They have always enjoyed incredible popularity in the most reading country. In 1939, a film adaptation of the novel “The Children of Captain Grant” was presented to the audience; in 1941, a film was made based on the book “The Mysterious Island,” followed four years later by “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain.” In the seventies, the films “The Broken Horseshoe” and “Captain Nemo” were made.
Secrets of a good movie
In the early eighties, Stanislav Govorukhin decided to make another film based on the book “The Children of Captain Grant,” and the plot was changed to make the new work different from the old film adaptation. Plus, a mini-series was made from the film. Distinctive feature The new film adaptation included the presence in the film of the author of the book with a small storyline.
According to the scriptwriter, it was necessary to convey how the author wrote his famous work. The viewer sees Jules Verne at work in the office where he is collected, on a yacht with a servant or assistant. By the way, the author’s office was created in the pavilion of the Odessa Film Studio. At the end of the series, the writer finishes his novel, his yacht sails next to the Duncan and the author sees his heroes with his own eyes.
Initially, the schooner was used by fishermen, later it worked for the delivery of provisions. In the fifties, the schooner was rebuilt, the rigging was changed to Bermuda, and sent to the Leningrad Marine Corps as a training tool for cadets. The schooner carried out long transatlantic passages and was in her life for three whole decades.
To become a cinema star, “Kodor” was carefully “made up”. The schooner was equipped with a cannon, in which shots are fired from it, and a fake chimney with a smoke generator.
They installed benches on the deck, rebuilt the bridge, hung signs with the name "Duncan" and painted the name on the side of the ship. A new name has graced lifebuoys and the helm. It was slightly updated, and the Bermuda schooner turned into an elegant Scottish yacht.
To participate in the filming, Kodor had to get from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. At first it was sailed along the Volga, but upon entering the Volga-Don Canal it turned out that it was too shallow for such a schooner. The solution was pontoons, on which the ship reached Odessa.
From Odessa, “Kordor” went to filming in Bulgaria. After her debut in cinema, the Kodor continued her career as a vessel for filming feature films. Later he appeared in the film “Treasure Island” (in episodes).
However, later the schooner was sent to Baku and after the collapse of the USSR it turned into a floating restaurant. The final fate of the movie “Duncan” is not known; on the Internet they say that it burned down or was transferred either to Ukraine or Germany.
Interesting facts about the film "In Search of Captain Grant"
30 years ago, at the Odessa Film Studio (USSR) and the Boyana studio (Bulgaria), a multi-part television adventure film by Stanislav Govorukhin based on the novel by Jules Verne “The Children of Captain Grant” was shot. And exactly 19 years ago (from May 13 to 21) this film was first shown on the First Program Central television State Television and Radio of the USSR.
By the way, this is the second attempt to film Jules Verne’s novel “The Children of Captain Grant.” The first, of the same name, was filmed back in 1936 by director Vladimir Vainshtok. Govorukhin decided to change the name slightly in order to avoid confusion.
The film consists of two storylines. The first tells about the life of the writer Jules Verne and the history of the creation and publication of the novel “The Children of Captain Grant.” The second actually tells the plot of the novel as it was gradually born in the writer’s imagination.
Lord Glenarvan and his wife Helen commit Honeymoon in Scottish waters on the yacht Duncan. The ship's crew catches a shark, and a champagne bottle is found in its entrails. Inside there are papers corroded by water on three languages asking for help: the English ship was wrecked, two sailors and Captain Grant managed to escape. Having heard about the discovery, the captain's children come to the lord.
After the English government refuses to search, Lord Glenarvan himself decides to go to the aid of the hero of Scotland. They know for sure that the crash occurred at the 37th parallel, but the longitude is unknown. In search of the captain, the brave Scots travel around the world along the 37th parallel.
At the end of the film both storylines merge, Jules Verne's ship and the Duncan meet at sea.
The yacht "Duncan" is heading from Europe to South America. Her route passes near the Canary Islands. But it is not difficult to notice that Ayu-Dag is shown from the Gurzuf side as islands.
