The investigation is conducted by the Signs. At any price

Someone Cholin, a student accused of manslaughter, gets into the pre-trial detention chamber. Toboltsev, a middle-aged man and father of two children, is sitting in the same cell for a petty economic crime. The case of Toboltsev is led by Major Znamensky, the case of Kholin is investigator Pankov. About a month later, during an interrogation, Toboltsov suddenly declares to Znamensky that he killed Toboltsev and the young man is innocent.

Znamensky understands that Toboltsev took the wrong of himself, but the reason for this is not clear. Choline is released and the investigation is restarted. An investigative experiment confirms the investigator's suspicions: Toboltsev is poorly oriented at the crime scene, but, nevertheless, he continues to insist on his own. At the same time, it turns out that the Toboltsev family suddenly had a significant amount of money: the mother-in-law explains that the money was collected by his compassionate colleagues.

It turns out that the money was transferred by postal order. To Znamensky is the mother of Cholin, brings a letter from Toboltsev, in which he confesses to the allegedly perfect murder. But she demonstrates a suspicious awareness of the events taking place in the bullpen, and this convinces the investigator that there is an exchange of information between the Holin family and Toboltsev. During interrogation, Toboltsev tells Znamensky that he is terminally ill with cancer. Further investigation reveals that a terrible diagnosis was made by Toboltsev as an ophthalmologist who was serving his last months and worked in a prison medical unit, who introduced herself as a specialist oncologist who had treated Toboltsev with a slight discomfort and “revealed” an incurable disease. Convinced of near death, Toboltsev agrees to take the wrong of others in exchange for the material support of his family. Having revealed this combination, Znamensky proves Toboltsev that he is healthy and just meanly deceived. Vadim Kholin again detained. His mother is ready to release her son from prison again at any cost.

Differences from Laurel's original story

In comparison with the original story by Lavrov, the names or surnames of some heroes in this series were changed:

• In the surname of the investigator who led the Kholin case, one letter is deleted: in the book he was Panyukov, and in the film - Pankov.
• In the surname of the prison doctor Kira Mikhailovna, who gave Toboltsev a diagnosis of cancer, one letter was changed: in the book, Kira Mikhailovna was Gribenik, and in the film, Gribenyuk.
• The eldest of the Holin brothers (art. Shilovsky) changed his name: in the book his name was Dmitry, and in the film - Semyon.

Analysis and Criticism

As critic Yu. A. Bogomolov noted, in this series “a story unfolds, which, unfortunately, has lost the novelty of“ Strike Back ”, is very commonplace. The alleged criminal involved in the case gives way under investigation to the true criminal, decomposed young parasite Kholin. And behind him stands a whole criminal clan - a family of speculators who are ready to rescue their offspring from prison at any cost. And with all the accuracy of fleeting street sketches of Taganka and surrounding lanes, with a number of well-aimed observations, the scheme as such, epigonism in the image of the lady-hoarder, her husband-henpecked husband and other characters already familiar from previous “affairs” still prevail ” ^[1] . The role of Vadim Kholin (E. Gerasimov), according to critics, continued the fashion outlined in the late 1970s for the images of charming handsome villains: the actor, who had played positive heroes before, created the image of a young man striving for success “at any cost”, even at the cost of crime ^[2] .

Neya Zorkaya in her book “Unique and Replicable” (1981) noted:

“The case“ At Any Cost ”went on the air shortly before the repetition (by no means the first!) Of the old, one of the earliest, the case“ Your real name? ”(1971). Comparison made it possible to see the evolution of the direction of Vyacheslav Brovkin, who is increasingly moving away from a television performance in modest interiors with a duet scene as the main principle of action, to greater cinematography, dynamics, and editing variety ” ^[3] .

Leading Roles

• Martynyuk, Georgy Yakovlevich - Znamensky
• Kanevsky, Leonid Semenovich - Tomin
• Lezhdey, Elsa Ivanovna - Cybrit

Cast

• Nikolay Pastukhov - Toboltsev, remand prisoner
• Evgeny Gerasimov - Vadim Kholin, defendant
• Vsevolod Shilovsky - Semyon, the elder brother of Vadim
• Tatyana Karpova - mother of the Holins
• Arkady Rubtsov - father of the Holins
• Elena Maximova - Praskovya Andreevna, mother-in-law Toboltseva
• Lyudmila Khmelnitskaya - Gribenyuk, doctor-prisoner
• Alexander Nazarov - Askold, arrested
• Dmitry Goshev - a simulator of Vodorezov arrested
• Yuri Baginyan - arrested
• V. Volynsky - investigator Pankov
• Valentina Martynyuk - Nina, the duty officer in prison
• Kirill Glazunov - escort
• Albina Matveeva - witness (not in the credits)

• Neya Vigilant . Unique and replicable . - M.: Art, 1981. - S. 85-86. - 167 p.

Information about the film on the website cinema.ru