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The Humpbacked Horse (film)
Encyclopedia
The Humpbacked Horse is a 1947 Soviet
/Russia
n traditionally-animated
feature film
directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano
and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm
studio in Moscow
. The film is based on the poem by Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov
, and because of this everyone in the film speaks in rhymes. A remake was made in 1975 by the same director and studio.
. Suddenly, he sees a magnificent horse come flying out of the sky. Ivan grabs its mane
and holds on as the horse tries to shake him off. Finally, the horse begs him to let her go and in return gives him two beautiful black horses and a little humpbacked horse (Konyok-gorbunok) to be his companion.
Ivan leads the two black horses to a stable and runs off with Konyok-gorbunok to fetch them buckets of water. When he comes back, he finds that his brothers have taken his horses. Konyok-gorbunok tells him that they will catch them in the city, so Ivan sits on its back and they go flying through the clouds. Along the way, Ivan finds the fiery feather of a firebird
, which shines without giving off any heat, and takes it despite Konyok-gorbunoks warning that it will cause him difficulty later.
They reach the city, and Ivan outwits his brothers and sells his black horses to the Tsar
. When it is found that nobody can control them except Ivan, he is put in charge of the Tsar's stables. The Tsar's advisor takes a disliking to Ivan, and hides himself in the stables to watch him at work so that he can think of a way to remove him from the Tsar's favour. After seeing Ivan use the firebird's feather for light, he steals it from him and shows it to the Tsar, who commands Ivan to catch him a firebird or lose his post.
With Konyok-gorbunoks help, Ivan catches one and brings it back to the Tsar. The Tsar's advisor tells the Tsar to make Ivan catch a beautiful legendary maiden of the sea, so the Tsar summons him and tells him that the consequences will be dire if he doesn't bring her within three weeks. Ivan again manages to do this.
The elderly tsar is overjoyed and begs the young maiden to marry him, but she refuses, telling him that she would only marry him if he were young and handsome, and that to become young and handsome he would need to bath first in boiling water, then in milk and then in freezing water. The tsar's advisor tells him to try this out on Ivan first, hoping at last to be rid of his nemesis. The tsar agrees, and when Ivan protests upon being told of this the tsar orders him to be thrown into prison until everything is ready the next morning. Konyok-gorbunok comes to Ivan and through the prison bars tells him not to worry - to simply whistle for him in the morning and let him put a magic spell on the water so that it will not be harmful to him. The advisor overhears this, and kidnaps Konyok-gorbunok just as he is walking away from Ivan.
In the morning, Ivan whistles for Konyok-gorbunok, who is tied in a bag. He manages to free himself eventually, and at the last moment comes to Ivan's rescue and puts a spell on the three containers of water. Ivan jumps into the boiling water, then the milk and then the freezing water, and emerges as a handsome young man instead of a boy. The young maiden falls in love with him and they walk away. Meanwhile, the tsar gets excited and decides that he also wants to be young and handsome. However, the spell is no longer working, so after he jumps into the boiling water he doesn't come back out.
made another version of the same film. The 1975 film is 70 minutes long; 15 minutes longer than the original. Although the progression of scenes and their plot content is usually the same as in the original, the animation and specific actions of the characters are different; for example, a scene may be taken from a different angle or in a different location (all of the backgrounds were also newly-drawn). Sometimes a scene was drawn out, other times contracted (for example, the scene where Ivan first sees the white horse is much-simplified compared to 1947).
This was done because the original film was then in a very bad shape and the technical expertise for a restoration did not exist. In 2004, with the technical expertise now existing in Russia, the original film was restored and released on DVD by Krupnyy Plan (Крупный План).
The 1975 version was redubbed, recut and released in the United States
as The Magic Pony in 1977, with Jim Backus
as the voice of the Tsar.
} (duplicate IMDB entry)
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
/Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n traditionally-animated
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano
Ivan Ivanov-Vano
Ivan Pyetrovich Ivanov-Vano was a Soviet animator and Russian animation director, sometimes called the "Patriarch of Soviet animation"....
and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm is a Russian animation studio based in Moscow. Over the years it has gained international attention and respect, garnering numerous awards both at home and abroad. Noted for a great variety of style, it is regarded as the most influential animation studio of the former Soviet Union...
studio in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. The film is based on the poem by Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov
Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov
Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov was a Russian poet and author of the famous fairy-tale poem The Humpbacked Horse .-Biography:...
