Say a Word for the Poor Hussar

Say a Word for the Poor Hussar (Russian: О бедном гусаре замолвите слово…, translit. O bednom gusare zamolvite slovo) is a 1981 Soviet film directed by Eldar Ryazanov. Film shot in the style of historical tragicomedy.

A hussars regiment fumes to the provincial town of Gubernsk for summer maneuvers. Frivolous life outside the barracks, away from the metropolitan authorities, evening shows in the theater, billiard, card game, flirting with the ladies - this is the hussars' lives in the provincial town. But soon the regiment gets into trouble. From St. Petersburg, on the personal orders of the emperor, with a special mission, arrives count Merzlyaev.

Some officers of the regiment are suspected of "free-thinking" and of conspiring against the government. Merzlyaev offers these officers a test: they must shoot a rebel, thus demonstrating their loyalty to the emperor. Merzlyaev's cunning plan is that the "execution by shooting" is false: the cartridges are blank, and the role of "the condemned conspirator" will be played by a stranger. If the officers refuse to shoot - they face the military court and penal servitude.

On the role of the "conspirator" Merzlyaev hires Bubentsov, an actor who is in jail for a stupid carelessness. Merzlyaev's "play" goes perfectly, but suddenly it is interfered by human dignity. Cornet Alexei Pletnev (one of the officers who should play the role of the executioners), let the "rebel" Bubentsov go free. And it's starting to turn tragic ...

Trying to save his plan and his reputation, count Merzlyaev is ready to take any action, to create any abomination. But he is unable to defeat love and generosity of honest people...