The Girls (1962) User Reviews

A delightful Soviet classic

[sarahcvitali · 8/10 · 14 April 2020]

Nadezhda Rumyantseva is so much fun to watch as Tosya, the plucky young cook who has come to work in a logging camp.

Beautiful shots of the snowy forests and plenty of music and humor.

We're very grateful to MosFilm for putting this on YouTube for free -- and with pretty good English subtitles, too!

A sophisticated romantic comedy

[bigburlybear · 9/10 · 26 August 2012]

This is a very lighthearted comedy set in a forestry working settlement in Siberia. All the single workers live together in dormitories, and during the day they also work together.

Our 18 year old heroine, Tosya, has just arrived from Crimea, where it is not as cold, and is rather naïve, and rather unprepared for the climate and the situation.

Ilya and Filya, are single young men and rivals - they are best workers in the settlement, and leaders of their teams. And being young men they enjoy competing with each other in everything - including love. So, when Tosya first makes her appearance, Ilya and Filya make a bet for a fur hat, that she will fall in love with Ilya within two weeks.

Thus the comedy starts, and follows the trajectory of many Romantic Comedies.

What sets this from other Romantic Comedies is that is manages to avoid maudlin sentimentality, and also makes many observations and subtle social criticisms.

Love and marriage is not put on a pedestal, and married life is not the "happy ever after". The girls have discussions about what love is, and what is sufficient for love Vera has separated husband, and we are introduced to her burning his letters in the dormitory oven.

Nadya has reached the age of 28 and is unmarried, so is accepting marriage to Ksan Ksanych, an unattractive manager: the comment is that at that age, a woman would be happy to marry a goat. Although to be fair to Ksan, he obviously loves her and dotes on her in his awkward way.

Anfisa, the most beautiful woman in the settlement,realises that although all the boys like spending time with her, the do not necessarily love her, but want her as a trophy.

An example of the social commentary is that Nadya's finané, Ksan, is delaying their marriage until they have a flat to move into together. Housing shortages were a common problem at the time in the Soviet Union and such a decision was common. And sometimes people would have marriages delayed a couple years due to random decisions of the local authorities.

The only criticism of this film is technical - there are some editing inconsistencies, but it is a gem of a film.

Nadezhda Rumyantseva steals the show

[malcp · 7/10 · 6 August 2021]

An effervescent Nadezhda Rumyantseva transforms this modest comedy. Her winsome innocence might be a touch overplayed at times, but it keeps the film light and touching when it might otherwise be trite and overly sentimental. It's not the greatest rom-com, but it's well worth watching.

One of the most popular Soviet comedies of the 60th is still wonderful

[Galina_movie_fan · 10/10 · 22 May 2007]

One of the most popular Soviet films of the 60th, "Devchata" is a perfect example of how to make a wonderful movie in the most difficult genre of comedy/romance. "Devchata" is funny, heartwarming, charmingly naive yet involving and moving. I saw it first when I was 5 or 6 and my grandma used to take me with her to the movies few times a week. I've seen it no less than 20 times, perhaps and I still love it. Nadezda Rumiantseva gives a star making performance as a teenager Tosya who came to work as a cook in a logging company located in the distant Siberain village with the long and snowy winter. On her first day, she meets Ilya (Nikolai Rybnikov), the most popular and attractive guy who is equally known for his success on the working place and with the girls. Ilya makes the bet with the friends that the new cook will fall in love with him in no later than two weeks. Young Tosya, naive, spontaneous, with the huge wide open eyes, absolutely inexperienced in the game of flirting and seduction will teach "the first guy in town" a lesson or two on how to treat the girl and very soon he finds himself desperately in love with her. Along with the main story, there are several sub-plots concerning Tosya's friends and roommates. The film is called "The Girls", remember? "Devcahta" is short, only 92 minutes but its characters are well written and acted and the jokes are funny. The nice melodious songs by Aleksandra Pachmutova add to the atmosphere of youth, hope, friendship, and readiness for love that radiate from the screen.

...simply wonderful Contains Spoiler

[lauralovesmoscow · 12 November 2004]

First of all I was very sad to see there have been no comments on this movie! "Devchata" is classics now and perhaps one of the best movies with Rumyantseva and Ribnikov. The movie is made in good old Russian times therefore deeply reflecting the Soviet passion for work and relations between people. The main character, the cook, falls in love with a guy who is working and living in the same town/village. And not just a guy, but the best worker and indeed most popular one! However it turns out he made a bet that she would fall in love with him. Truly offended she breaks up with him. Nevertheless, he falls in love with her too and the movie has a happy ending. I cannot say it is just a love story, it is a movie that makes you laugh, has nice songs, beautiful scenery and great actors. Rybnikov has been one of the biggest stars in Russian cinema who passed away very tragically as many other famous and loved by people national actors. This movie worth seeing!!!!!!!

