm not talking to you.

Shut up!

I'll turn you out.

I'll turn you all out.

All of you.

- Anya! Anechka! - Anya! Anechka!

Again?

Oh God, how miserable I am.

There is no young woman in the city who doesn't envy you.

Just think, my dear, after all he's very, very rich.

He's got 100 thousand in the bank,

the family estate,

and an excellent reputation with his Excellency.

No, no, Mavra Grigoryevna.

Of course. Of course, I understand. He is neither young nor handsome.

But you will have admirers.

Flowers.

Dresses.

Balls.

After all it's only you that I'm thinking of.

Any day now you will be left with the children on your hands. What then?

Are you going to beg or apply for work as a cook?

For him of course it'll be no trouble to intercede with his Excellency

to prevent Pyotr Leontich from being dismissed.

- Write. - Sign, please.

- When must we pay back the debt? - The auction will start in 3 days.

The servant of God Anna is married

to the servant of God Modest.

Why is she, such a sweet, nice girl,

marrying such, God forgive me, an old goat?

How lucky!

100 thousand!

The family estate.

I congratulate you on lawful matrimony.

You may kiss.

After the wedding they didn't even have light refreshments!

Well, this time, a lavish wedding might not have seemed quite suitable.

Modest Alexevich is a man high up in the service and no longer young.

I suppose music is apt to sound dreary

when a government official of 52 marries a girl who is only just 18.

- Eleven. - Take a bite.

- Twelve. - Take a bite.

- Thirteen. - Stop!

It's the town of Artyrevka!

A holiday town, your Lordship. Those are the summer visitors.

I see.

Drive further, my dear fellow.

Over there, behind the barrier, at the 17th verst is the monastery.

Ah, to the monastery. Yes sir. Onwards!

Stop!

To whom have I the honour of speaking?

Artynov. The owner of this summer town.

It is my habit not to let anybody pass without a little ransom.

And what kind of ransom would you like?

We ask you and your delightful daughter

to have supper with us.

It is impossible.

My wife and I

are already late.

Pardon. In that case, Madame, your hand.

Please.

Bon voyage!

Bon voyage!

His wife!

Family life is not a pleasure but a duty.

And in marriage,

I put religion and morality

above everything.

Anya.

Anyuta.

A small thing like this

can create such a furore.

Anna in your buttonhole.

Anna!

I cannot help remembering now one circumstance.

When 5 years ago

Kosorotov received the order of St. Anna of the 2nd grade and went

to thank His Excellency, the latter expressed himself as follows:

"So now you have three Annas: one in your buttonhole and two on your neck"

And it must be explained that at the time, Kosorotov's wife,

a quarrelsome and frivolous person, had just returned to him,

and that her name was Anna.

I trust that when I receive

the Anna of the 2nd grade

His Excellency will not have occasion to say the same thing to me.

- Anya! - Anechka!

Andrusha! Petenka! Hello.

You're completely drenched.

Take off your coats. You're freezing.

- You haven't forgotten me yet? - No, we haven't.

Who doesn't know the letter A? The letter A, the letter A!

Where and how to write it, where? Here!

And now, I have a treat for you.

Cases, declensions,

pronouns, pronouns.

We must know them without any doubt!

Hello.

Oh, it's time for dinner already.

Sit down boys.

So.

So, young people don't consider it necessary to attend grammar school.

How deplorable.

But I must warn you that

as they will grow up,

their evasion from their duties

will grow correspondingly.

They cannot go out like this.

Well, they found it achievable to come here,

despite it not being absolutely necessary.

And also despite this adverse weather.

They've arrived.

Hello, Modest Alexevich.

So.

What can I do for you?

Forgive me please.

If I don't pay for my flat tomorrow,

I will be turned out into the street with my children.

Very well. I will give it to you.

But I warn you I won't help you again

till you give up drinking.

I must remind you of the well-known fact

that many capable people have been ruined by that passion.

Some who, if sober

could have become people of high esteem.

I have one last request.

Well?

