Yuri Kazakov as a screenwriter: the story “Man’ka” and its screenplay adaptation

Abstract

The article presents Yu. Kazakov’s unknown script “Man’ka” (1959), discovered in the papers of Mosfilm in Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts. It is a version of a well-known story, the writer’s first attempt in the screenplay genre and, apparently, one of the few completely independent scripts Kazakov has done. Observations on the style of the script, which differs from the style of the story of the same name (in the script we find abundance of tropes, a larger number of descriptions of various kinds, a different rhythm) allow to conclude that the form of the script was eemingly perceived by the young author at that time as a special artistic opportunity, an alternative to the story.
It is known that Mosfilm demanded that Kazakov make changes to the script and eventually refused to shoot the film; the article provides the text of an official letter to Kazakov, which clearly states the reasons for rejecting the script: the depiction of love as a “purely biological process”. The article shows exactly what in the script could be perceived as beyond the scope of what was permissible in Soviet cinema.