Childhood, youth, young age, and finally middle age: main goals in life are achieved, your occupation and social position are clear and you have reached a certain level in life, nothing is going to be changed, the major efforts to prove to the world that you are something are behind, you are surrounded by work colleagues, and you wonder if that's the way your childhood dream got materialized and what is next ? Do you have enough courage to meet now your childhood friends, with whom you used to sail rafts on that little river ? And to see what became of them, and let them see what became of you ? To see how much you drifted away from your childhood self ? The three from "Vernye druzia" did this. A very highly ranking architect, a famous surgeon, and elite horses breeder gonna leave all their adult cares and troubles in the big city and sail again the raft down the river for three weeks of their vacation. You go with them to take part in there adventures and be the witness of their inner change.

I just saw this. Now the main titled it's called Vernye Druzya. but the main Russian title was Loyal Friends. The beginning takes place where three boys are playing on their Tom Sawyer home made raft on the river. Then years later they all meet again as fine handsome strong Hollywood type leads,nope! they are all middle age and a bit pudgy. I guess Mikhail Koloctove wanted to be realistic. The middle age blond one is now in , my guess horse farming cause he shows his friends pictures of horses.The brown hair beer belly one is now a surgeon, The taller one who has goatee and mustache is an architect.They all decide to live their child hood again by going on a trip through the river. They all go on a cruise ship only to walk through it to their actual boat, a adult size wooden raft. The architect realizing this gets mad cause he thought he was going to ride the cruise ship.So all three are on an adventure on the river. But as the cruise ship is floating near them the blonde agriculturalist see in a distant past love on the ship, She's with a friend too, She sees him . They boat remember and he starts to sing with his guitar. Later the three stop at a place where the two , the architect and the agriculturalist buy food and a new pair of shows for the doctor that the architect lost on the river.Two ship men inform the doctor while the other are out that there's going to be an amateur contest at the theater. Later all three participate in it.Its the same stage set that was used in 1949 in Invasion of Berlin, since it was the same studio. There's a scene at the horse farm where there's a fire and one of the women workers have to get on a horse to sway the rest of the horses away from it . Another girl helps but she ends up getting injured.The three show up at the horse farm. The doctor offers service to perform surgery on the women who has the accident. The agriculture's old romance shows up at the agricultural farm but its too late all three left.All three end up stranded on an Island cause they didn't tie there raft up. They get rescued. But all three get in trouble cause they lost their I. D.The Soviet police goes a bit overboard with them.The agriculturist and his old love show up but for what ever reason they decide not to stay together . The three go back home. Shot in Sovo Color, AGFAcolor that is.But it was 1954 they could of made it in wide screen and stereo but Russia was a bit behind like the rest of Europe.