Chapaev is a 1934

1934 in film

-Events:*January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.*February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade...

 Soviet film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

. It was directed by the Vasilyev brothers

Vasilyev brothers

Georgi Vasilyev and Sergei Vasilyev , usually credited as Vasilyev brothers were two namesake Russian Soviet film directors and screenwriters...

 on Lenfilm

Lenfilm

Kinostudiya "Lenfilm" is a production unit of the Russian film industry, with its own film studio, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formerly Leningrad, R.S.F.S.R. Today OAO "Kinostudiya Lenfilm" is a corporation with its stakes shared between private owners, and several private film studios,...

. It is a story about Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev

Vasily Chapayev

Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev or Chapaev was a celebrated Russian soldier and Red Army commander during the Russian Civil War.-Biography:...

 (1887-1919), a legendary Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 commander who became a hero of the Russian Civil War

Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...

. The plot is based on the novel of the same name by Dmitri Furmanov

Dmitri Furmanov

Dmitry Andreyevich Furmanov was a Russian writer. During the Russian Civil War he joined the Red Army and served as a Bolshevik commissar. He is well-known for his novel Chapayev about Vasily Chapayev, a Red Army officer and a hero of the Civil War. The novel is available in English translation.In...

, a Russian writer and Bolshevik commissar who fought together with Chapayev.

Immediately upon the release (premiered on November 6, 1934 in Leningrad

Leningrad

Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...

 cinema theatre "Titan") the film became one of the most popular creations in the history of Soviet cinema. Within the first year it was watched by 30 million people in the USSR alone.

It was awarded the accolade "Best Foreign Film" by the US National Board of Review in 1935, and the Grand-Prix of the Paris World Fair in 1937.

In a 1978 poll of cinema critics the film was considered one of the best 100 films in history.

After the release of the film, Chapaev and his assistants Petka and Anka became Russian folklore characters. This trio, together with their political commissar Furmanov, is present in a large number of Russian jokes.