View from Azure Bay near Artek camp. Artek Harbor is an international yacht anchorage; many films about sea adventures have also been filmed near it (“The Odyssey of Captain Blood”, “In Search of Captain Grant”)
Only some sea scenes were filmed in Crimea. The bulk of the material comes from Bulgaria. Or rather, from the outskirts of the town of Belogradchik. "Belogradchishki Rocks" - natural phenomenon. Bizarre rocks stretch over a large area, located in the North-Western part of Bulgaria, 40 km from the Serbian border. Belogradchisk rocks have been used as natural settings for many artistic and documentary films. In total, more than 70 Bulgarian, American and European films were filmed in these places. Andrzej Wajda filmed episodes of his film masterpiece “Ashes” in Belogradchik Rocks. Gojko Mitic, Christopher Lambert, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Max von Sydow and others filmed here. Vasily Livanov filmed “The Return of Don Quixote” in Belogradchik with Armen Dzhigarkhanyan and Mikhail Ulyanov. In 1985, Stanislav Govorukhin completed filming the film “In Search of Captain Grant,” where the most unique location shots reproducing Patagonia were filmed in the vicinity of Belogradchik. In the mountains that have their own names (Shepherd, Bear, Madonna, etc.).
The places are very beautiful, no doubt about it. A similar environment could be found in the same Crimea. It’s just that, as Govorukhin recalled, times were such that people tried to jump outside the Iron Curtain, at least for a short time, with or without reason.
This shot could have been taken somewhere in the Nikitskaya Cleft, for example. "Nikitskaya Cleft Climbing Wall" A natural monument (1969), located above the trolleybus route near the village of Botanicheskoe. As if cut by a giant sword, the limestone rocks here form a gloomy, cold gorge. Sheer cliffs 25-30 meters high hang overhead, and a forest grows along the upper edge of the gorge. With a width of about 30 meters, the Nikitskaya Cleft extends from east to west for 200 meters.
And this is in Karadag.
Almost Tauride Chersonese.
Interesting: In Australia, Paganel and Robert are riding horses and talking about the sweltering heat in winter, while in the same frame the horse snorted and steam came out of its mouth.
Somewhere near Balaklava.
Similar sets could easily be built in the film town in Solnechnaya Dolina near Sudak. The background landscape is almost identical. And it’s easy to see that this is just decoration by paying attention to the plywood crosses in the cemetery. They shake in the wind.
Well, there is no such thing in Crimea. So we will assume that Stanislav Sergeevich and the company did not spend almost two years traveling in vain.
We are used to seeing Crimea in movies as sunny and green, but Govorukhin decided to film the crossing of the Andes on the peninsula. With real snow and cold winds. It was at the top of the serpentine road on Ai-Petri.
By the way: In Patagonia, Robert Grant is carried in the claws of a condor. However, in fact, due to the structure of their paws, these birds cannot carry heavy loads and lift them to great heights. Jules Verne was misled by the far-fetched stories about these huge birds that existed in his time.
The film ends where it began. Adalary rocks near Gurzuf.
Ayrton was abandoned in Chekhov Bay in Gurzuf.
During the filming of the film, the three-masted schooner-jackass Kodor (related to sailing ships Finnish series, built for Soviet Union and put into operation from 1946 to 1953), under the control of captain Oleg Senyuk, specially converted for filming (in particular, a fake chimney was added, from which, according to the legend that Duncan is a steam yacht, smoke was supposed to pour out A false superstructure with a steering wheel was installed in front of the chimney. To do this, the main boom had to be dismantled and, as a result, the main mast does not carry sailing equipment anywhere in the frame). The presence of a gaff on the Duncan's mizzen mast in the film is puzzling - all sources indicate that all three masts of the Kodor carry slanting, Bermuda (that is, triangular) sails. The presence of a mizzen mast in principle is even more puzzling, since in the novel “Duncan” it is a brig, that is, a two-masted ship with straight sails, and therefore should not have a mizzen mast. Not mentioned in the credits are the barque Gorkh Fok (Comrade) and the schooner Zarya, on which some scenes related to Duncan were also filmed.
The biography of Jules Verne was invented by the filmmakers.
According to the novel, all the travelers survived, while in the film some died. However, the ending of the film leaves something unsaid on this issue.
The adventures of the heroes in Patagonia have been radically changed (a storyline related to Raimundo Scores and the Indians has been added).
When Paganel was captured by the Indians of Patagonia, the life of the Indians themselves was quite well shown, which is stereotypical for the aborigines North America(teepees, tomahawks, clothes, etc.) and has nothing to do with the indigenous people of Patagonia.
In the novel, Paganel gets a Maori tattoo; in the film - Indians, and then, when he is captured by the Maori, the tattoo saves his life, impressing the aborigines.
Sailing from Australia to New Zealand on a raft is a modification of the novel's text.
The date of Captain Grant's voyage and the beginning of the search have also been corrected (in the book they begin the search after a few weeks and find it after two years, in the film - after a year and a half).
