Khitrovka. The Sign of Four

2023 [RUSSIAN]

Action / Comedy / Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi

2
IMDb Rating 5.3/10 10 374 374

Plot summary

Moscow, 1902. The famous director Konstantin Stanislavsky, in search of inspiration for staging a new play, decides to get acquainted with the life of the city "bottom". He turns to Vladimir Gilyarovsky, a recognized expert on the Moscow slums, for help.

Director

Karen Shakhnazarov Photo
Karen Shakhnazarov

Top cast

Ivan Kolesnikov Photo
Ivan Kolesnikov as Chekhov
Mikhail Porechenkov Photo
Mikhail Porechenkov as Gilyarovskiy
Boris Kamorzin Photo
Boris Kamorzin as Testov
Denis Tkachyov Photo
Denis Tkachyov as Zhitel
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.16 GB
1280*720
Russian 2.0
NR
Subtitles ru  
24 fps
2 hr 9 min
Seeds 1
2.38 GB
1920*1080
Russian 5.1
NR
Subtitles ru  
24 fps
2 hr 9 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by guisreis 8 / 10

Replacing Sherlock Holmes for Stanislavsky

Amusing Russian detective movie, adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Sign of Four, but replacing Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson for actor and director Konstantin Stanislavsky and journalist Vladimir Gilyarovsky, and London for dangerous and low-class square in Moscow called Khitrovka. Besides the duo, there are colorful character in either major or minor roles. Khitrovka itself is almost a character, always crowded, and it is very nice how director Karen Shakhnazarov (who has other movies I enjoyed from both Soviet era and post-Soviet times, like Zerograd, Ward Number 6, and We are from Jazz) showed in each scene several events happening at the same time.
Reviewed by hof-4 7 / 10

Theater and the slums

Fact: In 1902 theater director and actor Konstantin Stanislavsky put on stage in the Moscow Art Theater two plays by Maxim Gorky whose scenarios were slums. As part of the preparation for the actors, he took the company to the Khitrov Market in Moscow. At that time, the Khitrov was a rather dangerous place teeming with thieves, prostitutes and murderers and approached with caution even by the police.The movie takes this episode as starting point, although shows Stanislavsky in the Kitrov without the theater troupe, in the only company of journalist Vladimir Gilyarovsky who is familiar with the slum (as Stanislavsky, Gilyarovsky is a real life character and the script is partly based on his writings).At this point, the film transitions into a rather free version of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novella The Sign of Four, with Stanislavsky as a version of Holmes and Gilyarovsky as Dr Watson. There are also counterparts of Professor Moriarty and Inspector Lestrade. The last part of the film introduces some comedic elements. There is a little name dropping; Count Tolstoy is mentioned and playwright Anton Chekhov is given a conversation with Stanislavsky in a luxury restaurant. There is a nice plot twist near the end. The literal translation of the Russian title is Cunning: The Sign of Four.I didn't find the idea of Stanislavsky as an amateur detective particularly compelling. The film is generally entertaining, but its strong point is the reconstruction of the Kitrov at that time; set and costume design are outstanding and cinematography is excellent both depicting the slums and the aristocratic/intellectual milieu where Stanislavsky lived and worked. All in all, not an outstanding work but an entertaining tale.
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