The House on Trubnaya

The House on Trubnaya is a 1928 comedy film directed by Boris Barnet and starring Vera Maretskaya.

Plot

The film is set in Moscow at the height of the 1921–28 New Economic Policy. The petty-bourgeois public carries out their philistine life full of bustle and gossip in the house on the Trubnaya Street. One of the tenants, Mr. Golikov, owner of a hairdressing salon, is looking for a housekeeper who is modest, hard-working and non-union. A country girl nicknamed Paranya, full name Praskovya Pitunova seems like a suitable candidate to him. Soon the house on Trubnaya receives the shocking news that Praskovya Pitunova has been elected deputy of the Mossovet by the maids' Trade Union.

Cast

Vera Maretskaya as Parasha Pitunova - housemaid
Vladimir Fogel as Mr. Golikov - hairdresser
Yelena Tyapkina as Mrs. Golikova
Sergei Komarov as Lyadov
Anel Sudakevich as Marisha-maid
Ada Vojtsik as Fenya
Vladimir Batalov as Semyon Byvalov - chauffeur
Aleksandr Gromov as Uncle Fedya
Vladimir Uralsky

Production

The script, then entitled "Parasha" and written by Bella Zorich, circulated at the Mezhrabpom-Rus studio for a long time without getting made into a film. The screenplay was written for Sergei Komarov, but after discussion it was decided that Boris Barnet would adapt the film. Zorich said that the story of the new Cinderella – Paranya Pitunova – was supposed to show how the Leninist slogan "Every cook must learn to govern the state" was interpreted in a distorted way by the philistine laymen. However Boris Barnet, when starting work on the film immediately commenced with modifying the script; the screenplay faced numerous rewrites by a multitude of authors including Viktor Shklovsky, Nikolai Erdman, Anatoli Marienhof and Vadim Shershenevich. The finished picture lost much of its satiric tone.

Reception

The Russian Guild of Film Critics placed The House on Trubnaya in their list "The 100 best films of national cinema".