The fate of Captain Grant and his two sailors on Tabor Island (Maria Teresa) has been changed. According to the film, Captain Grant is safe and sound, one sailor died, the second lost his mind. In the novel, they all survived their stay on the island and remained healthy.
31 years ago, a seven-part adventure film by Stanislav Govorukhin based on the novel by Jules Verne was released. Winter scenes were filmed in Crimea (oddly enough!), but summer scenes were filmed in the vicinity of the Bulgarian town of Belogorchik.
The film consists of two storylines. The first tells about the life of the writer Jules Verne and the history of the creation and publication of the novel “The Children of Captain Grant.” The second actually tells the plot of the novel as it was gradually born in the writer’s imagination.
Lord Glenarvan and his wife Helen are on their honeymoon in Scottish waters on the yacht Duncan. The ship's crew catches a shark, and a champagne bottle is found in its entrails. Inside it are papers corroded by water in three languages asking for help: an English ship was wrecked, two sailors and Captain Grant managed to escape. Having heard about the discovery, the captain's children come to the lord.
After the English government refuses to search, Lord Glenarvan himself decides to go to the aid of the hero of Scotland. They know for sure that the crash occurred at the 37th parallel, but the longitude is unknown. In search of the captain, the brave Scots travel around the world along the 37th parallel.
At the end of the film, both storylines merge, Jules Verne's ship and the Duncan meet at sea. 
Patagonia was “played” by Bulgaria
Govorukhin was criticized for this for a long time: they say, why was it necessary to go abroad if the same nature could be found nearby. But the fact is a fact: the footage filmed in Bulgaria is truly impressive in its beauty and unusualness. Just look at the amazing multi-colored stone pillars, which became good decorations for the adventures of the main characters in Patagonia. And finally, the main argument in defense of the director’s decision: the film was conceived as a joint project USSR and Bulgaria, the budget was common, therefore it was necessary to film in both countries.
The “Snowy River” was controlled by climbers
The picture was filled to capacity with special effects - a breakthrough at that time!“They filmed an episode with an avalanche on Ai-Petri,” Crimean special effects master Valery Pavlotos told KP. - There is a lot of snow in the mountains, but to make it melt, a large wooden shield was installed on the slope. He was held on by ropes and acted as a fence, behind which tens of cubic meters of snow were shoveled. When the ropes were cut, the “snow river” rushed down.
Of course, it had to be filmed in the first take.
“It was a risky event, so mine rescuers were on duty nearby,” says the special effects master. - The main difficulty was not to overdo it with the amount of snow. After all, the actors found themselves in real conditions of an avalanche and could die under the rubble. But it was impossible to accurately calculate its strength, so they acted based on their own experience. It helped that I and many of my team are climbers.
It is curious that the actors of the avalanche were not at all afraid. They probably just didn’t fully understand the risks they were taking.
The mechanical bird was not allowed on Ai-Petri
“A cry of horror was heard - in the claws of the condor a lifeless body hung and swayed, it was the body of Robert Grant. The predator, clutching the boy’s clothes, hovered in the air about one hundred and fifty feet above the camp.” Remember this moment? It was filmed in the film studio pavilions using combined filming. Although initially they wanted to do it differently.- I had to make a large model of a bird with movable wings. They planned to hang it from the cable car cabin on Ai-Petri, continues Valery Pavlotos. - So we wanted to film the flight of the condor. They even found a short stuntman who agreed to kick in the paws of a mechanical bird. But when we informed the management of the cable car about our plans, they got scared and forbade us to even think about it.
Robert broke his arm
They filmed, however, not only in the Crimean mountains, but also at sea.“The three-masted wooden Finnish ship Kodor was used as the ship “Duncan”, on which the main characters traveled,” says Valery Pavlotos. - The Finns built forty of these watercraft in the USSR as reparations after the war.
Well, how about adventure film no adventures at all film set? It is unknown under what circumstances, but Ruslan Kurashov, who played Robert Grant, broke his arm while working. The plaster can even be seen in some shots.
Music for the film
The film uses the overture by Isaac Dunaevsky from the film “The Children of Captain Grant,” the first Soviet film adaptation of the 1936 novel.In 1985, an amazing film, “In Search of Captain Grant,” was released on Soviet screens. This was already the second film adaptation famous novel Jules Verne's "The Children of Captain Grant" - first published in 1936. Magnificent cast, Dunaevsky’s wonderful music (which “migrated” into the new film adaptation from the old one), spectacular scenery, stunningly beautiful landscape photography - the film was a success on many counts. 
