8) The Little Mermaid

This 1968 cartoon is more true to the original by Hans Christian Andersen, than the Disney version is. Yes, the mermaid dies. No, the prince never gets to know. Yes, they put up her statue for the tourists to gape at. Sniff sniff, sob sob, very sad. Honestly though, the cartoon is beautiful, and the theme of self-sacrificing love influences the viewers on a very deep emotional level. I don't know what artistic style this is created in - there was probabl...y some influence of art nouveau, but I'm not sure and don't know what to call what I see. It was made by the same director as "Cinderella," that I've posted earlier, and the music and visuals in this one are just as beautiful. So watch it, and enjoy :)

P.S.: I couldn't find the subtitled version of this cartoon, so I spent an hour adding captions to it myself. Please appreciate <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9vQew2LKyE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7) The Cat and The Tree

Another pencil sketch cartoon. This one makes me cry every time I see – perhaps I sympathize with the tree too much. Created by Evgeniy Sivokon’ in 1983, it tells a story of an old lonely tree, and a young cat, who gets thrown out by her owners and wants to learn to live independently. The experience of living together changes both of them, and, as the film has it, “if it wasn’t for the cat, the tree wouldn’t have its story.” The catch in this one is in the behind-the-screen narration (which is, of course, in Russian, but the subtitles should help). A very philosophical cartoon, and one of the saddest among all I have seen. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl3xoKrgabY

 

 

 

6) A Girl and a Dolphin

This is a 1979 pencil sketch cartoon by Rosalia Zelma about a friendship of a girl and a dolphin. The visual style of this one is very simple, but the emotions behind the pictures are very pure and moving. The dolphin saves the girl once, and eventually she pays back by saving him, even if it means that she will never see her best friend again. The film features an electronic music score by Edward Artemyev (the composer who worked with Tarkovsky (“Sola...ris”) and Mikhalkov (“Burnt by the Sun”), among other directors), and a very beautiful song in the end.
One of the reasons why I personally like this one is because its setting reminds me of South Crimean landscapes, among which I have spent many summers as a child. And yes, it was there that I first saw dolphins, and tried riding one. The cartoon brings back those childhood memories (which are especially pinching now, since the Crimean conflict has closed all the ways into the area, leaving it only to the memory). Enjoy :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDC3AOP-WkI&list=PLC787D6C67EF48C7E

5) The Butterfly

1972 cartoon, directed by Andrei Khrjanovsky, features a variety of artistic techniques and visual styles – from photography, to oil on canvas, to watercolor, to pencil animation. It has a disjointed feel about it, with its extreme long shots, stop motion and symphonic score by Alfred Schnitke (the same guy who composed music to “Ballerina on the Boat”), but is also very beautiful in a whimsical, art-house sort of way. It tells a story of a boy who catches and collects butterflies, until he has a dream about giant butterfly chasing him. The cartoon won a special prize at Gijon International Film Festival in 1973. Enjoy :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq4jkHKvAx8

4) Ognevushka-Poskakushka

This cartoon is mostly unheard of even among the Slavic people, and is virtually unknown in the West, so I couldn’t find a translated version. I still want to post it, because it is one of my favorites. It is based on a story by Pavel Bazhov, which, in its turn, is based on an Ural legend of a dancing fiery girl (Ognevushka), a forerunner of gold deposits, who is said to have a playful and mischievous character. The cartoon tells a story of an orphan Fedya, who lives alone with his grandfather, and who encounters Ognevushka, becoming friends with her and getting an invitation to visit her sometime. When the family runs out of food in the middle of the winter, and the granddad is unable to earn quick money by selling their cutlery, Fedya runs off into the forest at night to ask Ognevushka for help. At first, Ognevushka is angry that he came to beg for gold, but when she realizes that Fedya is not greedy and is only asking for some potatoes, promising to pay back in spring, she softens, and leads him safely out of the forest, giving him gold and food. She also puts enough gold into the ground to start a goldmine, and leaves the area forever. I adore this cartoon for its melancholy music score, performed on balalaika, cello and flute, and for the heartbreaking short sequence of Fedya’s memories of his mum, unusually tragic for a Soviet children’s film, and for the bad-turns-good character of Ognevushka. Enjoy :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Iu5CATe6w

