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A Russian version of Charley's Aunt, freely adapted but faithful to the essential plot line. The first six minutes are taken up with clips of American popular entertainment from the 1920's (I think "borrowed" before Russia joined the international copyright conventions).
Babs Baberley is played by Aleksandr Kalyagin; he is a poor man, rather like a plump Chaplin, looking for some entertainment in what looks like Coney Island, transplanted into an improbable England. He gets harassed by the police, but he is entranced by the beauty of a young woman (played by Tatyana Vedeneyeva) who turns out to be the companion of the millionairess Donna Alvarez.
As the ladies drive off, some of their luggage is accidentally left behind, and Babs grabs it and runs after them, chased by the Keystone-like cops. Apparently to escape, he puts on the women's clothes he finds in the luggage and enters the house that turns out to be where the millionairess's nephew, Charley Wakem, lives.
To evade a strict guardian of two eligible young women, a respectable chaperone is needed, and Babs becomes confused with Donna Alvarez, and predictable romantic and other confusions occur.
The screenplay and dialogue are strange for Western audiences, and the whole thing is done very crudely. It is interesting though as a record of comedy entertainment and perceptions of the capitalist West from several years before the end of communist authoritarianism.
The title translates into English as Hello, I Am Your Aunt.
HF May 2004
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