Chasing Two Hares  Chasing Two Hares (), also known as A Kiev Comedy, is a 1961 Soviet comedy film directed by Viktor Ivanov based on the eponymous play by Mykhailo Starytsky. In Kyiv at the beginning of the 20th century, a frivolous barber named Svyryd Petrovych Holokhvostyi (Oleg Borisov) goes bankrupt and is forced to close his shop. Upon learning that a Mr. Sirko (Mykola Yakovenko) is offering a dowry of ten thousand roubles for his unrefined and unattractive daughter, Pronia (Margarita Krinitsyna), Svyryd decides to pay his debts by marrying her. Svyryd dupes a German creditor of his to finance the courtship. While showing off his new suit to friends in the park on Saint Vladimir Hill, he sees and briefly flirts with the beautiful Halia (Natalia Naum) before being chased away by her would be boyfriend, Stepan. That evening, Svyryd takes Pronia to the movies on a date and afterwards makes a false confession of love to her. She invites him to her house to propose. Later that night, while drinking with his friends, Svyryd boasts about his successful date with Pronia; and that once he gets the money, he will start an affair with a beauty. Svyryd meets Halia in an alley, falsely confesses his love to her, claims to be a rich suitor, and forces her into an embrace. Halia's mother, Sekleta Limerikha (Nonna Koperzhinskaya), happens by and stops it. Sekleta threatens him and makes him swear on the steps of Saint Andrew's Church to marry Halia whose heart actually belongs to Stepan. The next day, Sekleta, sister to Mrs. Sirko, lets herself into her sister's home where she insults them and is summarily thrown out. Svyryd narrowly misses Sekleta as he arrives to propose and receive the Sirkos' blessing for marriage with Pronia. Some time later, he runs into Sekleta who forces him to share an open carriage to her house where guests soon arrive to celebrate Sekleta's name day. During the celebration, Svyryd flirts with Sister Mironia, a pretty nun, and gets her to drink. As the party winds down, Sekleta announces the engagement of Halia and Svyryd.