The Dog in the Manger

"The Dog in the Manger" (1977) is a Soviet musical comedy directed by Yan Frid, adapted from Lope de Vega's play — watch it online on iFILM. The Countess Diana (Margarita Terekhova) has suitable suitors lined up, but keeps looking at Teodoro, her personal secretary — charming, talented, and entirely the wrong birth rank for a noblewoman. Teodoro (Mikhail Boyarsky) can't make up his mind between his dazzling employer and her maid.

Diana flirts, retreats, gets jealous, and refuses to let anyone else be happy — including herself. Igor Dmitriev, Nikolai Karachentsov, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan and Elena Proklova keep the comedy spinning across 138 minutes.

Boyarsky's effortless magnetism does most of the work: the audience ends up as stuck as Diana. Stream "The Dog in the Manger" (1977) online on iFILM.