, and because of this everyone in the film speaks in rhymes. A remake was made in 1975 by the same director and studio.
Plot
An old man has three sons: the elder two are considered fairly smart, while the youngest, Ivan, is considered an idiot. One day the father sends the three to find out who's been taking the hay in their fields at night. The elder brothers decide to lie hidden in a haystack, where they promptly fall asleep. Ivan, meanwhile, sits beside a birch tree and plays on his recorderRecorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
. Suddenly, he sees a magnificent horse come flying out of the sky. Ivan grabs its mane
Mane (horse)
The mane is the hair that grows from the top of the neck of a horse or other equine, reaching from the poll to the withers, and includes the forelock or foretop. It is thicker and coarser than the rest of the horse's coat, and naturally grows to roughly cover the neck...
and holds on as the horse tries to shake him off. Finally, the horse begs him to let her go and in return gives him two beautiful black horses and a little humpbacked horse (Konyok-gorbunok) to be his companion.
Ivan leads the two black horses to a stable and runs off with Konyok-gorbunok to fetch them buckets of water. When he comes back, he finds that his brothers have taken his horses. Konyok-gorbunok tells him that they will catch them in the city, so Ivan sits on its back and they go flying through the clouds. Along the way, Ivan finds the fiery feather of a firebird
Firebird (Russian folklore)
In Slavic folklore, the Firebird is a magical glowing bird from a faraway land, which is both a blessing and a bringer of doom to its captor....
, which shines without giving off any heat, and takes it despite Konyok-gorbunoks warning that it will cause him difficulty later.
They reach the city, and Ivan outwits his brothers and sells his black horses to the Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
. When it is found that nobody can control them except Ivan, he is put in charge of the Tsar's stables. The Tsar's advisor takes a disliking to Ivan, and hides himself in the stables to watch him at work so that he can think of a way to remove him from the Tsar's favour. After seeing Ivan use the firebird's feather for light, he steals it from him and shows it to the Tsar, who commands Ivan to catch him a firebird or lose his post.
With Konyok-gorbunoks help, Ivan catches one and brings it back to the Tsar. The Tsar's advisor tells the Tsar to make Ivan catch a beautiful legendary maiden of the sea, so the Tsar summons him and tells him that the consequences will be dire if he doesn't bring her within three weeks. Ivan again manages to do this.
The elderly tsar is overjoyed and begs the young maiden to marry him, but she refuses, telling him that she would only marry him if he were young and handsome, and that to become young and handsome he would need to bath first in boiling water, then in milk and then in freezing water. The tsar's advisor tells him to try this out on Ivan first, hoping at last to be rid of his nemesis. The tsar agrees, and when Ivan protests upon being told of this the tsar orders him to be thrown into prison until everything is ready the next morning. Konyok-gorbunok comes to Ivan and through the prison bars tells him not to worry - to simply whistle for him in the morning and let him put a magic spell on the water so that it will not be harmful to him. The advisor overhears this, and kidnaps Konyok-gorbunok just as he is walking away from Ivan.
In the morning, Ivan whistles for Konyok-gorbunok, who is tied in a bag. He manages to free himself eventually, and at the last moment comes to Ivan's rescue and puts a spell on the three containers of water. Ivan jumps into the boiling water, then the milk and then the freezing water, and emerges as a handsome young man instead of a boy. The young maiden falls in love with him and they walk away. Meanwhile, the tsar gets excited and decides that he also wants to be young and handsome. However, the spell is no longer working, so after he jumps into the boiling water he doesn't come back out.
