How it was №1 26.12.1999 (1999)

The cult Soviet film "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed" tells the story of the fearsome gangster group "The Black Cat".

The authors of the novel, on which the script was written, the Vainer Brothers, were well acquainted with the heroes of the film: Sharapov and Zheglov.

The program reconstructs the events of 1946. In the studio are the prototypes of the actors Vladimir Vysotsky and Vladimir Konkin.

Fragments of the film "The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed" (directed by Stanislav Govorukhin).

Eduard Khrutsky tells how, having heard about the "Black Cat", he and a group of teenagers wrote the symbolism of the animal on the door of the director of the industrial trade department they hated every day.

For which they were detained by the police as members of the gang.

There was no punishment.

The young people were released.

Khrutsky talks about the origin of the "Black Cat".

Who were its organizers.

Photo album: photos of the participants of all the groups that operated under the name "The Black Cat".

Newsreel of the 1930s: Soviet construction (Belomor-Baltic Canal).

Fragments of Soviet films of various years about valiant detectives.

Vladimir Arapov, who became the prototype of the heroic detective Sharapov, tells how he came to work in the Criminal Investigation Department.

Lists the events of his professional career included in the Vainers' work of art.

Shows photographs of material evidence, photos of participants in real events - prototypes of the screen characters.

Vladimir Chvanov talks about his work in the MUR. Recalls the first case he solved - the theft of a coat from a tram conductor.

Compares the crimes screened in the film and the events that actually happened.

Vladimir Arapov talks about large bandit groups that really existed, operating in Moscow and carrying out armed attacks on retail outlets.

Alexander Gelfreikh describes the operations carried out by operational bodies to introduce MUR agents into bandit groups.

Talks about the danger of these activities.

Vladimir Chvanov tells how he himself had to infiltrate one of the bandit groups.

Georgy and Arkady Vainer, the authors of the detective novel "The Era of Mercy", on which the film was shot, tell why the name was changed.