About the film
In a rich Volga merchant town in the 19th century, Larisa Ogudalova is beautiful, poor and surrounded by admirers. Her mother is desperate to find her a husband, but without a dowry nobody serious will ask.
Larisa loves Paratov, a charming, reckless shipowner who disappears and returns a year later engaged to a rich bride. In despair she accepts Karandyshev, a small, proud official, and the story moves towards a tragic picnic on the Volga.
Ryazanov's elegant version of Ostrovsky's classic play is famous for its river landscapes and romances, the sentimental songs that give the film its name.
Did you know?
- It was Larisa Guzeyeva's first film role.
- The music is by Andrei Petrov, and the songs use poems by Marina Tsvetaeva, Bella Akhmadulina and Rudyard Kipling.
- Ostrovsky's play Without a Dowry had already been filmed in 1936 by Yakov Protazanov.