I will not come to you again, but I ask you

not to say anything to Anna.

It would embarrass her.

Very well.

Your father

brings you to shame.

And me

as well.

That man is irresponsible.

Being poor and not saving up

is easier than being rich.

Poverty is not a flaw!

But when God sends you a cross

you must bear it with mildness and humility.

Yes.

With mildness

and humility.

So he doesn't give you any money?

No, he just gives sermons.

But you could ask for some money for women's things, for dresses.

I am ashamed to.

I am afraid of him.

I fear him as I used to fear the director of my school.

As I still fear his Excellency, whom I have never met.

It seems to me that they are like an enormous and terrifying force

which crushes us, the poor, weak, sinful people.

And there, it's sweeping down upon me.

Don't father! Don't!

Don't!

Quiet!

I won't allow anyone to dictate me. I'll turn you all out.

All of you.

What, you want something?

I am very fond of chocolate and apple cakes.

Chocolate?

- How much? - 25 kopecks.

- What, for one? - For one.

You don't say.

- Let's go. - We cannotjust leave like this.

- Give me that... - A cake?

- No, some seltzer-water. - Here we are sir.

Why so much?

If you wish, nothing will be left on the buffet.

Merci.

Your change.

Take care of the kopecks and the roubles will take care of themselves!

And you should understand this better than anybody.

I took you, a fortuneless young girl,

out of poverty and nothingness

and made you happy.

Yes...

Happy...

Yes, happy!

But who among the noble women

who attend our house

and who deserve the highest respect

could boast such trinkets

for the hard times?

And meanwhile, looking at the expression on your face,

they could come to the conclusion that you are completely unhappy.

Yes!

Pass.

Three spades.

Five spades.

A small slam of spades.

Of all fish, the best is the grilled carp.

It soaks in mils all day long, the rascal.

So you see, my dear, we really don't need those pineapples.

But you are not sated with fish only. It's not the main part of dinner.

What bird do you like most?

I cannot sympathise, I have a gastric catarrh.

It is doctors who invented gastric catarrh.

Such illnesses are the result of freethinking and pride.

Pass!

- Pass. - Pass.

I win!

How good it would be if only unmarried or widowed men

were appointed governors.

Indeed.

Darling, in order to be happy, you must boil a black cat at night.

I've tried. It doesn't help.

When one is sated, one falls into a delightful eclipse.

And if you add three glasses...

And timbales.

Timbales. Yes.

Your soul is completely seized by your sense of smell.

What an illusion! And the head is filled with dreamy thoughts.

As if you weren't sitting in your home but somewhere in Australia.

As if you were the generalissimo.

Or married to the most beautiful woman in the world.

And that beauty was swimming towards you in a pool with golden fish.

And you would be saying to her:

Darling, swim, swim. Sweetheart, swim.

Yes.

Go out, out into the tall rye!

There till night time I will wait,

I'll catch sight of my black-eyed beauty,

And all my goods I'll divvy-out!

I'll catch sight

of my black-eyed beauty,

And all my goods I'll divvy-out!

I myself paid no small prices,

So don't skimp or bargain.

Bring here your crimson lips,

Sit nearer to your beloved.

Bring here your crimson lips,

Sit nearer to your beloved.

Anya!

Anyuta!

Where are you going?

Where's the cognac? lvan lvanich is waiting.

After all he's the assistant to the director of the state office.

Every person ought to have their duties.

A moral of life, one might say.

My soul won't feel again

the charm of days gone by.

In love, my soul has known only suffering

it has lost every desire

and it doesn't want to love again.

It has lost every desire

and it doesn't want to love again.

Its only destiny is sadness:

to live all its life without feelings

And away sorrowfully in the distance,

With funeral hymns under her eyes,

To only grow old and pray.

Well, well.

On December

the 29th

the usual winter ball will take place in the Hall of Nobility.

His Excellency calls on the public official

and his spouse to honour with their presence.

His spouse.

You ought to sew together

a ball dress.

It can't be helped.

