Misteriya-Buff (1969) - full transcript

From a collection of the Russian
State Film Foundation

We are fed up with heavenly sweets

give us a huge loaf of rye bread to eat!

We are fed up with paper passions

let us live with a living wife!

We exist!

Today, above the dust of theaters

our motto will shine:

"From a clean slate!"
Lo and behold!

A curtain

Mystery



Bouffe

Prepared by Vladimir Mayakovsky

Played by actors,

musicians

and colored by painters

Hear ye, Hear ye

Come in, people

Listen people

Now before your very eyes -

the noblest nobles -

athletes will strut by
in well-matched pairs:

they're here to eliminate each other

Parade Allez!

Look, young and old,



nephews and nieces,
aunts and uncles!

All eyes open wide! See!

Look, first row

Look, second and third

Look, fourth and fifth too

a more disgusting mug you'll never see

Spotting a bourgeois

is easy

We know their kind!

Fat and short in height

and with a cigar in his mouth

Even the youngest specimen

puts in a gold tooth

And that is a speculator,
our countryman

175 pounds of fine flour he lifts
with one hand

He bears high the fine flour,

while bearing down on us with it

Manufacture Colonialism Market

It's easy to spot a merchant

Consult any propaganda material

Here's a merchant -
horribly fat

wearing pleated boots

Neither proletarian, nor non-proletarian

neither capitalist, nor non-capitalist

Inch by inch,

he creeps before everyone like a worm

Aristocrat Aristocrat

And here's an aristocrat

Clean shaven, funny haircut

A disgusting sight

While over bold patches

rises a top hat that matches

This is a priest

for his prayers

he gobbled down almost the whole
grain harvest

Introductions are finished

All these gentlemen have arrived

to get at each other's throats

for the sake of profit

And you - what are your nationalities?

We're a roving band,

used to wandering through the world

we have no nationality:

labor is our native land

We're a roving band,

used to wandering through the world

we have no nationality:

labor is our native land

We're a roving band,

used to wandering through the world

we have no nationality:

labor

is

Our native land

The gist of Act One is as follows:

the world is leaking

The War

Is Declared

Evening Paper!

Evening Paper, Evening Paper!

Evening Paper,
Evening Paper, Evening Paper!

And

on

The square

blackened

gloomily

by poor

a crimson

stream

of blood

has flooded!

The North Pole is flooded,

the last refuge is gone

So they all begin building,

not just an Ark

but a great big super-duper one

The public takes a trip
on the ark:

here you'll find both autocracy

and a democratic republic

A man and a woman

Woe is me

Woe is me

I remember how the whole family

used to gather round the table for tea

the muffins

the caviar

Gentlemen!

Since we are all so immaculate,

is it fitting that we
should work and sweat?

Let's make The Unclean work for us

I'm all for that!

But what can I do?
I'm delicate

And each of them has the strength of two

Oh, there'll be no fight - God forbid!

We'll have no mayhem

But while they're gobbling up their meal

while they're drinking and hollering

we'll cook up a deal
to betray them

We'll give them a king!

A king

A king

A king

Why a king?

Because the king will hand down

A DECREE

The Czar, frightened, issued a manifesto:

Freedom for the dead, prison for the living

That's the Constitution -
sugar and honey

Freedom for the dead,
machine-gunning for the living

Smile, mouth, rejoice, people!

Freedom for the dead -

the opposite... for the living

The Czar, frightened, issued a manifesto:

Freedom for the dead, prison for the living

That's the Constitution -
sugar and honey

Freedom for the dead,
machine-gunning for the living

Smile, mouth, rejoice, people!

Freedom for the dead -

the opposite... for the living.
Hey!

AUTOCRACY

By the grace of God,

we, King of all chickens
The Unclean fried

and Grand Duke of all eggs
said chickens have laid

without ever having flayed
any men seven times

we take only six hides,
and leave the seventh

hereby decree to our subjects:

bring in everything -

dried bread crumbs, fish, porpoises

and all else that suits our purposes
for eating

The Senate, without delaying a minute,

will inspect the heap of foodstuffs
you bring,

and select the best
to regale us and your King

And then we'll divide the booty,

for such is our Christian duty

We hear and obey, Your Majesty

What's this?

Did a Mongol horde wreak a havoc here?

How could one lone man
munch all that much?

I'd like to give him one good punch
in that bulging mug!

Silence! I'm anointed by
the Lord on High!

Do you hear

the Guards' spurs jingle:

the King has sent

the crack unit

To the rear, march,
Forward, march,

Half-right, face

Whoever kills freedom-loving people

will have honor and fame

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!

Fight for the glory of the Czars
two-headed eagle

Hey! One! Two!

Prepare to load! Load!

All of Moscow will remember
the Red Epaulets!

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!

Fight for the glory of the Russian
two-headed eagle

Company, halt!

Ready, aim, fire!

Sing, throats!

