In the first part, the students complain that classic works of literature have no bearing on modern life - and find themselves in a situation strangely resembling something they've read... It's Gogol's "Inspector General" - but set in a summer camp... In the second part, after reading Don Quixote, the ever-adventurous Vasechkin convinces more cautious Petrov that he has found a game that they could play for life. No sooner they go off than Vasechkin, on a bike, brandishing an umbrella, attacks a giant... That is, a windmill...
Writing
Gogol and Cervantes crash into a Soviet summer camp spectacularly.
Practical Effects
Windmill-jousting on a bicycle with an umbrella. Pure cinema.
Production
Two distinct stylistic halves that somehow become one chaotic whole.
Director
Vladimir Alenikov
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was peak Soviet children's cinema—state-funded, literary, and subtly subversive about authority figures.
Egor Druzhinin became a famous choreographer; this was his only major childhood role. The umbrella was his idea.
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