Truth is Good, But Happiness is Better

1951 DramaRomance 139 minutes Directed by Sergei Alekseyev

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About Truth is Good, But Happiness is Better

In the house of Moscow merchant Amos Panfilovich Baraboshev, his mother Mavra Tarasovna gives the orders. For years she has hunted a rich husband for her granddaughter Polixena, and she now wants a general. Polixena loves the clerk Platon Zybkin, who is honest, poor, and in debt to Baraboshev for 200 rubles. A promissory note can send him to debtors’ prison. Polixena’s old nurse Felitsata brings in a new watchman, retired non-commissioned officer Sila Erofeyich Groznov, who was Mavra’s lover when she was young and who still holds a reckless promise that she would do whatever he asked. Afraid the old story will come out, Mavra tears up Platon’s note and lets Polixena marry him.

Cast & crew

More about Truth is Good, But Happiness is Better

Sergei Alekseyev filmed the Maly Theatre’s production of Alexander Ostrovsky’s play. Boris Nikolsky had staged it at the Maly in 1941. The designer was Konstantin Yuon. Konstantin Zubov was the theatre’s chief director. Bentsion Monastyrsky photographed the film record. It runs 139 minutes. Another listing says 149. It went into cinema release on 14 January 1952. Reported attendance was 22.7 million. Yevdokiya Turchaninova, Nikolai Ryzhov, and Varvara Ryzhova lead the cast. The Russian title is Правда — хорошо, а счастье лучше.

Themes

  • A grandmother shopping for a general
  • A clerk’s 200-ruble note
  • An old lover used as a watchman
  • Ostrovsky
  • Mavra Tarasovna
  • Polixena
  • Platon Zybkin
  • Maly Theatre
  • Groznov
  • Gorky Film Studio

Making

Alekseyev’s picture is a filmed stage performance, not a rewritten location drama. The rooms, the nurse’s plot, and the torn note are the Maly production Nikolsky had opened in 1941.

Audiences

The release record cites 22.7 million admissions.

Look

Bentsion Monastyrsky photographed the Maly Theatre staging, including Yuon’s sets.

Preservation

A film of the 1941 Maly production survives at about 139 minutes.

Notes

  • The catalog year is 1951. The theatrical release date on record is 14 January 1952.
  • The debt is 200 rubles, owed by Platon’s mother to the merchant.
  • Groznov does not court Polixena. He uses the old promise against Mavra.
  • A Commons file is marked part 1.
  • Valeriya Novak, Alexander Kartcev, and Aleksandr Sashin-Nikolsky are also billed.

Scenes

  • Mavra names a general as the match for Polixena.
  • The note for 200 rubles threatens Platon with prison.
  • Felitsata brings Groznov in as a watchman.
  • Mavra destroys the note and consents to the clerk.

Influenced by

  • Truth Is Good, But Happiness Is Better (Alexander Ostrovsky)

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (1951. Правда хорошо, а счастье — лучше ч.1.webm)