We will earn, tra-la-la-la,
sausages and vodka

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!

Fight for the glory of the Russian
two-headed eagle! Hey!

A curse on him! He looks so sleek!

It's cold

and damp is the night

Gentlemen, you know what?

I believe I've turned democrat

Well, you don't say! As for me
I've always loved the People passionately

And who was it proposed we pledge faith
to His Majesty?

No more poisonous barbs, gentlemen!

Autocracy, as a form of government,
is undoubtedly obsolete

It certainly is, if there's nothing to eat!

Seriously, gentlemen! Seriously!

Revolution is hatching

Let's bury the hatchet

and keep things friendly

Hurray!

Hurray for the Constituent Assembly!

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
Hurray!

Citizens!

Please come to the meeting

Citizen,

are you for a republic?

A meeting?

A republic?

What's that?

Wait right there. The intellectual
will explain some things

Citizens!

That great big King has a mouth
that's incredible!

True!

True, Citizen Orator!

He'll gobble up every existing thing
that's edible

True!

We've had enough of that!
Break your rusty chains!

Down with him!

Down with autocracy!

A one-off

world show!

Autocracy

Democratic Republic

Democratic Republic

/fast forwarded, unintelligible/

Comrades, you just can't imagine how
delighted I am!

No more of those age-old barriers now!

Congratulations!

Ancient social foundations
have collapsed

The rest will arrange itself easily

the rest is a snap

Now we're for you,
and you're for us

Well, citizens, that's enough.
You've romped to your heart's content

Now let's set up our democratic government

Citizens, in order to make
this easy and quick,

we will be ministers and deputy ministers

and you, citizens of a democratic republic,

will bake rolls, make boots,
and hunt walrus

Long live our democratic republic!

Comrades, what's this?

Before, one mouth chowed;
now a regiment claws

The republic turned out to be
the same thing as a king,

but one with a hundred jaws

Why so excited?

We promised to share things equally,
and we've done it

one man gets
the ring of doughnut,

the other man gets the core

That's what a democratic republic
is for

Somebody has to take the seeds,

not everyone can have the melon

We will

show you

a class struggle!

Hold, citizens! Our policy...

Come on! We'll roast 'em
on four sides

We'll show 'em a policy to remember!

Stand fast, damn you!

You'll never forget this day in November!

Rise! Rise!
Rise!

Workers and peasants

Hold fast, a mower and a smiter,

a gun in your iron fists!

Flag - upwards!

Ragged rise!

Foe - down!

Day is foul

For bread! For peace!
For freedom!

Take the plants away from the owners

Take the lands away from the rich

Fraternize with your brothers in arms

Enough! Enough! Enough

being humble and meek

Tremble, lackeys of the capital

Quiver, crowns on the foreheads

Away with the old

Boldly unfold

Fight the rich!

Bang! Bang!

Knife the rich guy on the spot

Mister owner, gather your belongings,
quick!

The time has come

step out, in boots or without

Sharpen the axes

Raise the scythes

What Pugachev and Razin started
burn and blast with force

All the manors of the rich
we will set ablaze

Set ablaze!

Raise the blades!

Oh, keep burning with all force,
dear fire

Famine

The Republic ate up
the last food supplies

Comrades!

Kick the weaklings over the side!

But come, people, why don't you
raise up a cheer?

Let's cheer!

Cheer?

Have you thought about bread?

Cheer?

And where could we plant grain, anyway?

Cheer?

With no furrowed fields -
only trough in the waves?

We've got nothing to fish with -
our nets are torn

How can a man get across that water?

If we just had some dry land near!

There's a leak in the ark!

De-vas-tation

Listen!

What's that?

Do you hear the music?

Who am I?

I'm of no class,

no nation,

no clan

I've seen the 30th,

the 40th Century

I'm simply a person
of the future

Are you waiting for Ararats?
There aren't any Ararats - none!

They're just something you saw
in a dream

And if the mountain doesn't come
to Muhammad

then to hell with it!

Far be it from me
to preach of a Christian Heaven

where fasting fools lap up
unsweetened tea

The Heaven I'm shouting about
is a genuine, earthly one

There, labor is sweet,
and won't callus your hands

work will bloom in your palms like a rose

There, sun will perform such miracles

that at every step you will sink down
in flower beds big as the sea

We'll all go!

What's there to lose?

But will sinners like us
be let in?

Come all who are not pack of mules,

and all for whom life is cruel
and unbearable!

My kingdom - earthly, not heavenly -
is for you

The gaping maw of the gulf bodes ill

Only one path remains:

through the clouds!
Forward!

Through the sky - forward!

We are ourselves now
a loud-thudding prophecy

Let's go and try to get us
out of despondency

Let's go

let's catch our last chance

There victors can rest up after the fray

Though our feet may be tired,
we'll make shoes from the sky

For our bleeding feet,
we'll make shoes from the sky!

Heaven's gates are flung wide!