Only please consult Marva Grigoryevna and Agrafena Semyiona.

His Excellency calls...

- I'm staying. - Me too.

So, look how beautiful you can be,

Anyuta.

You see, I have made your fortune,

now you can do something for mine.

I want you to get introduced to the wife of His Excellency.

Through her I may get to the post of senior reporting clerk.

A public official admitted at His Excellency's.

Her Excellency the princess.

- Bow to her! - But I don't know her.

No matter! Your head won't drop off.

Bow, I tell you!

May I?

Thank you.

- Please. - Please.

Merci.

A waltz!

Anyuta?

Anya.

She's the very image of her mother!

The same manner.

The same smile.

What grace, what splendour.

- You should be ashamed young man. - Well, I am proud!

She's my daughter.

Really!

Tell me, who is that youthful Aphrodite?

My wife, sir.

Aaaah! Hello!

Lucky beggar!

A chair!

You should have a throne, not a chair.

You are the queen of the ball!

Merci.

- May I have the next dance? - I'm sorry. The next one is taken.

And the cotillion?

The cotillion? Well, if you really insist I will dance it with you.

A woman's heart is more fearful than a pistol.

- Indeed. - Indeed.

Anyuta!

You are enchanting this evening!

I have never so regretted that you were in such a hurry to get married.

I know you did it for our sake.

But I got the money for the lessons today

and can pay your husband what I owe him.

Another time, father.

- Who is that? - I don't know, Your Excellency.

Very lovely.

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

Charming! Charming!

Where does this treasure come from?

Delightful! Delightful!

Lovely, lovely.

I shall order your husband

to be clapped in a lock-up.

What for Your Excellency?

For keeping such a marvel

hidden from us

till now.

He is a criminal.

We ought to give you the prize for beauty.

You are ravishing!

Ravishing!

I've won!

Who's that with His Excellency?

I don't know, but today she won more than we did.

There is no doubt about that.

I have found such a beauty for you.

She's banal.

Like all the women in your taste.

Don't be upset, after all I'm doing it for you.

It would be better if you tried a bit less.

It is stronger than me.

I have always been an admirer of beauty.

Let's go, my angel. My wife is expecting you impatiently.

Pleased to meet you.

All the pretty women are working for our charity bazaar.

Why won't you help us?

I don't know if I can manage the task.

Oh!

I shall hope so.

You're too severe my dear.

Young man!

Young man!

Modest Alexevich, what a success.

Yes, yes.

Not all at once, gentlemen.

200 roubles once!

200 roubles twice!

300!

300 roubles once!

400!

400 roubles one! 400 roubles twice!

500!

500 once!

500 twice!

- 550! - 600 roubles!

600 roubles once!

600 roubles twice!

600 roubles...

1000 roubles!

Gentlemen,

1000 roubles.

1000 roubles once!

1000 roubles twice!

And going for three! Gone!

Mama!

- Please, take it. - Merci.

Let's go. This is debauchery!

Oh darling, but it's for the poor.

I would like to know what they would give for the poor

if she had been 20 years older.

Please, just one sip.

One sip for the poor.

I took two sips for the poor.

To your health, queen of the ball.

Mesdames et messieurs, in this magnificent dining-room

I think it will be quite appropriate to drink to the success

of the cheap dining-rooms, which are the object

of today's bazaar, for which we worked so well.

- Bravo, Bravo! - To their prosperity!

I suggest we drink to the power, one might say, to the power...

To the power by which even the artillery is vanquished.

Indeed!

Yes...

Fair sex is fortunate in all things.

Arm-in-arm with His Excellency.

If I tried to walk arm-in-arm with His Excellency, what would happen?

My goodness! Will there be many more?

- What? - How do you wish to be announced?

Forward horses! Fluffy snow,

All around the cold night.

Cut.

The silver moon is shining

and a couple are rushing.

He whispers...

Vladimir Nikolaevich Kunitsky.

his love.

Tenderly... Dormidont Petrovich Zakvaskin.

He looks into her eyes And in complete...

Artynov.

