Zigzag of Success

Zigzag of Success (1968) is a Soviet comedy you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Eldar Ryazanov — the filmmaker who later gave Soviet audiences Irony of Fate and Office Romance. Photographer Vladimir Oreshnikov (Yevgeny Leonov) borrows twenty rubles from the collective workers' fund at his provincial photo studio, buys a lottery bond, and wins ten thousand rubles.

Then his colleagues weigh in: the twenty rubles were communal money, so the prize belongs to everyone. A comrades' court is convened, the studio tears itself apart, and everything gets sorted out — improbably, sweetly — under the New Year chimes. Ryazanov keeps the premise in a tight comic knot: the joke isn't the lottery win itself, it's what the ensuing circus reveals about collective ownership. Yevgeny Yevstigneyev is at his driest throughout. Stream Zigzag of Success online on iFILM.