Up ladders of sunbeams
and stairs of rainbows!

Up ladders

of sunbeams

and swings

of rainbows

Enough prophets!

We're all Nazarenes!

Climb up the masts!

Grab hold of the yards!

To the masts!

To the shrouds!

In the Third Act we show and tell

how the workers
have nothing to be afraid of -

not even the devils in Hell

Hell

What's that looming there?

A mast

Why a mast?

What mast?

Quiet, you devil!

Cut the crap!

Run and notify Beelzebub and his staff

Is this hell?

Hell

Comrades, don't stop!
We'll go straight ahead!

Come off it!

"Come of it!" did you say?

I did. You should be ashamed

An old devil like you,
with gray hairs on your head

As if you could scare us that way!

Have you ever visited
a foundry, by any chance?

A foundry? I've not had the pleasure

Just as I though!

If you had, you'd have shed your fur

In this place you live
like some fancy-pants

So sleek!

Yet acting tough!

And you think we're scared?

So you've kindled your petty fires!

So you've hung your pots up!

Fine devils you are!

Why, you're no more than pups!

Laugh till it brings tears to your eyes!
We show the bowers of Paradise

Well,

aren't they in view yet?

The edge of that cloud has begun
to swell suspiciously

Here they come!
Here they come!

Can it really be they?

They're in Paradise,

yet they have the look
of chimney sweeps covered with soot

We'll scrub it away

Ugh. Not all saints, one would gather,
are of the same feather

Drop in quick -
make yourself slick!

Barbershop

I strolled hither,

I strolled thither

building bridge into socialism

I'm not finished, I got tired

and I paused to sit in quiet

One time and one more time
and many many other times

Grass is growing,

Sheep are passing

We desire - it's so simple -

just repose near this river

One time and one more time
and many many other times

That's enough!

Down on earth, people

humbly resign themselves to death,
hoping to see you

If they only knew

what lies ahead

Down there, paradises like yours
are a dime a dozen!

We never thought it would be like this!

What's to talk about?
Let's wreck the joint!

This is one institution
where we don't belong

The Promised Land!

Seek it somewhere beyond Paradise!

With our seven-league strides
we'll plow up Paradise!

Let's go and plow up
the whole universe!

We break, we break and we break

the clouds

Isn't it time we got past them?

How long till our weary bodies

are bathed in the freshness of May?

Where to? Won't we land
in another Hell?

We've been duped -
and duped well

And what comes next?

The farther we go, the worse it gets

Chimney sweep, go out ahead
and scout!

This way, comrades!
This way!

Disembark for the landing!

The factories are all festooned
with banners,

mile upon mile

Wherever the hundred-legged worm
of my gaze turns,

I see, decked in flowers the joiner's bench
and the lathe standing idle

Standing?

Idle?

And here we are, getting in trim
via verbal athletics!

We may have rain that will rust
the machines!

Break in!

Shout!
Hey!

Who's there?

It's dear mother earth!
Our own native soil!

I'd like a saw. I'm young

Take it

And I'd like a needle

My hands itch to work.
Give me a hammer!

Take it, caress it!

In the last Act
comes the Commune

Everyone

must sing out at the top of their voice!

Look as hard as you can!

Why did we bellow like oxen
under the yoke?

We waited and waited

and waited for years

and never once did we notice

all the blessings right under our noses!

Why do folks go to museums, anyway?

All around us, treasures are heaped high

Is that the sky or a piece
of bright-colored cloth?

If this is the work of our own hands,

what door will not open before us?

We are the architects of earths,

the decorators of planets

We're miracle-makers

We'll tie rays of light into bundles
and use them as brooms

to sweep the clouds from the sky
with electricity

We'll make the rivers of many worlds
splash honey

We'll pave the street on this earth
with stars

Dig!

Gouge!

Saw!

Bore!

All shout "Hurray"

Sun-worshipers in the temple
of this world,

let's show them by example
how we can sing

Form into choruses

for a psalm to the Sun!

Mayakovsky

Mystery Bouffe

Script
R. Vikkerg

Director David Cherkasskiy

Art Directors: V. Budz
R. Sakhaltuyev

Music
G. Firtich

Cinematography: F. Gilevich
S. Nikiforov

Editor
T. Pavlenko

Consultant
A. Fevralskiy

Sound
I. Pogon

Animators: N. Marchenkova, Ye.Sivokon,
Ya. Volskaya, A. Lavrov, D. Cherkasskiy

Cast: A. Chernova, V. Pasenkov, V. Fedotov,
V. Krasnoshchekov, Yu. Medvedev, V. Belyaev

Voices of actors of the Moscow Taganka
Theatre

Assistants of Director
T. Shvets, V. Taranova

Assistants of Art Directors:
E. Shchepkina, O. Radkovskiy, A. Kalyniuk

Producers: I. Mazepa
S. Epshtein

Creative Association of Animation
Kyivnauchfilm 1969

The End