I saw this movie because I saw the praising reviews here on IMDB. What did I think then. The Actors did a fine job. Camera work was B&W but fine and nice enough.Story? Well it is hard for me really to say a lot about the story without giving to much away. But we start finding out some insurance man that apparently are stealing cars. We much later in the movie find his motivation for stealing the cars and how he choose the victims. For me this came much to late. I saw really no logic in what was going on and when I finally found out it was kind of too late for me to be very interested anymore as I at this time just found the protagonist to be annoying.Comedy: There are some funny moments I would say but for me this would never be classified as a comedy.Who is this movie for? For me I can only see this movie being for people that use them as a time machine and see how the city and other stuff lokked like and was at that time.If not that much into the historical aspect then you can watch the movie while eating or folding clothes. You can find many more interesting and funnier movies both from Russia and other places to watch instead. In same line of movies I would say Operatsiya 'Y' i drugie priklyucheniya Shurika (1965) is better.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***All the time I watched the movie on TV fragments and only recently (can a month ago) I have decided to look since the beginning and up to the end "at assessment" so to speak. and the movie should be told that still a hogwash.we will begin with the fact that show us the certain red unpleasant insurer on a physiognomy who откудато has returned and has gone to insure the car to a mironov at once (it is unclear by the way Why to us further about him show. that even more questions have arisen?) and right there with the God's help defines that that thief. Yes, he for the first time sees the person. doesn't know at all from where he has a car, but draws a conclusion that he is a thief. and of course it is time to manage mob killings. yes the fascist the judge дредд is far more fair than this detochkin.Further show as he with the accomplice hijack the car... and whom was that accomplice? why nobody catches him and about him further nothing is told? what for gang at this detochkin? how does he in general hire people in the sect of fighters?Show as Mironov does to the aunt a margin on a foreign player. and what? so do everywhere and constantly. he doesn't force her to take this player violently? no. and her it isn't vital, can go and try to agree to other seller also as I arranged to him. in what then his crime? about what theft does the father-in-law constantly speak? and for what at the end of a mironov want to put? if on all this there are no answers, then why was in general to him to pay so much attention in the movie?Further. pursuit. why the cop hasn't called the backup on the radio set? I understand that the first years the German tanks perfectly mowed clean t34 Izz of the fact that they had no radio sets and they acted isn't coordinated, but it was necessary to take out from this? for example the fact that the militia has to have radio sets. and if Detochkin delivers him so in the wood and has killed, then and all? end of investigation?OK, all right. Court. for what reason the people in general support a detochkin? therefore чо he transferred money to orphanage? ever nobody robed these people чтоль? untamed all? though it will become easier for somebody if the person who has robbed him tells that he gave everything to orphans? Comparison of a detochkin with Robin a buzzing came across, but Robin stole from feudal lords who couldn't but peel the people, and деточкин robs the first comers because чтото it seems to him...What morals at this movie? what sense? what message? if it seems to you that the person which you meet the thief and you want to achieve justice whether then check him the car you hijack?

This is one of my favourite comedies, and it's a real shame that as I write this there is no version with English subtitles available. This is truly one of the funniest movies that I've ever seen, especially the hilarious narrated car chase sequence.This is quite a well-known movie in Russia so it seems strange that there is no English version yet. We can only hope that RusCiCo or KINO will eventually release something.The movie's humour is gentle, ironic, and just plain wacky at times, and the main character is easy to identify with, even if he is technically a criminal (though not a criminal at heart); there are no actual "bad people" in the movie, and there are some pretty funny situations when the protagonist reveals through his own honesty how the morals of other people can be much more crooked than his (for example, the guy who desperately needs a ride and isn't at all put off after being told that the guy he's asking for a ride is about to steal the car).Highly recommended (if you can understand Russian).

The absence of reviews here prompts me to say a few words. I saw this in a cinema in Moscow in 1966 [despite date above], a popular film there at the time. I couldn't follow all the dialogue at the time, but I recall being struck by the believability and humanity of the whole thing. Russian public were right on the side of the anti-hero, though he was no swashbuckler and the ending is dispassionate. This was still during the time of the Soviet thaw, and Moscow was heaving with American tourists. Life was better for Russians and things were looking up. The old gallant Soviet war heros had become less interesting, and the time was right for someone more complex, surfacing, perhaps, from the rich literary tradition. A perfect Geroi nasha vremeno - my theory anyway. I'd just like to see it again before giving it a rating!