Classic romantic comedy. Kind, pure, uplifting.

[s-dalmatkin · 10/10 · 17 July 2023]

Old Soviet romantic comedy classic. Movie is simple love story about newbie cook on sawmill production.

Young, naive but honest and confident girl got a bet over her. After she refused dance and publicly humiliated local hard core lumberjack, he takes a bet that she will date him in a short time period.

Soviet movies had that pure and simple good and bad, right and wrong moral attitude. That was early 60's Khrushchev Thaw, hopeful and relatively freedom in movies created dozens of classics, that is one of them.

It's bright and simple, always cheers up and returning faith in love, humanity and friendship which is lacking in our time.

Defiantly recommend especially for foreigners, movie is still watchable throughout times and cultures. "She's all that" by1999, but better, purer and without Freddie Prince Jr.

10 out of 10, not because it's ten, ten is not real, but it stands aside and above.

Fine silly romantic comedy - nothing great, but it' quite well-made

[JurijFedorov · 6/10 · 5 June 2022]

A teen girl arrives in a small village. It's a village constructed far away from everything to produce lumber somewhere in Siberia. So a bunch of male groups produce lumber as the women do smaller jobs there. The teen girl is a proud cook. She's overly silly, but I like how much this all reminds me of Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush (1925). It's basically a reboot of that movie in a way. She's constantly dancing, singing, doing silly faces. It's all a bit over the top, but all-in-all actually cute enough to keep you engaged. Anyhow, this 30 year old successful worker bets with another group that he can win her over. He's supposed to be this handsome successful worker and she supposedly a silly plain looking girl. Of course the casting is quite off. The guy is painfully average in every way. Not tall, not that fit, not handsome - I assume? Not sure if he is handsome or not as I'm a dude, he just has that plain looking face I think. While she's actually quite attractive and cute. But in this village/USSR success matter a lot more for men so maybe he's just handsome to these women because he's successful? Besides this the actress and actor are the same age. It's not that noticeable though.

The whole relationship to me doesn't quite work. Today you practically cannot make such a movie. A teen girl being seduced by a man? So to me it always felt off, creepy in some ways. She's acting like a proper spoiled girl which is quite amazing acting, but also makes it into some weird love story that just never feels proper according to modern moral values. He's a guy with ex-girlfriends and a steady job. She's a teen girl getting her first job. I'm just perplexed. We even see him teach her how to kiss. Weird.

Besides this the setting and town is all amazing. I was fully absorbed watching the trains, huts, small old things, snow, trees, tractors. The quality of the camera and the set was great. This is way above the typical 1960's Hollywood movie. Everything here looks real and is filmed in high quality. They really abused their resources in this socialist hellscape. They could take any amount of money for their patriotic wars and propaganda. The movie itself is quite cute of course, but you constantly think of Stalin's Gulags and the endless wars and torture this country produced as this very movie is produced by the same regime. Whole ethnic groups were actually send to places like this in Siberia to die off. It was a giant genocide campaign wiping out whole European groups. Not that any socialist movie would ever dare to even mention it. The village here is just normal and you don't feel this communist setting as much. I did enjoy the village life. They even replaced the cafeteria with a new one as part of the plot. Not a single ruble was spared in this movie.

I did enjoy watching it. And several scenes were cool. I also think it's a good cultural look at that part of Russia. Though extremely prettyfied in a comedic setting. The Wild West for example was never made this silly and calm in any American movie. But then again this is a comedy. I do feel like it's a bit too simple for a modern audience. It's good, but it's just a love story nothing else. We never explore deep moral values, never see any big meaningful conflict, never get anywhere significant. Just a silly romance where one part is very plain looking. It's a competent movie, but at the same time it doesn't have enough depth to it compared to movies made outside totalitarian regimes. Only topics of loneliness and love are explored. You want to go live in the village for sure, but you also know it never existed.

It's practically a less stellar version of The Apartment (1960). But everything is just a bit worse. Especially the script is way deeper in The Apartment. It's an adult woman seeking love. She's split between a rich handsome married man and a silly dependable character. You really feel her pain and conflict as you understand such situations. Here it's frankly made just as well in some ways, but it's a teenage romance so of course there is less to it. When the man wants to show love he gifts her an expensive watch. As she hands it back he stomps on it. I mean, yeah that happens in such silly cases. But it's just silly teenage love that will last a few months and then both will move on. The Apartment is deeper. It's about how to live your life. How to handle yourself in this crude world. Soviet tried to make their own version and very much succeeded in their own way. But they tried to entertain not to educate about humanity. The education was about how glorious the state is and how hard you must work. Frankly if you send me to such an impossible movie set paradise I promise I'll work hard.