He was criticized by the British director in one of the house seats for his stage positioning: "That""s super, Michael.As well as being one of the most commercially-successful films of its time, it was also the first major work of Busby Berkeley, a tremendously talented choreographer, whose direction of voyeuristic, surrealistic production numbers is illustrated in extravagant, musical numbers, giant kaleidoscopes of imagery, dancing girls forming abstract designs and patterns, and innovative camera images.The blue, bulbous domes of the Russian Orthodox Church loom above the small town.Fat, old-lady babushkas carry a four-tiered wedding cake down the street toward the American Legion hall (Lemko Hall), the brick building/site for the reception.There are few extended sequences of dialogue, although the film is richly detailed with realistic scenes of interaction between the protagonists.It was the 16th highest-grossing (domestic) film of its year, 1979 (the #1 film wasKramer vs.Kramer (1979)).It was thethirdmost-commercially successful film of Allen""s entire career, grossing $39.9 million (domestic), just behindMidnight in Paris (2011)at $56.8 million (domestic), andHannah and Her Sisters (1986)at $40 million (domestic).If adjusted for inflation, it was Allen""ssecond-highest grossing film at $145.8 million, just behindAnnie Hall (1977)at $157.1 million.It was Allen""s first 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen (or Cinemascopic) release; it was specified that it would only be released in its original "letter-boxed" format (rather than pan-and-scan) for early TV broadcasts and video versions.