3) Cinderella

I don’t have much to say about this cartoon, other than that it is aesthetically beautiful. The animators used an unusual technique of drawing on velvet paper, to create backgrounds with deep rich colors. Directed by Ivan Aksenchuk in 1979, it is mostly known for its central song – the dialogue between Cinderella and the Prince, in which they confess love from the first sight. The song became a classic, beloved by children and adults across post-USSR countries. The delicate and romantic music score by Igor Tsvetkov is what generally makes this cartoon work. The story follows the classical Disney interpretation, so there are no surprises on that one. Enjoy :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKGqt0Rb_80 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Ballerina on the Boat

This 1969 short has no dialogue at all, powered only by the music score by Alfred Schnitke. It tells a story of a dreamy ballerina, whose appearance on the paddlewheel boat causes all sorts of trouble among the crew. That is, until she saves everyone’s lives during a storm. The overall visual style is inspired by the paintings of the French artist Raoul Dufy. The animators invited the ballerinas of the Bolshoi Ballet Troupe to pose for the main chara...cter, and then exaggerated all of her moves, making her lithe, graceful, and weightless. The cartoon has won multiple awards outside of the Soviet Union, including the Best Animated Picture on the London International Film Festival. I like this cartoon for its subtle humor, happy atmosphere and its dreamlike ending, with the ballerina walking off into an unknown town, and the crew watching her from the deck, waving their farewells. Enjoy :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRJ5Mqzxcqo&noredirect=1

 

 

 

1) Caliph the Stork

This psychedelic 1981 cartoon is based on the mysterious tale of transformations by Wilhelm Hauff (German). Its visual style was inspired by the paintings of Salvador Dali, especially his desert cycle. It was voiced by Innokentiy Smoktunovsky (the actor who played the Russian Hamlet), Vasiliy Livanov (the Russian Sherlock Holmes) and Inna Churikova (the Russian Joan of Arc) – a rare cast of dramatic actors. As a child, I was frightened by its surrealistic... images and haunting soundtrack, but eventually came to love it, and it became one of my favorite Russian cartoons. So enjoy :)

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCvQaQ7xRN4 (Part 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1IQTKbnnds (Part 2)

 

0) The Beginning

So, I’m about to do something very weird. We all know Disney, right? We’ve all watched and re-watched “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King,” “Snow white and Seven Dwarfs” and “Aladdin” at some point in our childhoods. And we all know that on the other side of the planet Hayao Miyazaki was creating “Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “My Neighbor Totoro,” with anime always being the main alternative to the Disney/Warner Brothers/Pixar style. Well, apparently, in betwe...en these two worlds existed a third one, which for over 60 years had been creating tons and tons of animated pictures. And, apparently, this world remained largely undiscovered by people from outside post-Soviet area. No fan pages, no academic researches or documentary films were ever dedicated to it. Which is sad. Which I want to change, if possible. Call it nostalgia, call it patriotism, call it the excess of free time, but I’m about to start on a series of posts about Soviet animation. I feel terrible that most of my foreign friends (and a lot of my Slavic friends as well) are absolutely unfamiliar with these precious little artistic masterpieces. I feel terrible for their creators, who put a part of their souls into these films, and never got the deserved credit. I feel terrible for myself, because so few people know something that was an integral part of my childhood. I have prepared a list of lesser known, but undeniably beautiful cartoons, which I’m going to post, with English subs whenever possible, and write a short description and history of each. I don’t know, if anyone will read it or watch it, but I hope some of you will. And I hope you’ll like them, and share them with others, and make them a little more popular. Thanks <3