Ukhar Kupets

Ukhar Kupets (Russian: Ухарь купец; the title is variously translated as The Dashing Merchant[1] or The Happy-Go-Lucky Merchant) is a 1909 silent (Russian-language intertitles) short drama film shot by the Moscow division of the French company Pathé Frères.

[3][1] This encouraged Pathé to establish a division in Moscow with Russian actors and filmmakers.

[1] The plot may be inferred from the intertitles of the film, which basically follows the plot of the song: (1) "Masha asks permission from her mother to go for a walk along the village"; (2) "Hoping to get a free drink from the merchant, the father allows the merchant to woo the daughter"; (3) A couplet from a version of the song:[4] "По всей деревне славушка прошла / Красавица дочка на зорьке пришла" (A rumor passed through the whole village / The pretty daughter came back at dawn) (4) another couplet: По всей деревне погасли огни.

The old and young went to bed) (5)another couplet: В одной лишь избенке огонек горит.

Scene: in the village square various goods are sold, young people and girls dance and sing.

[1] However Pyotr Nilus wrote in 1916: "Стоит вспомнить фильму на тему песни об «ухаре-купце», более омерзительного, некультурного изображения, кажется, никогда еще не видел экран."

(It is worth recalling the film on the theme of the song about the "Ukhar-kupets", a more disgusting, uncultured image, it seems, has never been seen on the screen.