Striped Trip () is a 1961 Soviet comedy film directed by Vladimir Fetin, with the acclaimed tiger tamer Margarita Nazarova in the main role. The movie was seen by 45.8 mil. viewers on the year of release, becoming the Soviet box office leader.
Plot
To escape from a hot tropical place Shuleykin (Yevgeny Leonov) accepts a position on a ship looking after a cargo of twelve cages with tigers. Chief mate ("starpom" in Russian), played by Ivan Dmitriyev) has continuous arguments with Marianna (Margarita Nazarova) about the little tricks she plays on the crew. One day a stowaway monkey opens the cages and the limited capabilities of Shuleykin get exposed. In this situation Marianna unexpectedly turns into a skilled animal trainer.
Cast
Alexey Gribov as Vasily Vasilyevich, captain
Ivan Dmitriyev as Oleg Petrovich, chief mate
Margarita Nazarova as Marianna Andreevna, barmaid (voiced by Galina Korotkevich) Yevgeny Leonov as Gleb Savelievich Shuleykin, cook, who was forced to impersonate a tiger tamer Vladimir Belokurov as Alexey Stepanovich, boatswain Nikolai Volkov as agent (voiced by Yefim Kopelyan) Aleksandr Benyaminov as Chocoladi, Indian tamer Arkadi Trusov as cook Vyacheslav Sirin as Motya, sailor, who can famously beat tap dancing Aleksei Smirnov as Valya Knysh, sailor on watch Alexey Kozhevnikov as radioman Alexander Susnin as Sidorenko, sailor Nikolay Trofimov as navigator Alisa Freindlich as Shuleykin's assistant in the circus buffet Vasily Lanovoy as vacationer on the beach Yuri Gorobets as militiaman
Production
Concept
The idea of a movie with Margarita Nazarova in the lead originated during the 1959 official visit of the Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie to Moscow: Nikita Khrushchev invited him to a circus performance during which Nazarova brought several tiger cubs to the lodge and received high praise from Khrushchev who wondered why hadn't she been cast in a movie yet.
This motivated all studio executives to start a search for an appropriate screenplay which ended as soon as Viktor Konetsky, a former sailor and a beginning writer, shared his life story with the Lenfilm director, how a bear once escaped from a cage during a sea voyage. The idea of animals running around the ship appealed to Nazarova and her husband and circus partner Konstantin Konstantinovsky who was also suggested the work of a tamer and a stuntman. A young, but promising film director Vladimir Fetin took the job, while Konetsky was "strengthen" by a seasoned screenwriter Aleksei Kapler.
Shooting
All ten tigers from the circus troupe became involved, including Pursh who had already starred in a similar-themed comedy movie Tamer of Tigers and who ended up performing most of the complex scenes. Another addition was a lion Vaska from the Leningrad Zoo who had also made an appearance in Lenfilm's movies such as Don Quixote (1957), She Loves You (1956) and New Adventures of Puss in the Boots (1958), although the tigers didn't get along with him and most of his scenes were shot separately. Lastly, a chimpanzee named Pirate was borrowed from the Kyiv Zoo along with his bride, a monkey Chilita since he refused to leave or act without her.
The animals went through a two-months training on the Matros Zhelezniak cargo ship in Leningrad, while the actual movie was shot in the Black Sea on board of the Fryazino motor vessel. Konstantin Konstantinovsky worked as a stunt double on a number of occasions, most famously during the scene where Oleg Petrovich (played by Ivan Dmitriyev) fights a tiger (revealed during the ending credits). Many other stunts were performed by a fellow tamer Arkady Rudin. The only actor who not only refused to use a stunt double, but also came up with a number of dangerous stunts of his own was Aleksei Smirnov: in one scene he even appears holding tight onto a tiger's tale. In fact Smirnov spent a whole month feeding animals and gaining their trust.
A 23-minute movie Attention, Tigers! which documented the filming process was shot by the main cinematographer Dmitry Meskhiev and released the same year by the Soviet Central Television.