OPERATION THE MONSTER (1976) – comedy film online

Directed by: Manole Marcus
Script: Titus Popovici
Cast: Toma Caragiu, Marin Moraru, Octavian Cotescu, Alexandru Manolescu, Elena Sereda, Nineta Gusti
Producer: Lucian Gologan, Dumitru Solomon
Cinematography by: Alexandru Întorsureanu, Gheorghe Fischer
Edited by: Mioara Ionescu
Sound: Bujor Suru
Music: George Grigoriu
Year: 1976
Category: Feature film
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 102 minutes

129,873 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

A group of men (Toma Caragiu, Octavian Cotescu, Marin Moraru, Ovidiu Schumacher), friends or work colleagues, leave without their wives’ knowledge on an expedition to the Delta. While fishing and hunting, the characters find themselves in some of the most ridiculous and amusing situations. The comedy erupts when the “woman” makes her presence felt among the five “adventurers”, after which, contrary to the hierarchical customs of the time, the subordinate Mateiaş (Marin Moraru) catches the Monster, much to the envy of the others.

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“A film that is far from ‘The Power and The Truth’ (1972), far from ‘The Actor and the Savages‘ (1975), but close and familiar to those who made it. And it represents them. It represents them because this comedy, more or less ‘about fishermen’, more or less a comedy, is a film about attitude. And attitude, or more precisely courage, is the hallmark of the collaboration between Titus Popovici and Manole Marcus.” – Eva Sîrbu, Cinema no. 4, April 1976

“Calm. This is also the atmosphere of the film. Calm and endless patience that demands the calm and patience of the viewer. The comedy viewer, accustomed to being happily bombarded with gags, jokes, situations, and funny lines. Ready to “burst out laughing” no matter what provokes it. Which is not the case. With a few exceptions, “Operation The Monster” is not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but a smile-inducing one, and not always a very cheerful one, but rather a quiet one, with pursed lips, because, as someone very wise once said: “Who are you laughing at…?” – Eva Sîrbu, Cinema no. 4, April 1976

“”Operation The Monster”, as its authors intended: unpretentious in form, sharp in content.” – Eva Sîrbu, Cinema no. 4, April 1976

“The director of a company (Toma Caragiu), the deputy director (Octavian Cotescu), a civil servant (Marin Moraru), a writer (Ovidiu Schumacher), and their driver (Alexandru Manolescu) leave for the Danube Delta without their wives knowing. They have planned a big fishing trip: they intend to catch the much-coveted catfish, known as ‘The Monster’. The trip feels like the beginning of a heist movie, with dark streets, syncopated 1970s jazz and, last but not least, the sober-playful figure of Caragiu, well known for his role in the B.D. series.” – Emil Vasilache, cinepub.ro

“The tension becomes evident as the hours pass and the boats remain empty of fish. Moreover, the competition between the director played by Caragiu and the deputy played by Cotescu becomes increasingly fierce.” – Emil Vasilache, cinepub.ro

