"Midshipmen, Forward!" by Yuri Nagibin, summary Automatic translate

The screenplay "Midshipmen, Forward!", written in 1986–1987 by Yuri Nagibin, Nina Sorotokina, and Svetlana Druzhinina based on Sorotokina’s novel "Three from the Navigation School," is a historical adventure about three young cadets from a Moscow navigation school who, against their will, find themselves drawn into a political game surrounding the archive of Vice Chancellor Alexei Bestuzhev. Behind the surface of this adventure story lies the theme of loyalty: to friendship, love, and Russia.

In 1987, the script was adapted into a four-part film by Svetlana Druzhinina. It premiered from January 1 to 3, 1988, and was a huge success. The film spawned several sequels and became one of the most beloved Soviet films, transforming Dmitry Kharatyan, Sergei Zhigunov, and Vladimir Shevelkov into true folk heroes.

French intrigue and the Bestuzhev archive

The action opens in Paris: the former French envoy to Russia, the Marquis de Chétardie, reports to Cardinal Fleury the failure of his mission. Fleury demands the elimination of the Russian Vice-Chancellor Alexei Bestuzhev, the main opponent of French influence at Elizabeth’s court. A solution is found: obtain Bestuzhev’s secret archive — diplomatic correspondence that can be distorted and used against him. Funds are allocated, and de Chétardie sends agents to Russia.

Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, the Empress’s physician-in-ordinary, Lestocq, who had been secretly receiving a French pension, reports the alleged uncovering of a plot against Elizabeth. Anna Gavrilovna Bestuzheva, the Vice-Chancellor’s sister-in-law, and her daughter from her first marriage, Anastasia Yaguzhinskaya, have been arrested. A wave of arrests spreads from St. Petersburg to Moscow.

Three from the navigation school

The Sukharev Tower in Moscow houses a navigation school founded by Peter the Great. It’s long fallen into disrepair, but it still preserves his traditions. Three friends study there: a minor nobleman, Alyosha Korsak; an equally poor Sasha Belov; and the prince’s illegitimate son, Nikita Olenev. After the bayonet cadet Kotov strikes Alyosha in the cheek while he’s swinging his sword, a scandal erupts, and Kotov rushes to fabricate a denunciation of Alyosha, accusing him of involvement in the Bestuzheva affair.

That same evening, Alyosha, performing as a chambermaid in a theatrical performance, sees dragoons in the audience. Kotov personally arrives to take him into custody. Alyosha leaps from the stage into the audience, knocks over a candelabra, sets fire to a lady’s hem, causing a commotion — and escapes through the bedroom window, leaving Kotov unconscious on the floor.

Escape from Moscow

That same night, Nikita breaks into Kotov’s office, retrieves the denunciation of Alyosha, and witnesses a murder: a stranger stabs a man who knew about Bestuzhev’s archive. In a brief fight, Nikita wounds the killer, who flees, spitting in a distinctive manner that later proves to be an identifying mark.

Meanwhile, Sasha Belov is keeping watch on the house of the arrested Bestuzhevs. That night, he spots Anastasia secretly leaving with a young Frenchman, the Chevalier de Brilly, in a closed carriage. De Brilly is carrying out a mission for Chétardie: he is taking the papers he obtained from Bestuzhev’s archive to St. Petersburg, hidden in the lining of his purple waistcoat. Sasha runs after the carriage, to no avail.

The friends part ways. Sasha, having received letters of recommendation, sets off for St. Petersburg to seek help for Anastasia. Alyosha flees Moscow without a passport. Nikita, unable to leave secretly — his father’s house in St. Petersburg and his family name oblige him to observe proper etiquette — remains in Moscow for now.

Hunting lodge in the swamps

Anastasia and de Brilly hide in Elizabeth’s hunting lodge, awaiting the exit passport that Lestocq is supposed to send. While the papers are unavailable, Anastasia wastes no time: after sending the Frenchman to the bathhouse under the supervision of his coachman, Gregory, she rips open the lining of his waistcoat and reads the stolen papers. She replaces the archive pages with torn sheets of a prayer book and carefully sews the lining back together.

Lestocq, having learned of Anastasia’s escape from Moscow and her return with de Brilly, stops processing her exit passport. The border is closed — Bestuzhev controls all exits.

Masquerade

In St. Petersburg, at a lavish costume party by the fountain, Bestuzhev, wearing a red beak mask, hands Empress Elizabeth a sealed scroll — apparently a report he asks her to read in the morning. Lestocq, disguised as a "shepherd," follows the vice-chancellor and attempts to capture him with the help of undercover agents. Bestuzhev escapes.

Midshipmen, wearing black monk’s hoods, also arrive at this masquerade for a different purpose. They meet in the rotunda and are tasked with surveillance. Among the mummers is an enemy agent — a "musketeer in a red hat" — whom Lyadashchev’s men capture right by the pond, after capsizing his boat.

Revel: The Final Exchange

The three friends set off for Reval, where de Brilly has taken Anastasia and her maid, Liza. In Reval, the midshipmen demand an exchange — their documents in exchange for the girls’ freedom. De Brilly refuses and duels Belov. The chevalier wins and takes the papers, but Anastasia throws them out the window, where the midshipmen are waiting. De Brilly is left with the prayer book packet and the torn pages. The midshipmen take Anastasia and Liza away.