Kubanskie kazaki

If films like this were all Uncle Joe and Fred Kite had to go on you can understand their belief that the Soviet Union had truly delivered a workers' paradise on earth in which the sun always shone; and with its Autumn Fair groaning with fresh fruit and fully-stocked stores supplying anything your heart could desire from bicycles to pianos.

Despite a few shots of tractors and ruddy-cheeked lassies in headscarves and spotless colour-coordinated dresses harvesting the corn (surpassing their quotas in the process) everybody has the time and energy to sing, dance and generally frolic about just as in a Hollywood musical.

The locals all seem to have had a good war (apart from one young lady who mentions being orphaned) and nearly everybody (the women included, presumably for their high yields) wears medals. The use of authentic Russian locations and the gorgeous colour photography are ravishing at first, but it all gets rather monotonous and the best it's makers can come up with to beat Hollywood at its own game is the usual love story between rival farmers.