Hacker CinemaThe Irony of Fate
The Irony of Fate
1912 · Film · short · 12 min
Directed by Albert W. Hale
Virginia Jameson, a girl of lovely disposition, is wooed by a man much older than herself whom she very much dislikes, but who stands very high in the favor of her parents. She might have married another man had not fate decreed otherwise. She meets and accidentally escapes the man she could have loved and would have married; she stooped to tie her shoe-strings, diverting her attention from him. Had their eyes met, both their lives would have been different. Leroy Farley, the man favored by her parents, prevails and she marries him. Her life is unhappy, notwithstanding his great riches and social prominence.
11 positive2 neutralfrom 13 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
16 comments on Hacker News
"Groundhog day" of course
most of Schwarzenegger movies because he is cool
Back to the future trilogy
Fight club
Some of the best soviet ones (Kin-dza-dza, Garage, Mimino, Irony of fate etc.)
Rocky
Forrest gump
"Irony of fate" (1975) (Traditional new years even movie).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate
On youtube there are lots of great USSR films on Mosfilms :
https://www.youtube.com/c/MosfilmRuOfficial
For instance the excellent "Irony of fate" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpmZnRIMKs
There are lots of films at Odessa film studios too: https://www.youtube.com/c/OdessAnimationStudio
but at the moment you'll mostly find news about the war in Ukraine...
You can watch 'Sauna Blues' aka 'The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975)' for free with subtitles on YouTube here:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpmZnRIMKs
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmGPeowN-0
Other good films: Kin-dza-dza! (1986): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYHv8eJrW2Y
Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (1973): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a50qT9bW2Qo
Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-r9XNmqQHk
Bootleggers (1961): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_-ehagcrBg
The Most Charming and Attractive (1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7PbeasXUbM
All have english subtitles.
Here are the official free YouTube links to most of the films mentioned in this thread, all have english subtitles:
'Sauna Blues' aka 'The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! (1975)': Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpmZnRIMKs
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmGPeowN-0
Other good films: Kin-dza-dza! (1986): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYHv8eJrW2Y
Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (1973): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a50qT9bW2Qo
Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-r9XNmqQHk
Bootleggers (1961) (doesn't have dialogue, so no subs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_-ehagcrBg
The Most Charming and Attractive (1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7PbeasXUbM
All have english subtitles.
Most of us who lived in the soviet union, watched a couple of those at least a few times: - Кавказская пленница https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style - Операция „Ы“ и другие приключения Шурика https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Y_and_Shurik%27s_Other_Adventures - Джентльмены удачи https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentlemen_of_Fortune - Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate
Last one is something you'd see every new years eve. (spoiler here) It uncovers a stupidity of cities in the USSR, when those were identical up to a street name.
My mom and dad would probably come up with a slightly different list of their favorites, nonetheless they would agree these can be called "true" classics.
The important bit to remember here is that all of that production was going through "checks" to make sure there are no anti-communist ideas in the movies. Creators had to either be very careful to disguise some of the sentiment or not to have it.
At the end of the day people were not idiots and understood the role of the government. We all had someone close who was a survivor from gulag or a returning labor camp prisoner or a displaced individual with no right to get back to his village. So our lives were kind of similar to everybody elses in the west, provided you eliminate those awful bits. And maybe because those terrible parts were absent in these movies, we were able to have a good laugh.
Honestly watch those and have a laugh. If it seems not funny then try learning some russian and watch them again :D I know it is a terrible dad joke.
A relevant movie from the USSR comes to mind (which was also discussed recently): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate
There is a great movie about a guy that drunkenly gets deposited in the wrong city, which has the same street names, apartments and so on. Hilarity ensues when he's dropped off in front of what he thinks is his house on his street:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate
Well worth watching in my opinion. Best sentence in the movie: "These are MY 32 square meters!".
A funny Russian movie called the irony of fate actually highlights the phenomenon of duplicated buildings and neighbourhoods. A guy gets home drunk at the wrong apartment which looks identical, even the surrounding streets and names. a good watch
I keep seeing parallels to the situation in USSR after WWII - there was a chronic lack of housing: some of the housing stock had been destroyed in WWII, there were new couples that were owed (by the state) housing, and of course the existing housing stock had further deteriorated (it was that many years older than before the war).
Khrushchev championed the construction of pre-fabricated concrete "plank" 5 story buildings - they built 2 factories in different parts of USSR and cranked them out, delivering them mostly by train to all corners of the country.
The designs were pretty much the same, down the interior furnishings and apartment layouts (a plot point of the perennial New Year's Eve favorite movie, "Irony of Fate"), and fit and finish were sub-standard. BUT, people did get their housing, had kids, went on with their lives.
With all the post-USSR criticism of Soviet leaders, you realize that Khrushchev had very few bad things said about him...
I think the person, or organization, that is seen to (somehow, however they do it) solve the housing problems we have, will have a great deal of political goodwill and possibly political power.
EDIT: some "Khrushchevka Housing" info https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/03/the-disappearing-mass-housing-of-the-soviet-union/518868/
https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/moscows-new-housing-megaproject-confronts-soviet-history-57312
https://khrushchevki.wordpress.com/
The buildings are so similar (the walls and floors etc. were produced in a factory and then shipped to the building site) that they serve as a plot point in the movie "Irony of Fate" - unknowingly landing in St. Petersburg, a Muscovite directs the cabbie to take him to his street address - the identically named street in St. P has an identical looking khruschevka - and the key to his apartment in Moscow, works in that same numbered apartment in St. Petersburg!
Tariverdiev's score of this film has recently been released, and it's really nice:
https://tariverdiev.bandcamp.com/album/the-irony-of-fate-original-score
I think my favorite track is "Along My Street for Many Years."
In the 90s I had a girlfriend from Moscow and very early on she played the film Irony of Fate[1] for me, to help explain Russian culture. It is a classic comedy based on how identical the housing blocks were at the time. A man gets drunk, gets on a plane, forgets which city he is in (Moscow or Leningrad/St. Petersburg), and goes to an identical street in the wrong city, opening an identical door with the same key. Hilarity ensues.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate
There was a fantastic Soviet film about this exact phenomena. [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate
Mosfilm, the huge Soviet-era movie studio, has published a sizable portion of their catalog for free viewing on YouTube: http://youtube.com/mosfilm.
A lot of them have English subtitles. Kin-dza-dza is indeed up there. Brilliantovaya Ruka (The Diamond Arm) is another favorite of mine available with subtitles. And perhaps the most popular is the holiday classic The Irony of Fate.
I'm reminded of the Soviet film "The Irony of Fate" in which the protagonist finds himself in the wrong city by mistake, and fails to realize this due to the uniformity of Soviet architecture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irony_of_Fate