The director managed to convince everyone.
The Soviet censors showed no mercy towards cinema. Any careless phrase or song could put an end to the film and its release. So, at the stage of production of the painting “An Ordinary Miracle” Mark Zakharov faced serious obstacles.
Officials saw in a song about a sparrow and a butterfly obscene overtones. It seemed to the censors that the hero of the song was pursuing a charmer with wings with obvious sexual intentions. Zakharov did his best to leave the composition in the film. The director convinced officials that this was not at all about that. Sparrow wanted to eat a butterfly, which he eventually succeeded in doing. That is, the song was originally conceived as a children’s song, but through the efforts of officials, it almost turned into material for adults. As a result, Zakharov convinced the censors that he was right. An important role was played by the fact that the song was performed by the All-Union favorite Andrei Mironov.
But the director still failed to keep the picture in its original form. He had to cut out a malicious phrase performed by the same Mironov: “Our little king is getting old.” Officials spotted here a hint at General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev.
