The Twelve Chairs
by Ilf and Petrov, Ilya Ilf, Yevgeny Petrovliterary work· published 1928
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"Ostap Bender is an unemployed con artist living by his wits in postrevolutionary Soviet Russia. He joins forces with Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov, a former nobleman who has returned to his hometown to find a cache of missing jewels which were hidden in some chairs that have been appropriated by the Soviet authorities. The search for the bejeweled chairs takes these unlikely heroes from the provinces to Moscow to the wilds of Soviet Georgia and the Trans-caucasus mountains; on their quest they encounter a wide variety of characters: from opportunistic Soviet bureaucrats to aging survivors of the prerevolutionary propertied classes, each one more selfish, venal, and ineffective than the one before."--BOOK JACKET.
Adaptations (4)
The Twelve Chairs has been adapted into 4 films, from 1936 to 1970.
Keep Your Seats, Please1936 · film · 82 min · dir. Monty Banks · IMDb ↗IMDb6.1Despite being on his uppers, George is still prepared to pawn his beloved banjo in order to help his girlfriend save her niece from the orphanage. Help seems to be at hand when George is left a fortune by his old auntie, but unfortunately his inheritance is hidden inside a chair which has already been auctioned off! Can George and his chums track down his rightful due before his grasping solicitor (Alastair Sim, in an early film appearance) snatches the lot? It's hard to say, but he still finds time to perform both the title song and the classic 'When I'm Cleaning Windows'.
It's in the Bag!1945 · film · 87 min · dir. Richard Wallace · IMDb ↗IMDb6.7The ringmaster of a flea circus inherits a fortune...if he can find which chair it's hidden in.
The Thirteen Chairs1969 · film · 94 min · dir. Nicolas Gessner, Luciano Lucignani · IMDb ↗IMDb5.8Mario, a young philanderer, receives 13 antique chairs in a bad state by inheritance and decides to sell off them to get some money. Afterwards he gets to know that one of them contains documents worth a lot of money. So he begins an adventurous trip to regain possession of the chair. On the way he meets many strange people who would like to help or to swindle him.
