hte-trasme Ilf and Petrov's original novel of "The Twelve Chairs" was a fantastically lighthearted, satirical, and witty piece of work that managed to pack a huge amount of comic and observant material densely into one novel that still flies by when read. Any film adaptation could only hope to capture the delightfully larcenous tone, and give a tour of some of the more enjoyable moments of picaresque plot. This film succeeds at that, and goes beyond it. An adaptation of a famously iconoclastic novel manages to honor the authors while being appropriately innovative itself -- where new sequences are added, they are funny and they fit. The title card announcing how long till the end of the film is formally experimental and funny. The slapstick sequences do everything they should. The cartoon of Bender's chess dream is delightfully wacky (and oddly prescient of the construction of an actual "Chess City" by an eccentric president in one of Russia's federal subjects 27 years later). The two stars quickly and lastingly convince as the Great Combiner and his mark -- a pair of heroes we can root as strongly for as we can again. Everything has a brisk, breezy, exhilarating pace. A worthy screen version of the brilliant comic novel.

Alex Kvaskov Gaidai's adaption of Ilf and Petrov's book is better than the 1977 version. Mironov is a good actor, but Archil Gomashvilli is better, though it is not his voice in the movie. Gaidai disliked his voice and asked another actor to do Gomashvilli's lines. That was met with great protest from Gomashvilli and they fought with Gaidai, thus starting a many year mute dispute. Pugovkin (father Fyodor) is also interesting in this role as the "compition" as Ostap calls him. This film is a must-see as here Gaidai once again shows off his talent for light comedy. And by the way, did you know that Karapeinikov (the person from whom Ostap bought the orders for the chairs) is actually Gaidai himself! Almost all Soviet viewers did not know and many still are not aware of this, that it is Gaidai himself there. A great movie!

orient_86 Director Leonid Gaidai had a talent for comedy like no one else. His adaptation of the great humorous book is also great and gives a lot of good laughs. The acting... it's just excellent. It only shows the respect the cast and crew had for the authors - Ilya Ilf and Evgenij Petrov. And there is no doubt that Archil Gomiashvili, may he rest in piece, was and is the best Ostap Bender ever. He was really meant to play this part.I say, this movie may not be perfect but it is totally better than the "12 chairs" by Zacharaov. It's just great.

ybelov-2 After seeing Andrei Mironov i Zakharov's "12 stulyev" (1977), it hard to imagine a better actor for the part of Ostap. In general, this Gaidai's film is weak. The acting is too eccentric and unnatural, the sets and the music are too simplistic. Showing a "modern" Soviet Moscow at the end is completely out of place. Even such brilliant actors as Yuri Nikulin and Georgi Vitsin cannot save this film. My rating: 5/10. If you want to see a much better films by Gaidai, look for "Ivan Vasilyevich" (1973) and especially "Kavkazskaya plennitsa" (1966).As for "12 stulyev", try to see the film by Mark Zakharov.