The Green Van. Actors and creators of two versions

The Soviet adventure thriller "Green Van" is the only film that was shot twice at the Odessa film studio with an interval of almost a quarter of a century. The plot of both films was based on the story of Alexander Kozachinsky, which is the first Soviet ironic detective. For the historical period of its writing such a work was a real rarity, it was considered extremely improper for a writer to write about heroic, bloody dashing years with humor. The author was very risky, exposing in the comic light not only gangsters, but also representatives of law enforcement agencies. The paintings with the name "Green van" (the actors of the two adaptations too) differ in both the setting and the content.

The 1959 film

Over the picture in 1959 worked as director Heinrich Gabay, screenwriters Grigory Koltunov and Alexander Kozachinsky. The first screen version - the film "The Green Van" (actors: Roman Filippov, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Dmitry Ivanov, Olga Lysenko, Konstantin Kulchytsky) is a masterfully shot and very light film. Even too easy. The film is looked at in one breath, but it also leaves at once easily and quickly from the head after the end of the viewing. Writer Koltunov, guided solely by his author's considerations, thoroughly reworked the literary original. As a result, the storyline changed, the prologue disappeared, but the intriguing lyrical component came to the fore. According to her, a very young newly appointed criminal investigation chief, 18-year-old Volodya (his prototype was Evgeny Petrov, co-author of The Golden Calf) falls in love with a beauty selling in the market. The prototype of her brother was Kozachinsky himself, who participates in the film adaptation of the story "The Green Van". Actors and roles were discussed more than once with the higher leadership, in 1959 the fate of the picture depended on the censors.

The plot in the interpretation of Gabaya

Events unfold in a messy 1920. After the fierce and bloody battles, the Red Army liberates Odessa. The primary task of the young government is to clean the city of criminal elements. To implement it in the shortest possible time, authorized Chekists replenish the ranks of volunteers from the workers 'and peasants' youth. So the police gets Volodya Kozachenko (actor Vladimir Kolokoltsev). This is the intrigue of the picture "Green van".

Actors who played the secondary roles of the rebels, were not even indicated in the credits. The audience knows only the performers of the main roles, who played in good faith and patterned roles of their characters, that is, the villains simply wrote on their foreheads: "Scoundrel, enemy of the people." In general, the picture pleases with an unusual simplicity and surprises with the image of the spontaneity of relations between policemen and bandits.

"Van ..." 1983

Director Alexander Pavlovsky was not easy to start work on this picture, to remove, in fact, the sequel is always extremely difficult. The script was written by Igor Shevtsov. According to the idea of the creators, the film "Green Van" (actors: Dmitry Kharatyan, Borislav Brondukov, Alexander Demyanenko, Regimantas Adomaitis, Alexander Soloviev) consists of two parts. And, judging by the reviews of viewers and film critics, this division - into a ridiculous and dramatic part - looks very contrasting and justified. The actors of the movie "Green Van" (1983) demonstrate an excellent game. Young Kharatyan unmistakably conveyed to the viewer the image of the main character. And if you start from the presentation and acting professionalism, then special attention should be paid to Boris Brondukov, the eternal performer of small and secondary roles. His character Grishchenko in this adaptation is just a model of acting.

The plot in the treatment of Shevtsov

Pavlovsky's film "Green Van," whose actors and roles were selected without much supervision from above, turned out to be shrill and lyrical. In front of the spectator is again the post-revolutionary Odessa. The young schoolboy Volodya (Dmitry Hratyan) dreams of the career of local Sherlock Holmes, but by the will of fate plunges headlong into the crucible of revolution - a fascinating nightmare. He becomes the chief of the militia and actively struggles with instigators of local lawlessness - speculators, moonshiners and horse thieves. Because of his youthful carefree courage, he challenges a major authority that terrorizes the whole city, named Cherven (actor Regimantas Adomaitis) ...