In Soviet times the state was actively getting its people drunk (much as it does today) and at the same time commissioning anti-alcohol films from film studios… It is rather telling that the author, both out of naïveté and equal measure of audacity, tried to submit this picture to Goskino under a «modest» title — «An Ordinary Alcoholism» (a wink to Romm!). In Moscow he was quickly informed that in our country the people are unenlightened and drink exclusively of their own free will (hence the «edifying» title the film ended up with).
Although Goskino gave the picture a thorough «cleaning» (and thereby «greatly improved» it), some traces of the original black humour have nonetheless survived in the film.