{{Infobox film | name = Musical Story | native_name = {{langx|ru|Музыкальная история}} | image = | caption = | director = {{Plainlist| * Aleksandr Ivanovsky * Gerbert Rappaport }} | producer = | writer = {{Plainlist| * Georgi Munblit * Yevgeni Petrov }} | starring = {{Plainlist| * Sergei Lemeshev * Zoya Fyodorova * Nikolai Konovalov * Erast Garin * Anatoly Korolkevich * Anna Sergeyeva * Leontina Dyomina }} | music = Lev Shvarts | cinematography = {{Plainlist| * Arkadi Koltsaty * Mikhail Rotinov }} | editing = N. Razumova | released = {{Film date|1940}} | runtime = 84 minute | country = Soviet Union | language = Russian | budget = }}

'''Musical Story''' ({{langx|ru|Музыкальная история|Muzykalnaja istorija}}) is a 1940 Soviet musical comedy film directed by Aleksandr Ivanovsky<ref name="argumenti">{{cite web|url=http://argumenti.ru/culture/n573/519173|title=Вперёд, к "Музыкальной истории"! - Аргументы Недели|website=argumenti.ru|access-date=2018-07-04}}</ref> and Gerbert Rappaport.<ref name="vernadskogo">{{cite web|url=http://vernadskogo.mos.ru/presscenter/news/detail/4010748.html|website=vernadskogo.mos.ru|title=На западе Москвы покажут фильмы-легенды|access-date=2018-07-04}}</ref><ref name="gazeta-tsaricinsky-vestnik">{{cite web|url=http://gazeta-tsaricinsky-vestnik.ru/2016/09/08/21343/|title=Фильм "Музыкальная история" 1940 года вновь "вернется" на место съемок &#124; Царицынский вестник|website=gazeta-tsaricinsky-vestnik.ru|access-date=2018-07-04}}</ref><ref name="rg">{{cite web|url=https://rg.ru/2016/08/18/chto-ne-propustit-po-tv-na-nedele-s-22-po-28-avgusta.html|website=rg.ru|title=Телеканалы отметят юбилей Фаины Раневской &mdash; Российская газета|access-date=2018-07-04}}</ref>

The film told a love story with the music of five operas: Bizet's ''Carmen'', Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin'', Rimsky-Korsakov's ''May Night'', Borodin's ''Prince Igor'' and Flotow's ''Martha''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article273139584 |title=Advertising |newspaper=Daily Mirror |issue=1942 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=20 August 1947 |accessdate=8 April 2024 |page=29 (Noon Edition) |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article273141595 |title=Mirror on the Film World |newspaper=Daily Mirror |issue=1943 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 August 1947 |accessdate=8 April 2024 |page=22 (Race Acceptances) |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref> == Plot == The film tells about the taxi driver Petya Govorkov, who rehearses Lensky's role in the local opera house. His talents are highly appreciated by the elderly singer and conductor Makedonsky, but because Petya leaves to study at the conservatoire, he quarrels with his girlfriend. On his opening night she hears him singing on the radio, and they are reconciled.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Russian Film |work=Chester Chronicle |date=4 April 1942 |access-date=28 December 2018 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000342/19420404/067/0003| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref> == Cast == * Sergei Lemeshev as Petya Govorkov * Zoya Fyodorova as Klava Belkina * Nikolai Konovalov as Maestro Makedonsky (as N. Konovalov) * Erast Garin as Cabbie Tarahkanov * Anatoly Korolkevich as Pankov (Cabbie singing 'Onegin') * Anna Sergeyeva as Natenka (Cabbie singing 'Olga') * Leontina Dyomina as Nanny (uncredited)<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032825/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm Музыкальная история (1940) Full Cast & Crew]</ref>

==''Memory's Harvest''== In 1947 T. O. McCreadie and his brother Alec arranged for it to be dubbed into English by Australian actors after it was released under the title ''Memory's Harvest''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18041486 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=34,214 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=19 August 1947 |accessdate=8 April 2024 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref><ref name="always">{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=3 August 2025|access-date=3 August 2025|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-australian-films-always-another-dawn/|magazine=Filmink|title=Forgotten Australian Films: Always Another Dawn}}</ref>

It was the first feature-length Continental film to have its dialogue translated by people in Australia.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article273135867 |title=mirror on the film world |newspaper=Daily Mirror |issue=1934 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=11 August 1947 |accessdate=8 April 2024 |page=25 (Noon Edition) |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref> ===Reception=== The ''Sydney Daily Telegraph'' said "The technical work was done by Embassy Pictures under the direction of the McCreadie Brothers, who are to be congratulated on their achievement. A foreign film becomes more intelligible and enjoyable when presented in the language of the country in which it is shown."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248098628 |title=FILM REVIEWS |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |volume=VIII |issue=41 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=24 August 1947 |accessdate=8 April 2024 |page=36 |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref>

The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' thought "the Australian dialogue is a notable technical achievement" although felt April Ledie "occasionally sounds too much like a debutante for the proletarian role of the film."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18045831 |title=NEW FILMS REVIEWED |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=34,219 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=25 August 1947 |accessdate=8 April 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

''Smith's Weekly'' said "the film realist will find it a refreshing change after the synthetic glamor of the Hollywood musical. However, if you regard pictures as a way of escape from a hum drum existence you won't like it at all. It will remind you too much of your own daily life." The critic added "The dubbing-in of English dialogue has been most skilfully-handled... I would congratulate particularly Peter Finch for his masterly speaking of the hero's part."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article234635014 |title="MEMORY'S HARVEST " |newspaper=Smith's Weekly |volume=XXIX |issue=27 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 August 1947 |accessdate=8 April 2024 |page=25 |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref> ===Australian cast=== *Peter Finch *Queenie Ashton *Ben Lewin *John Fernside

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == *{{IMDb title|id=0032825}}

Category:1940 films Category:1940 Russian-language films Category:Soviet black-and-white films Category:Soviet musical comedy films Category:1940 musical comedy films Category:1940 Soviet films Category:Russian-language musical comedy films

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