And although Azerbaijani actors did not participate in this film and not a single episode of this film was filmed in Baku, this film is nevertheless connected with Baku. Because the film featured one ship that was directly related to Baku and even found its end in our city. It's about about the famous three-masted sailing ship, which played the “role” of the yacht “Duncan”. He wore beautiful name"Kodor" (and not "Condor", as some sources incorrectly write). The sailboat got its name in honor of the Kodori (or Kodor) River in Abkhazia.
More precisely, sailboat is the common name. The Codor was a Bermuda schooner. True, the ship had nothing to do with Bermuda - this is what a certain type of schooner is called because of the type of rigging it has - slanting sails.
But at the dawn of its history, the schooner was directly related to another country - Finland, because it was built on the ropes of this particular country. This happened in the Finnish city of Turku in 1947 (according to other sources - in 1951) and there could not have been a “German trophy”, as some lazy journalists write who do not want to burden themselves with searching for genuine information. In general, the history of the schooner and the people and cities associated with it is incredibly interesting and, unfortunately, vague in some places.
The Finns built it as a gaff schooner for collecting fish and supplying fishermen at sea - in payment for part of the indemnity imposed on Finland after the Second World War. It is curious that in order to pay off the reparation debt in Finland, by order of the Ministry navy The USSR was built and put into operation from 1946 to 1953. 102 wooden sailing ships - 72 schooners and 30 barquettes for a total of $66.2 million (about 30% of the total amount of reparations). The construction of so many wooden sailing (albeit equipped with engines) ships in the middle of the 20th century. It looks strange, but the fact remains. By the way, such large-scale construction of sailing ships has never been carried out again.
The schooner turned out to be quite large: 60 m long, 9.5 m wide, displacement - 500 tons. It could take on board from 44 to 50 people plus 15 crew members. There were many identical ships, but none had such a bright and, in general, dramatic fate as the Kodor.
In 1950, the Kodor was converted into an excellent training vessel, replacing the sailing rig of a gaff schooner with a Bermudian one. Belonging to the Leningrad Naval School, she sailed with cadets on the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and eleven seas, mainly the Baltic.
Initially, the schooner was commanded at that time by the famous sailing ship and yachtsman Captain A.A. Aristov. At one time (after leaving the reserve), the head of practice on the Kodor was not anyone, but Rear Admiral Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lunin, the legendary submariner who attacked the Tirpitz. 
“Kodor”, this long-lived sailing ship was in operation for about thirty years - a fantastic “age” for a wooden ship built with a twenty-year voyage in mind! About three thousand naval cadets underwent practical training on board it. educational institutions who later became highly qualified maritime specialists.
In 1983, the schooner "Kodor" was presented as a gift to the Baku yacht club. It was in 1983, and not after the filming of the film “In Search of Captain Grant,” as some sources claim.
When the sailing ship was just transported to Baku, the delight of the Baku residents, especially those involved in maritime affairs, knew no bounds. Why, such a handsome sailboat - here in Baku too! Everyone had the idea that he would now be assigned to the local Naval School. Then they said that the schooner would be given to Vodnik, the yacht club of the Caspian Shipping Company; there were many openly licking their lips. 
A couple of times "Kodor" took part in "water sports festivals" under sail, and then it was sent to a military ship repair plant. However, the schooner had a different fate in store...
But that will happen later, but for now “Kodor” was taken from Baku - for filming in the next film, the same one that was discussed at the beginning: “In Search of Captain Grant.”
By that time, “Kodor” was already an experienced “actor” - he starred in the films “Arabella, the Pirate’s Daughter” and “Treasure Island” (1982),
and throughout for long years- from 1971 to 1979 - played the role of the galliot "Secret", which was controlled by Captain Gray in Green's "Scarlet Sails". But he played not in a film, but in a grand celebration in Leningrad dedicated to school graduates - " Scarlet Sails". This holiday is the only celebration of this scale in the world dedicated to former tenth graders.
The filming of the film “In Search of Captain Grant” took place in Crimea and Bulgaria - the Caspian Sea did not have coastal cliffs of such beauty that the film’s director Stanislav Govorukhin needed.
To turn the "Kodor" into the "Duncan", it had to be slightly modified, for example, changing the names on the bow and stern, installing a mock-up cannon and a fake chimney, because the "Duncan" in the novel is a steam yacht and smoke was supposed to come out of the chimney. For those who understand the types of ships, the Duncan looked rather strange: in the novel it is a brig, i.e. a two-masted ship with straight sails, and, therefore, should not have a mizzen mast, much less Bermuda slanting sails.
