The Diamond Arm (1969)

The Diamond Arm (1969) aka Brilliantovaya ruka (1969), is a Russian Comedy film that had a homespun feeling yet was jocular and entertaining. A good way to spend a evening watching this film. The film is made available for free by Russian Centre of Science & Culture, New Delhi on YouTube.

A hardworking simpleton named Semyon,  in Soviet Russia, is sent by his loving wife on a luxury cruise ride to Istanbul. On his return, an incompetent gang of smugglers, mistake him for their accomplish and cast his arm with diamonds and jewelry.  What happens next, did they recover their loot or did Semyon get into trouble?

I grew up in an India that was fascinated with the Soviet Union, I was exposed to books from USSR translated to English which were available for a song from New Century Book House (NCBH) and cultural events & films from the country being regularly screened at the Soviet Cultural Centre in the city and in TV. Having long forgotten those, seeing the Soviet Russia from its heydays again was interesting.

A trained circus clown, mime artist and a comedian, Yuriy Nikulin has played the role of Semyon effortlessly including the limited stunts. Equally, a good performance by Andrey Mironov (I) as Semyon’s friend and a smuggling gang member.