Die letzte Nacht des Boris Gruschenko (1975)

Die letzte Nacht des Boris Gruschenko: Directed by Woody Allen. With Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Georges Adet, Frank Adu. In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.

“This movie is considered to be a spoof of Russian Novels . It is set in czarist Russia, 1812 , a neurotic Boris Grushenko (Woody Allen) wishes to marry his distant cousin (Diane Keaton) . Although both of whom take two divergent ways in their lives, those paths cross once again . When Napoleon threatens to invade the Russian Empire, the coward soldier is forced to enlist to save his natal nation . Later on , Boris and his lover cousin formulate a scheme to assassinate Napoleon (James Tolkan) . At the end he is detained and the condemned man reviews his past life .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAmusing picture fable is plenty of the filmmakeru0026#39;s signature angst-ridden philosophical comedy . Hilarity slips into vulgarity rather too often in this usually in-and-out early Woody Allen comedy which embroils the little man in Russia invaded by Napoleon . Like a Russian soldier , the gags and funny sketches fire off in all directions . There is a lot of spoofs and even Bergmanu0026#39;s ¨The seventh seal¨ and ¨Persona¨ and jokes for moviegoers . As the movie featured the Death character of The Grim Reaper , Allen is known to be inspired and influenced by Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman who had featured the Grim Reaper in his film The seventh seal (1957) ; in the Bergman film the Grim Reaper wears black robes whereas in this film he wears a white gown . The picture is ironical about major Russian novels particularly the works of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky . In fact , the movie title is a play on words of such Russian novel titles as Leo Tolstoyu0026#39;s u0026quot;War and Peaceu0026quot; and Fyodor Dostoevskyu0026#39;s u0026quot;Crime and Punishmentu0026quot; . Nice acting by Woody Allen at his best , as a condemned man who reviews the follies of his life . His comic style paid homage to a number of classic comedians which included Bob Hope , Charles Chaplin and The Marx Brothers . Intermittently hilarious , pre-Annie Hall Allen fare , it is is one of eight cinema movie collaborations of Woody Allen and actress Diane Keaton, Allen co-starring in six of them and directing seven of them . These are the followings : Play It Again Sam , Sleeper , Interiors , Manhattan , Radio Days , and Manhattan Murder Mystery . It is fun enough to make wish there were more of it and you will have to keep your eyes peeled to spot notorious secondaries as Jessica Harper , Harold Gould , Olga Georges Picot , Féodor Atkine , Gérard Buhr , Howard Vernon and James Tolkan as Napoleón and his double and about ¨fifty-four supporting playersu0026quot; .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWitty as well as classical musical score contributes much . At the beginning the soundtrack was taken from Igor Stravinsky music , but , subsequently , Woody Allen took Sergei Prokofievu0026#39;s lighthearted score that worked far better . The movieu0026#39;s big battle sequence features Sergei Prokofievu0026#39;s cantata music from Sergei M. Eisensteinu0026#39;s epic Alexánder Nevsky (1938). Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by Ghislain Cloquet , being shot on location in Hungary and Paris , France . Lavish and stunningly produced by Charles H. Joffe , Allenu0026#39;s ordinary producer . This enjoyable motion picture was vigorously directed by Woody Allen , being his sixth film as director and here to ridicule Russian novels such as u0026quot;The Idiotu0026quot;, u0026quot;The Gambleru0026quot;, u0026quot;War and Peaceu0026quot;, u0026quot;Anna Kareninau0026quot;, u0026quot;Crime and Punishmentu0026quot;, and u0026quot;The Brothers Karamazovu0026quot;. Woody Allen has said that this movie was u0026quot;my funniest picture to that timeu0026quot;.”