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''Kidnapping, Caucasian Style'' ((ロシア語:Кавказская пленница)) is a 1967 Soviet comedy film dealing with a humorous plot revolving around bride kidnapping, an old tradition that used to exist in certain regions of the Northern Caucasus. The original title derives from the Alexander Pushkin poem, "The Prisoner of the Caucasus",〔(Александр Пушкин. Кавказский пленник )〕 and Leo Tolstoy's short story, "The Prisoner of the Caucasus".〔(Лев Толстой. Кавказский пленник )〕 The film was directed by Leonid Gaidai. It is the last film featuring the trio of the "Coward" (Georgy Vitsin), the "Fool" (Yuri Nikulin), and the "Pro" (Yevgeny Morgunov), a group of bumbling antiheroes similar in some ways to the Three Stooges. The film premiered in Moscow on April 1, 1967. ==Background== As a result of the popularity of the earlier film, Operation Y, Yakov Kostyukovsky and Moris Slobodsky requested Mosfilm to support a new film about the character of Shurik. The screenplay for the new film was initially titled "Shurik in the mountains" and was divided into two parts. The first part, "Prisoner of the Caucasus", was about the student Nina who comes to visit her relatives in the Caucasus and is kidnapped by a local director named Okhokhov. The second part, "Snow Man and Others", was about a scientific expedition seeking the Yeti in a mountainous region, with the Coward, the Fool, and the Pro pretending to be the Yeti by way of hiding from the local militia. In the end, Shurik and Nina were supposed to expose the trio. As the process went forward, it was decided to focus on just the first part of the screenplay. Yuri Nikulin and Evgeny Morgunov initially refused to be part of the film as they felt the screenplay was too unrealistic. In the end, Gaidai convinced both actors to reprise their roles by agreeing to make some adjustments to the screenplay. It also took a long time to cast the role of Nina, with more than 500 screen tests completed before Natalya Varley was selected for the role. Because she worked as a circus tight rope walker prior to acting, she had an easier time with the stunt work and physicality required in the role. On the other hand, her relative lack of acting experience made the dialogue scenes more challenging for her. In the case of the character of Saakhov, there were disagreements between Gaidai and the actor playing Saakhov, Vladimir Etush. While Etush thought Saakhov should be played as an accomplished, intelligent man who takes himself seriously, Gaidai wanted more of an over-the-top performance. During production, the screenplay was also altered by Soviet censors. For instance, a phrase yelled by the Coward was originally written as: "Long live ''the Soviet'' justice system, the most humanitarian justice system in the world!" was changed to "Long live ''our'' justice system, the most humanitarian justice system in the world!" as the original was viewed as too obviously mocking the Soviet justice system. Besides, a scene was removed in which the Coward scratches a Russian letter "X" into a fence, the Pro scratches a "У" (the first two letters of a Russian three-letter swear word, once a popular proto-graffiti) and, after a militia officer appears at the scene, the Fool quickly adds "()дожественный фильм", which makes for "a feature film". After release, it became the biggest Soviet hit of 1967 and became known as one of the greatest Russian comedies of all time. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kidnapping, Caucasian Style」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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