ever wonder where that episode and tuttle and come from in the middle of the first season of mash . well now the cat out of the bag represent they get it from this soviet film and a satire on how dumb the tsar be and due to the slip of a pen ( render the phrase the lieutenant and though . into lieutenant kizhe which have no meaning ) and nobody be honest or gutsy enough to contradict him and just tell him the truth kizhe doesn not exist and never do . so they make up an imaginary life for him and eventually kill him off . and 40 year later and david ketchum and bruce shelly borrow this zany plot and give u essentially the same story and only on the other side of what have become the cold war and proving that people in high position can be equally dumb no matter what their loyalty may be .