The Overcoat
Cast & Crew
Aleksey Batalov
Rolan Bykov
Yuriy Tolubeyev
A. Yezhkina
Ye. Ponsova
T. Teykh
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Akakiy Akakiyevich Bashmachkin, a lowly copy clerk in a Saint Petersburg court office, is obsessed with his work. Mocked by his fellow clerks for the determination with which he pursues the colorless routine of his life, he pays no heed, having tailored his life to fit within the bounds dictated by his meager means. As winter draws on, Akakiy Akakiyevich begs the drunken tailor Petrovich to repair his threadbare coat, but the tailor declares the garment unsalvageable and recommends the fashioning of a new overcoat. The clerk undertakes new economies to make the eventual purchase possible; and a Christmas bonus added to the accumulated savings of years brings the hope to fruition. With excitement Akakiy Akakiyevich sets out with Petrovich to choose fabric, and the tailor devotes himself to the task of producing a new overcoat. A new spark of life enters Akakiy Akakiyevich as he dons the finished coat. His fellow clerks, who had jeered at his old garment, now congratulate him, and one of the wealthier of their number invites them all for champagne in his honor. Akakiy Akakiyevich, who for years has not ventured outside his house at night, makes his way from the poor, drab district where he lives to the more prosperous section of the city. He feels disoriented in the party atmosphere he finds upon his arrival; supped and made to drink two glasses of champagne, he is unable to leave until long after the hour he is usually in bed. As he regains the poorer district of the city, he is set upon by thieves, who make off with his precious overcoat. Frantic, he is advised at work that the police will not help him but that he should visit a certain Important Person. However, the Important Person preemptorily dismisses him so as to create an impression. The clerk walks out into the snow a broken man and catches a chill which leads to delirium and death. Subsequently his ghost snatches overcoats from the shoulders of sundry Saint Petersburg citizens until at last it steals the overcoat of the Important Person and is heard from no more. [The inclusion of the ghost sequences is uncertain.]
Director
Aleksey Batalov
Cast
Rolan Bykov
Yuriy Tolubeyev
A. Yezhkina
Ye. Ponsova
T. Teykh
N. Urgant
Aleksandr Sokolov
V. Maksimov
R. Lebedev
P. Lobanov
G. Kolosov
M. Ladygin
G. Voropayev
N. Kuzmin
Crew
A. Arshanskiy
B. Eykhenbaum
J. Jay Frankel
V. Glinka
I. Kaplan
B. Manevich
G. Marandzhyan
Ye. Serdechkova
A. Shargorodskiy
N. Sidelnikov
L. Solovyov
I. Tarsanova
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Released in the U.S.S.R. in February 1960 as Shinel; running time: 74 min(?).
