The Foundling 1939

Natasha, Veronika Lebedeva, a five-year-old girl, is left in the care of her older brother, Yura, Dmitriy Glukhov, while their mother, Olga Zhizneva, goes to the countryside to rent a summer house for the family. Yura, expecting friends over, half-jokingly promises Natasha that he will “tear her head off” if she doesn’t sleep until the housemaid, Arisha, Rina Zelyonaya, arrives. While the pioneers discuss social matters in the next room, Natasha sneaks out for her first independent walk around the city. Throughout the day, Natasha finds herself in a series of adventures.

She first ends up in a kindergarten, where a caregiver unsuccessfully tries to discover the girl’s last name and address. Next, Natasha finds herself at the apartment of a childless geologist, Yevgeny Semyonovich, Rostislav Plyatt, who, believing she was abandoned, gets into a dispute with his neighbor (the Dentist, played by Tatyana Barysheva). While the neighbors argue, Natasha, chasing a cat, vanishes from the apartment.

Her journey continues, and soon the childless couple Lya, Faina Ranevskaya and Muli, Pyotr Repnin, decide they want to adopt Natasha after she narrowly escapes being run over by a car. Despite some initial reservations from her husband, Lya reassures him by asking Natasha, “Tell me, little one, what do you want—your head torn off, or to go to the summer house?” However, Natasha never reaches the summer house, as she gets mixed up with a crowd of football fans at the train station and ends up handing flowers to the athletes.

As Natasha roams through Moscow, various people—including Yura, his classmate Nina, Elya Bykovskaya as Nina, and a missing persons investigator named Sergeev, Ivan Lobyzovskiy—search for her. By the end of the day, Sergeev brings Natasha back home. Lying in her crib, Natasha announces to her brother, “Yura, I’m already found!” In the film’s closing scene, their mother sings Natasha a lullaby while holding her in her arms: “In our joyful land, / They love my little girl.” Sleepily, Natasha suggests, “Mama, let’s get lost together tomorrow.”