Cinema
The Cloth Peddler
Arşın mal alan
Synopsis
In an Eastern city of narrow lanes and a noisy bazaar, young girls live behind the walls of their houses while waiting for a husband. Əsgər, a wealthy young merchant, wants to choose his wife himself, although custom forbids courting before marriage. He disguises himself as a cloth peddler to enter the houses and meets the beautiful Gülçöhrə, who falls in love with him; she fears, however, that her father will refuse a mere peddler.
Context
The screenplay, drawn from Uzeyir Hajibeyov's operetta, is by Sabit Rahman, and Nikolai Leshchenko assisted the director. Alasgar Atakishiyev and Mukhtar Dadashov handled the camera; Rashid Behbudov plays Asgar, and Leyla Badirbeyli, chosen from among fifty candidates, Gulchohra. Jewellery and objects were lent by the inhabitants and museums of Baku. Judged contrary to the line by the censors, the film was released only after Stalin's intervention, on 1 October 1945. Long shown in Russian only, it received an Azerbaijani version in 2006 and was restored in colour in Los Angeles in 2013.
Who it is for
An hour and a half of musical comedy, set in Baku at the beginning of the century; the restored version is in colour.
Prizes and reception
More than sixteen million viewers in 1945, a Stalin Prize in 1946, and distribution in more than one hundred and thirty countries.
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