"Aniskin and Fantomas" by Vilya Lipatov, summary Automatic translate

This book is a direct continuation of the story of the village policeman Fyodor Ivanovich Aniskina. Created in 1973, the work reflects the real social phenomenon of "fantômasomania," which gripped Soviet schoolchildren after French comedies about Fantômas were shown. The author masterfully combines detective intrigue with reflections on the upbringing of youth, the pernicious influence of alcoholism, and the responsibility of adults to their children.

That same year, 1973, the story was adapted into a two-part television film. The leading role was played by renowned actor Mikhail Zharov, who also served as one of the film’s directors. The film earned immense audience acclaim and has firmly entered the fold of Soviet cinema.

A daring robbery

The action unfolds in a Siberian village on the banks of the Ob River. The peaceful life of the locals is disrupted by a crime. Two unknown men, wearing black nylon stockings pulled over their faces, block the path of a rafting vehicle. At gunpoint, they steal the cashier Popova’s bag, which contains three thousand seven hundred rubles — an advance payment for the workers. The robbers disappear silently into a spruce forest.

District Police Officer Fyodor Ivanovich Anichkin immediately begins an investigation. He travels to the scene with Popova and the driver, Sviridov. A forensic investigation reveals that the criminals moved quietly, slapping their feet. After examining a broken branch along their escape route, the officer concludes that the perpetrators are no more than 160 centimeters tall.

The first suspects

Meanwhile, rumors are spreading in the village. Gossip Lukerya Suzgina is shouting at the top of her lungs about a murder. Anichkin discovers she overheard a conversation between two schoolchildren — her son Seryozhka and Goshka from Maryino. They were discussing how someone "hid a dead man." During their conversation in the office of school principal Yakov Vlasovich, the boys remain defiantly silent. A policeman notices a tattoo of the letter "F" on Goshka’s hand and realizes the boys are playing Fantômas’s gang.

At the same time, Aniskyn encounters two geologists. One of them, Lyutikov, fancies himself a detective. He makes absurd accusations against his friend Morozov. The policeman harshly reprimands the would-be spy, advising him not to interfere with justice. The second geologist is Vasily Opanasenko, a talented mechanic who has sunk to the bottom due to unrelenting alcoholism. Vasily recently started a hooligan fight in the district center, and a report was filed against him. It pains Aniskyn to watch the degradation of a good man.

Fantomas’s Lair

That evening, Aniskina and Yakov Vlasovich sneak into the forest. There they discover a hut and a campfire, around which teenagers are sitting. A tall boy, his face smeared with blue river clay, appears in the clearing. He is impersonating Fantômas. The villain’s assistant solemnly reads out an order, using the police megaphone that Aniskina had lost.

A policeman emerges from hiding and interrupts the meeting. The school principal, horrified, recognizes Fantômas as the gifted student Pyotr Opanasenko, the son of the drunkard Vasily. His assistant turns out to be Viktor Matushkin. Aniskina confiscates their toy pistols and sends the remaining children home.

Confession without remorse

Aniskyn brings Pyotr home, where he looks at his drunken father with disgust. In the director’s presence, the policeman pulls official papers from his clipboard. Hearing the word "protocol," Pyotr and Viktor flinch. Then Aniskyn suddenly reveals cut-off nylon stockings. Viktor cries out, "Found!" thus giving himself away.

The boys confess to robbing the cashier. However, they categorically deny taking the money. Anichkin understands that the teenagers were being led by a cunning adult, whom they are afraid to expose.

Search for the puppeteer

The local police officer begins gathering facts. He learns that the village projectionist, Grigory Golikov, has shown the film Fantômas five times in the past month, despite the club’s losses. Anichkin plays out a scene with a broken radio for Golikov, testing the mechanic’s reaction. Golikov behaves impeccably, coldly demanding an apology.

Aniskyn makes his way around the village, interacting with local residents. He confronts poacher Anipadist Soprykin, who sells illegal sturgeon to Vera Kosaya, Golikov’s wife. The police officer visits the saleswoman, Evdokiya, to check on the flow of goods. Then he pays a visit to Vera Kosaya herself. Knowing her greed, Aniskyn hints that her husband is a secret "millionaire" hiding vast sums of money from her. Enraged, Vera decides to follow her husband.

Social experiment

To break the boys’ stubbornness, Anichkin and the school principal devise a cunning plan. At a closed parent-teacher meeting, the police officer asks the rafting site workers to tell their children that, due to the theft of their advance payment, there’s no money for food in their homes.

The next day, drama unfolds at school. Pyotr and Viktor see their classmates, the children of the robbed rafters, going without breakfast. Some children share their food, others look greedily at their well-fed classmates. Pyotr’s heart breaks. That evening, he and Viktor go to the police and promise to tell the whole truth.

The truth comes out

In Aniskina’s office, where investigator Kachushin is already present, the teenagers give their full testimony. It turns out that Golikov had deceived them. The projectionist told the boys that the cashier was carrying a report on Vasily Opanasenko. If the police got hold of the report, Father Pyotr would be sentenced to three years in prison.

The teenagers decided to steal the document to save their father. They attacked a car, stole a bag, and handed it to Golikov. He took the government money for himself and ordered the boys to remain silent, threatening them with imprisonment. Golikov, present at the interrogation, brazenly declares this slander.

The denouement of the case

Aniskine, along with the investigator and the blacksmith Yusupov, goes to Golikov’s house. A scandal erupts there. The night before, succumbing to paranoia over Aniskine’s hints, Vera Kosaya followed her husband. She saw him hiding a canvas bag in the old bathhouse. Vera transferred the money to her giant chest.

When the police demand the chest be opened, the woman screams that half the money is hers. The blacksmith is ready to pick the locks, but Vera unlocks the bolts herself. At the bottom, the stolen bag containing the cashier’s money is discovered. Golikov is detained.

After the successful completion of the operation, Anichkin sits in an office with the school principal and the investigator. The men discuss how easy it is to captivate children with false ideals and the crime romance of movies. Suddenly, a joyful cry interrupts their philosophical conversation. Geologist Lyutikov runs in, covered in black liquid, and announces incredible news. Oil has started flowing from a drilling rig outside the village. The entire village comes running to watch the enormous fountain of black gold, heralding a new era in the life of the taiga settlement.