Anniversary of the children's film for adults
The rare diploma work of a student - a graduate of the Institute of Cinematography - becomes a real event in the history of cinema. And the film by Elem Klimov “Welcome, or No Trespassing”, the premiere of which took place on October 9, 1964, was just such an event.
Famous French researchers of Soviet cinema Luda and Jean Schnitzer described this movie masterpiece of young Elem Klimov: "At first glance, it's just a nice comedy (...) But do not be fooled! The simplest gag, the most innocent plan contain a load of dynamite!"
Today the masterpiece of this film is recognized by almost everyone, both in Russia and abroad. The film is included in all possible lists of the best films compiled by film critics, as well as among the 100 films recommended by the Ministry of Culture of Russia for school education. In addition, at the 68th Cannes International Film Festival in 2015, the film was shown as part of an out-of-competition program of classic cinema.
However, in the first days of its existence, and even before the birth of the film, the film was subjected to incredible persecution. At first, at the stage of approving the scenario, the rector of All-Union Institute of Cinematography inserted sticks into the wheels, fearing that the institute he headed would be connected with the "anti-Soviet" production. Then officials from the Goskino in every possible way prevented the participation in the film of the great Russian actor Evgeny Evstigneev. Then, already at the release of the picture, it occurred to someone that the film contained personal insults against N.S. Khrushchev. Khrushchev himself had watched the film and did not find any insults in his address, so he gave the film "green light". However, the details of all the vicissitudes that befell this picture are described by Elem Klimov himself, and they can be found here (in Russian).
However, the resistance of Soviet officials from cinematography to the release of this picture on the screens is understandable. They very clearly “sensed”, to whose address the satirical charge of the picture is directed. According to French film critic Antoine Royer, "the film functions as a political parable in which the camp refers, in a metonymic way, to the entire Soviet Union: the general supervisor immediately asserts to the children that "the camp belongs to them", but he does not stop compelling them, to impose limits on their freedom of action or movement (this ridiculously small bathing area when the whole lake is open to them) and excludes those who do not comply with its imperatives. In doing so, and casually, it is all the communist ideal as it has died under Stalin is thus questioned: the power is, in theory, supposed to return to the people, but those who come out of the line of official conduct are ostracized. What makes the criticism so striking is that it does not come from a distant opponent, since the "other" block, but that it is a diploma film made by a student of the VGIK and validated by the censorship committees".
Highly likely that the film was saved from "shelf-oblivion" only by the fact that it was shot at the end of the Khrushchev thaw. Had it been made a year or two later, for sure, it would have replenished the "shelf cinema". However, in his memoirs mentioned above, Elem Klimov wrote: "despite the permit, the film practically did not appear on the screens. It was shown in a couple of cinemas at the first seances at 8 am and was quickly put on a shelf ..." I would not agree with this statement of the great master, because I remember well how I watched this film in 1964, when I was still a first grader (thanks to my parents, they knew which movie to lead to!), how I laughed at the session (perhaps, in the same way, according to Klimov, Ivan Pyryev laughed ) According to Kinopoisk, the film was released in 903 copies (not a very large circulation, but not the smallest). And more than 13 million people in the Soviet Union managed to watch it. And then - yes - for a long time, perhaps till the perestroika, the film was not shown anywhere.
According to FilmGourmand, the film "Welcome, or No Trespassing" has a rating of 8.263 and takes 434th Rank in the Golden Thousand