What?

And in complete confusion

I humbly thank you.

Forward horses! Fluffy snow,

All around the cold night.

The silver moon is shining

and a couple are...

Are, are, are...

Are rushing.

He whispers...

The mistress is resting.

He whispers his love. Tenderly, he looks into her eyes.

And in complete confusion:

What can love

Bring to her?

Forward horses! Fluffy snow,

All around the cold night.

The silver moon is shining

and a couple are rushing.

He whispers his love.

Tenderly, he looks into her eyes.

Good morning queen of the ball!

And in complete confusion.

What can love bring to her?

Lovely!

You're very kind.

Hello, Artynov!

Hello, your Lordship.

Goodnight queen of the ball!

Lucky beggar!

- Do not let anybody in anymore. - Yes sir.

- Your Excellency. - What is it?

I don't know. Nobody is answering.

Do you want to ruin me?

Well? Is your queen still asleep?

No, Your Excellency, she's up.

She's woken up.

Delightful, delightful.

Please, come in.

Lord, acquiesce in your humble servant's wishes.

All my life I have cherished a dream

and at last it is near. In my hands.

How I envy these flowers.

My unequalled enchantress.

Will you give me permission to come see you again tomorrow?

As a friend of the house.

Oh, I am so flattered!

Delightful, delightful.

- Goodbye my dear. - Goodbye, Your Excellency.

Well?

- Who was I until now? - I wouldn't know.

A nobody.

A nonentity.

A speck of dust!

But now...

There!

We can control the destiny of men.

Anya!

Anyuta!

Did I make you happy?

Now, you can make me happy.

Be off, you blockhead!

Every instant is enjoyment. All the rest doesn't matter!

Every instant is enjoyment. All the rest doesn't matter!

Every instant is enjoyment. All the rest doesn't matter!

Every instant is enjoyment. All the rest doesn't matter!

Every instant is enjoyment. All the rest doesn't matter!

I have endured much pain

But I would be happy to suffer

If my soul was comforted

By your tender glance.

So cast a glance at me.

If only once.

The marvellous brightness of your eyes

Is more dazzling than a spring day.

Everybody!

Darling, you will hear me.

Under your window, playing my guitar.

Darling,

Darling!

You will hear me.

Under your window, playing my guitar.

So cast a glance at me. If only once.

The marvellous brightness of your eyes

Is more dazzling than a spring day.

Darling, you will hear me.

Under your window, playing my guitar.

No Madame, you're not a woman, you are a fairy.

In ancient Greece you would be the model for portraits of goddesses.

What happened after?

Oh, right. So I said to Madame Koziulina:

"You cannot attend the company of men with such a decollete.

It is shameful at your age".

And she answered: "I am not in the least ashamed.

Not only did Roman women undress but they also swam before their slaves".

Well?

- Splendid! - Ravishing!

Heavenly!

Well, now men will completely lose their head!

Not a woman, a fairy!

His Excellency is already crazy about you!

Give to bearer 200 roubles.

Ah, monsieur, there is no man who does not envy you.

Merci beaucoup, merci beaucoup.

More bills.

Merci, merci.

- Dear man. - Yes, Your Excellency.

He is waiting downstairs...

What's his name...

The husband of our beauty.

Call him up.

Yes, sir.

Your Excellency...

Well, my dear, congratulations on monarchial grace.

There are no words to express my gratitude for your mercy.

So, old man, now you have three Annas:

one on your buttonhole and two on your neck!

Now I have only to look forward to the arrival

of a little Vladimir.

What?

I make bold to beg your Excellency to stand godfather.

The bailiff announces the auction sale of the belongings

of Pyotr Leontevich Sobolev resident Podgornaya str. 7

Dear Sir,

You are delaying us.

You are delaying us, dear Sir.

Oh, yes...

Yes, yes.

Take it.

Take everything.

- Quick! Quick! - No! No!

Anya!

Anechka!

Anya!

Anya!

Anya!

Anechka!

Father, don't! Don't, father!

THE END