A false superstructure with a steering wheel is installed in front of the fake chimney. To do this, it was necessary to dismantle the main boom and, as a result, the main mast does not carry sailing equipment anywhere in the frame. Plus they placed a bench for passengers on the waist - many of the “deck” dialogues were filmed around it.
In general, "Duncan" turned out to be very good - the Bermudian yacht rig of the "Kodora" coupled with the pipe turned it into a very natural visual resemblance of a Scottish yacht. 
It was said above that the famous Soviet film is related to Baku only through the schooner "Kodor", however, the Azerbaijani science fiction writer Alexander Khakimov obtained information from somewhere that Azerbaijanis were still filmed in the film. But not as actors. The fact is that sailing, and even on a three-masted schooner, is not an easy task, but there were sailors in Baku who knew how to do it. And so they helped manage “Kodor” on the set.
After filming “In Search of Captain Grant,” “Kodor” returned to Baku and left it in 1986 to participate in the filming of the film “Captain of the Pilgrim,” based on Jules Verne’s novel “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain.” "Kodor" played, of course, the "role" of the whaling ship "Pilgrim".
After filming “Captain Pilgrim,” Kodor never left Baku again. Everyone in the city continued to hope that now the sailing ship would definitely be given to the Nautical School. And if not to the school, then to the KYMU - the club of young sailors, and not to the KYMU - then to the yacht clubs. But if yacht clubs don’t have such luck, then at least let them make it a pleasure boat, let them take tourists around the bay. Old-timers recall that there were people who were ready to sew sails for him, paint them, etc. “on their own.” - if only there was a “live” sailboat...
But it was not without reason that it was said above that the ship was destined for a different fate. It is a terrible, absurd and shameful thing for a sailing ship to become a floating tavern. To put it intelligently - a restaurant. You can’t escape fate, and “Kodor” became a restaurant. It is, I must say, a good restaurant - many fondly remember its good fish cuisine and cozy rooms.
But in the mid-80s there were plans to organize a voyage across the Caspian Sea on the Kodor with a visit to the islands of the Baku archipelago. But something didn’t work out... “And the helm of the schooner,” A. Khakimov wrote with pain, “was no longer rotated by the hands of sailors, but by the fingers, greasy from barbecue, of half-drunk restaurant visitors.”
Why was fate so merciless? They said that they simply didn’t know what to do with the sailboat. So we decided - let there be a restaurant. And yours new role"Kodor" played for several years, laid up in the area of former rowing booms. And it became another Baku attraction, attracting the attention of Baku residents, and even more so of city guests.
The city authorities somehow didn’t take into account that it was inappropriate to turn a well-deserved sailing ship into a restaurant, which was filmed in films and was mentioned in fiction- for example, in the work of Vladislav Krapivin “Frigate “Ringing””. And, by the way, even for envelopes and postage stamp got in - in the same episode with the legendary “Kruzenshtern”, “Sedov”, both “Comrades” and “Vega”.
And it was painted by different artists...
Such a glorious fate... And now - a tavern! Even if it's floating...
I immediately remember the lines of Andrei Makarevich: “It’s so lively and crowded on the shore, And by the water it rises like a mirage Ancient ship, someone's formidable ship, amuses onlookers and decorates the beach. ... I was there too, and, looking at the crowd, With pain in my soul, I realized one thing, In order not to become such a museum, At the right moment it is better to go to the bottom." The feeling that Makarevich wrote this song, looking with pain to the unfortunate "Kodor"...
According to the stories of old Baku residents, there was not a single yachtsman, not a single sailor who would be happy for such a “calm old age” of the Kodor. It even got to the point that some hotheads hatched the idea of hijacking the unfortunate sailing ship and smashing it against the rocks of Nargen Island, where the notorious ship cemetery of the Caspian Flotilla is located - so that it would lie next to patrol boats, minesweepers and “sea hunters” from the war. That is, as Makarevich said: “it’s better to go to the bottom”... This idea was even expressed more than once, while they remembered the romantic young man who stole and crashed a brigantine into the rocks, which became a restaurant in Sevastopol.
But very soon there was simply no time for that - the end of the 80s came, the most difficult time for the republic; in Baku there were a huge number of much more pressing problems than the fate of the old sailing ship.
It all ended worse than ever: in August 1999, Kodor, which continued to serve as a restaurant, burned down. Whether it was actually an accidental fire or arson is now impossible to find out. But the fact remains - the beautiful schooner is gone. And it was not water that destroyed it, but fire... The remains were disposed of. Thus ended the glorious journey of first a fishing boat, then a training ship, then a movie hero ship, the Kodor...
But the beautiful sailing ship "Kodor" will still sail along the waves of our memory...
