A 74-page printed transcript of the dialog, prepared by Igor Sharonov and Leslie Chekin, with comments on linguistically difficult passages, is included. For additional information or to learn how this program may be used on Macintoshes, write to LexiconBridge.

Additional Requirements: six-speed (or faster) CD-ROM drive, sound card, display capable of displaying thousands of colors (also called 16-bit color or High Color) or more, 100 MHz processor or faster, 6 to 16 MB of hard drive space (depending upon selected components). Distributed on 3 CD-ROMs.

12 Chairs Interactive will finally let you put that high octane, multimedia computer to good use. It is a classic Russian satirical film complete with cultural notes, a true multimedia learning tool. Immerse yourself in a Russian-speaking environment with a few digital advantages: a click of the mouse plays a scene or a phrase in a window on your computer screen as many times as you like, while a linked transcript of the dialog, a summary of the scene, and a description of the characters, places, and objects in it -- all in Russian -- are displayed in another window.

Difficult words are "clickable," opening a small window with glosses and cultural or grammatical information. Clicking on a phrase plays a clip illustrating the action (giving you a full-motion visual dictionary!), or brings up a still of the object described by the phrase. In the transcript window, you can select a section of the dialog and see the exchange played out in the movie window.

Individual learners will appreciate the program's thoroughness and flexibility, while instructors will find the transcript, descriptions, and summaries a rich source of course material. Anyone interested in Russian language and culture will enjoy the program.

The film is based on Il'f and Petrov's Dvenadtsat' stul'ev, a classic treasure hunt with a Soviet twist. A down-and-out aristocrat learns that his mother-in-law hid her diamonds in one of the family's living room chairs -- a chair confiscated by the Bolsheviks ten years before. Who knows where those chairs are and who's sitting on them? Nevertheless, Ippolit Matveevich decides to try to find the diamonds. He teams up with a New Man, a cynical con artist who knows his way around Soviet Russia. The unlikely pair travels all over the country, usually penniless and only one step away from trouble, but always hopeful.

Written in 1929, the novel barely squeaked by Stalinist censorship and was dutifully ignored by critics, but it became an enormous popular success. It entered into the public consciousness in a way that is hard for Americans to envision. People memorized this book, and held trivia contests based on it; quotes from the book entered the language as satirical one-liners. That popularity has not diminished. On the contrary, as the Russia of today increasingly resembles the NEP era of the novel, with its chaos, homeless waifs, and con artists, references to the novel in daily life are on the rise: restaurants are being named for the novel's characters, and newspapers name regular columns after them. The novel is a touchstone of Russian society, and anyone who studies the language and culture must become familiar with it.

Leonid Gajdaj's film, Dvenadtsat' stul'ev, was made in the 1960s by a group of filmmakers from Mosfilm's ETO (Eksperimental'noe tvorcheskoe ob"edinenie). Some of the era's best actors appeared in the film.

These three CD-ROMs present about a hundred very short (one to two minutes) scenes from the film. The entire story line is preserved, and, of course, they present a unique cultural portrait of the era. Their total length is two hours. These scenes are coordinated with the textbook Intermediate Russian: The Twelve Chairs (Slavica Publishers) and may be used with it. Even those not using the textbook, however, will find 12 Chairs Interactive to be a tremendous source of linguistic and cultural material, as well as a first-rate film.

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