Yakov PROTAZANOV
Яков ПРОТАЗАНОВ
Yakov PROTAZANOV
USSR, 1926, 66mn 
Black and white, silent, fiction
Protses o triokh milionakh
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Процесс о трех миллионах

 

 Le Procès des trois millions

 Protses o triokh milionakh

 
Directed by : Yakov PROTAZANOV (Яков ПРОТАЗАНОВ)
Writing credits : Yakov PROTAZANOV (Яков ПРОТАЗАНОВ)
 
Cast
Vladimir FOGEL (Владимир ФОГЕЛЬ) ...L'homme au binocle
Igor ILINSKY (Игорь ИЛЬИНСКИЙ) ...Tapioka, voleur
Mikhail KLIMOV (Михаил КЛИМОВ) ...Ornano
Anatoli KTOROV (Анатолий КТОРОВ) ...Kaskarilia, voleur-gentleman
Nikolay PROZOROVSKY (Николай ПРОЗОРОВСКИЙ) ...Gvido, l'amant
Daniil VVEDENSKY (Даниил ВВЕДЕНСКИЙ) ...Cambrioleur
Olga ZHIZNEVA (Ольга ЖИЗНЕВА) ...Noris
 
Cinematography : Pyotr ERMOLOV (Пётр ЕРМОЛОВ)
Production design : Isaac RABINOVICH (Исаак РАБИНОВИЧ)
Production : Mejrabpom-Rus (Межрабпом-Русь)
Release date in Russia : 23/08/1926
 
Sites : Kinopoisk, IMDb

Plot synopsis
The unscrupulous banker Ornano sells his house in Italy to make a juicy deal with the three million obtained to the detriment of the population starved by poor harvests. His wife sends her lover a note explaining where the money is hidden. The note is intercepted by Cascaril, a gentleman burglar who, at nightfall, rushes to the banker's home where he comes across his thief friend Tapioca who has come to steal various objects. It is then that the banker (the third thief in Notari's short story) arrives. Tapioca runs away and Casaril rushes into the room of Noris, the banker's wife. He gets her to hold her husband while he empties the safe by threatening to reveal the contents of the note. The police arrest Tapioca believing that it was he who stole the money, and given the importance of the theft, they monitor and spare the author of this "exploit" who becomes the subject of all conversations. Noris, who mistakes him for Casaril, even goes so far as to declare his passion for him. The day of the trial arrives and suddenly Casaril appears and confesses to being the real thief. To demonstrate the hypocrisy of the petty bourgeois present at the hearing, he throws wads of banknotes into the room. Everyone rushes for these counterfeit bills while our two thieves, taking advantage of the crowd, slip away. They share the spoils and go their separate ways. We then see Tapioca again, the little thief who became rich, well dressed and defender of the sacred right of private property.
 

Commentaries and bibliography
Les origines du cinéma soviétique : un regard neuf, Myriam TSIKOUNAS, Cerf, 1992
Пять комедий Протазанова. [Cinq comédies de Protazanov], Rostislav YURENYEV, chapaev.media, 1964
 
Reviews on Kinopoisk

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Soviet comedies, kinoglaz.fr (France), 2024
- The Golden Age of Soviet Cinema : 1924-1930, kinoglaz.fr (France), 2023
- Talents soviétiques - Collection Arkeion, Paris (France), 2019
- Pordenone Silent Film Festival, Pordenone (Italy), 2014
- Festival "Vivat Kino Rossii", St Petersburg (Russia), 2011
- Festival "Vivat Kino Rossii", St Petersburg (Russia), 2009
- Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2004

Photos and videos