The history of the film industry in Azerbaijan began on August 2, 1898. The first movies composed of chronicles ("Oil fountain fire in Bibi Heybat", "Balakhani oil fountain", "People walk in Garden City", "The Caucasian dance", etc.) and one feature plot ('You are caught') by a photographer and writer Alexander Mishon opened a new page in the history of the Azerbaijani cinematography.

In 1915, the first Azerbaijani feature film "Oil and country of millions" was shot by the financial support of Baku millionaires and cinephiles based on Ibrahim bey Musabayov’s novel of the same name. The creative team mainly consisted of non-national actors. Boris Svetlov was invited from Petersburg. Only Huseyn Arablinski, the giant of the national art of acting, played the role of Lutfeli Bey. It was his debut. Nature scenes were shot in Baku and surrounding villages, pavilions in Tbilisi.

The industry gained pace in 1916. Creative people with national spirit aimed to turn to such works that would be interesting for the Muslim Azerbaijani audience. One of the brilliant achievements by the company was the pearl of the national cinema - a comedy "Arshin Mal Alan" (The Cloth Peddler), made on Uzeyir Hajibeyli's operetta, which had a great success in Azerbaijan and abroad. The alluring milestone was male actors playing all parts in the film due to the impossibility of women starring any role in the Muslim East. The film director was B. N. Svetlov who did a service for the Azerbaijani cinematography. He started the shooting in 1916. At early 1917, on January 3, the film ‘Arshin mal alan’ was demonstrated at the cinema ‘Forum’.  Great film actors created various characters. However, Uzeyir Hajibeyli wasn’t satisfied with the film, and very soon the film was taken off from cinemas.

In 1945, the film director Rza Tahmasib re-shot ‘Arshin Mal Alan’ (based on U. Hajibeyli’s operetta of the same name). N. Leshenko was the film director’s assistant. Sabit Rahman, a professional play and comedy writer, wrote the scenario. The creative team mainly consisted of national professional specialists.  ‘Arshin Mal Alan’ is the most watchable Azerbaijani film to this day both domestically and outside. The film was demonstrated in almost 150 countries of the world. Only in 1945, more than 16 million people watched the film. This film was included in the golden list of “100 most lovely films”, demonstrated for long years in the Soviet screen according to the unanimous opinion of famous film specialists in opinion poll conducted on the occasion of the100th anniversary of the Russian cinema.

Rashid Behbudov (Asgar), the world famous singer, and Lutfali Abdullayev (Vali) made their debuts in this film. Leyla Badirbeyli (Gulchohra) was selected among 50 candidates invited to the casting. Jewelleries and domestic utensils used during the shooting belonged to Baku inhabitants and were taken from museums. 

As the cinema shots were damaged, and the film wasn’t dubbed into Azerbaijani, spectators could watch it only in Russian for many years. Therefore the film was rarely demonstrated on TV channels. It is gratifying to state that ‘Arshin Mal Alan’ was restored to its original quality in 2013 at the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and with financial support from the Ata Holding. It was re-sounded in Azerbaijani, and the cinema shots received new colouring. ‘Arshin Mal Alan’ was shown on September 19, 2015 in Hollywood, US, and it was dedicated to the 130th anniversary of Uzeyir Hajibeyli, 100th anniversary of the film's main character, legendary singer Rashid Behbudov, and 70th anniversary of the film.

Ayyub GIYAS