“The opportunity to relax, to escape from everyday life, the film tells us, is delightful insofar as it freely reflects the dynamics of the adult world, but without the material facts and professionally agreed behavior. Marcus’ film knows how to take the text and the actors’ performances and combine them with playfulness within the confines of this space, although it does not necessarily do so with the exigency of optimal narrative rhythm. A similar and unsettling approach can be seen in “The Cruise” (1981, dir. Mircea Daneliuc), which is also about a vacation on the Danube, but where the leader’s tyranny is so all-encompassing that enjoyment occurs either through subterfuge or not at all.” – Emil Vasilache, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• The film was conceived, as the director himself admitted, for a group of actors: Toma Caragiu, Marin Moraru, and Octavian Cotescu.
• In one of the rare interviews given by Marin Moraru, the actor told pressone.ro that “Operation Monster” was filmed in the Danube Delta for a month and that he suffered from eating nothing but fish. “For Operation Monster, I stayed in the Delta for a month. We left for the filming location at 4 in the morning, by boat, through the reeds. Living on a ferry for a month, eating fish, fish, and more fish, and fish rolls and fish meatballs, and fish soup, and fish broth, and fish in fish, is complicated,” said the late actor Marin Moraru. “At first it’s nice, because you haven’t eaten fish in a long time, but after a month, you want a piece of meat. And if you eat a piece of pork, it smells like fish, because the pig is raised on fish.” (M.M.)
• The film premiered in April 1976 and was seen by 1,681,496 viewers in Romanian cinemas, according to a report on the number of viewers recorded by Romanian films from the date of the premiere until December 31, 2007, compiled by the National Center for Cinematography.
• Regarding the filming period, actor Ovidiu Schumacher stated in an interview for Ziarul Adevărul: “(…) there was a friendly atmosphere on set, both in the Delta and on the indoor sets (the scenes filmed in the tent) and which took place in Bucharest, at the Writers’ House, in Mogoşoaia. The famous sequence with the yellow bicycle, which you will see on Saturday evening, was filmed at Mogoşoaia at night. Fresh fish had to be delivered to Mogoşoaia every day, so every night it came from the Delta… fresh fish.”
• In the same interview, Ovidiu Schumacher also spoke about the issue of censorship, which was a constant problem at the time: “I don’t remember any scenes being censored. It’s possible that some were, perhaps during editing, and I didn’t know about it. In any case, the film’s screenwriter, Titus Popovici, was, by his presence, a censor in himself… The censors didn’t have much to say to Titus Popovici, because the film was so well crafted… that no one could take offense, even though the allusions were clear and obvious, given the level at which the discussions were taking place.”
• Toma Caragiu, one of the main characters, died in the 1977 earthquake. Today, only Ovidiu Schumacher is still alive, and his daughter, Anna Schumacher, is following in his footsteps, also becoming an actress.

LINES:

• “Alcohol impairs a fisherman’s reflexes. So, apart from the toast at the start of the action and 50 g of vodka before the meal, only Borsec, Biborțeni, Bodoc, or Hepelipova mineral water will be drunk, without restriction.” – Dumitru (Toma Caragiu)
• “Any amount of alcohol that exceeds the calculated limit, that is, five bottles of vodka for the entire duration of the expedition, will be poured into the Danube, accompanied by energetic expressions of disapproval against the person who broke the rules.” – Dumitru (Toma Caragiu)
• “We will feed ourselves with the fruits of our labor. Canned food, ham, bacon, anything that produces cholesterol, has no place in this camp!” – Dumitru (Toma Caragiu)
• “We catch, we eat, we don’t catch… we go on a diet!” – Dumitru (Toma Caragiu)
• “Honey, don’t you want to take a picture, a nice memory? With such a catch… Come on, so you have something to show in Bucharest, at home, at work.” – Corneliu (Marin Moraru)
• “Let’s be honest with each other, fishing and hunting are remnants of a primitive mentality, a biological legacy.” – Dumitru (Toma Caragiu)
• “One day we will wake up and find ourselves contemplating pike in a museum. Yes, yes, in a museum. Just like we do with dinosaurs, bronosaurs, and… etcetera!” – Dumitru (Toma Caragiu)
• “My head doesn’t hurt, I feel great, I put two undershirts on.” – Corneliu (Marin Moraru)
• “There is a child in every man, listen to me.” – Mircea (Alexandru Manolescu)
• “Why the hell did we bring him along?” – Dumitru (Toma Caragiu)
• “How happy you are! Fresh air, water, sunshine. No fixed hours, no meetings.” – Dumitru (Toma Caragiu)
• “We’ve made our point, starting tomorrow, we’ll be lying in the sun, rocked by the waves.” – Eugen (Octavian Cotescu)
• “The secret to victory is to be a little angry. Not too much, just a little.” – Corneliu (Marin Moraru)
• “After all this dehydration, a beer would go down well.” – Eugen (Octavian Cotescu)

ARTICLES:

• “Operation The Monster,” a film with a cast of giant actors – tvr2.tvr.ro
• “Operation The Monster,” a film by Manole Marcus, loved at Film Klub – icr.ro
• Interview with Ovidiu Schumacher, writer of “Operation The Monster”: “I miss my friends and Romanian humor. Octavian Cotescu was the dearest to my heart” – adevarul.ro
• The last survivor from “Operation The Monster” is in Germany. “I only miss my colleagues and friends” – newsweek.ro
• “Operation The Monster” – film review (by Eva Sîrbu) – aarc.ro
• Marin Moraru on “Operation The Monster” – aarc.ro

This premiere is part of a national archive project supported by the Romanian National Film Centre.
Special thanks goes to the Romanian Filmmakers Union and to the Romanian Film Archive.

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