Creators
| Latin Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome... | Cyrillic Cyrillic alphabet The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School... |
|
|---|---|---|
| Directed by | Ivan Ivanov-Vano Ivan Ivanov-Vano Ivan Pyetrovich Ivanov-Vano was a Soviet animator and Russian animation director, sometimes called the "Patriarch of Soviet animation".... |
Иван Иванов-Вано |
| Co-directors | Victor Gromov Aleksandra Snyezhko-Blotskaya |
Виктор Громов Александра Снежко-Блоцкая |
| Story by | Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov was a Russian poet and author of the famous fairy-tale poem The Humpbacked Horse .-Biography:... |
Пётр Павлович Ершов |
| Script Editor | A. Surkov | А. Сурков |
| Screenplay by | Nikolai Rozhkov Yevgeniy Pomeshchikov |
Николай Рожков Евгений Помещиков |
| Production Designer | Lev Milchin Lev Milchin Lev Isaakovich Milchin was a Soviet animated film director, art director and painter. He was also a pedagogue and Honoured Artist of the RSFSR.He was a prototype for the main character for Film, Film, Film.- Selected filmography :... |
Лев Мильчин |
| Art Directors | V. Rodzhero G. Nevzorova Aleksandr Belyakov I. Troyanova O. Gemmerling |
В. Роджеро Г. Невзорова Александр Беляков И. Троянова О. Геммерлинг |
| Animators | Grigoriy Kozlov Nadezhda Privalova Nikolai Fyodorov Tatyana Fyodorova K. Malyshev Joseph Staryuk Boris Dezhkin B. Petin Mikhail Botov Boris Titov Lidia Reztsova Valentin Lalayants Dmitriy Byelov Faina Yenifanova Roman Davydov A. Manafov Pyotr Repkin |
Григорий Козлов Надежда Привалова Николай Фёдоров Татьяна Фёдорова К. Малышев Иосиф Старюк Борис Дежкин Б. Петин Михаил Ботов Борис Титов Лидия Резцова Валентин Лалаянц Дмитрий Белов Фаина Епифанова Роман Давыдов А. Манафов Пётр Репкин |
| Camera Operator | Nikolai Boinov | Николай Воинов |
| Composer | Victor Oranskiy | Виктор Оранский |
| Executive Producer | Boris Wolf | Борис Вольф |
| Sound Operator | N. Bazhenov | Н. Баженов |
| Voice Actors | Alexander Kachanov George Millyar (the Tsar) Georgy Vitsin Georgy Vitsin Georgy Mikhailovich Vitsin was a Soviet and Russian actor.- Biography :Born in St. Petersburg, then Petrograd, in 1918 , Vitsin enjoyed a long acting career and continued performing until close to the end of his life... (the chamberlain) Valentina Sperantova (Ivan) Leonid Pirogov (Danilo) Nonna Yastrebova George Chernovolenko (the reader) Galina Novozhilova (the Tsar-Maid) Anatoliy Kubatskiy (Gavrilo) |
Александр Качанов Георгий Милляр (царь) Георгий Вицин (спальник) Валентина Сперантова (Иван) Леонид Пирогов (Данило) Нонна Ястребова Георгий Черноволенко (чтец) Галина Новожилова (Царь-девица) Анатолий Кубацкий (Гаврило) |
| Editor | N. Aravina | Н. Аравина |
1975 version
In 1975 Ivan Ivanov-VanoIvan Ivanov-Vano
Ivan Pyetrovich Ivanov-Vano was a Soviet animator and Russian animation director, sometimes called the "Patriarch of Soviet animation"....
made another version of the same film. The 1975 film is 70 minutes long; 15 minutes longer than the original. Although the progression of scenes and their plot content is usually the same as in the original, the animation and specific actions of the characters are different; for example, a scene may be taken from a different angle or in a different location (all of the backgrounds were also newly-drawn). Sometimes a scene was drawn out, other times contracted (for example, the scene where Ivan first sees the white horse is much-simplified compared to 1947).
This was done because the original film was then in a very bad shape and the technical expertise for a restoration did not exist. In 2004, with the technical expertise now existing in Russia, the original film was restored and released on DVD by Krupnyy Plan (Крупный План).
The 1975 version was redubbed, recut and released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as The Magic Pony in 1977, with Jim Backus
Jim Backus
James Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr...
as the voice of the Tsar.
See also
- History of Russian animationHistory of Russian animationThe History of Russian animation is very rich, but is so far a nearly unexplored field for Western film theory and history. As most of Russia's production of animation for film|cinema and television was created during Soviet times, it may also be referred to as the History of Soviet...
- List of animated feature films
- List of films based on poems
External links
} (duplicate IMDB entry with incorrect date)} (duplicate IMDB entry)
- Konyok-gorbunok (1947) at animator.ruAnimator.ruAnimator.ru is a Russian website chronicling the films, people and studios of the animation industry in Russia, the former Soviet Union and the CIS. It also includes a forum, a news block, a photo-gallery and an animators labour exchange...
- Konyok-gorbunok (1975) at animator.ruAnimator.ruAnimator.ru is a Russian website chronicling the films, people and studios of the animation industry in Russia, the former Soviet Union and the CIS. It also includes a forum, a news block, a photo-gallery and an animators labour exchange...
- Konyok-gorbunok at myltik.ru (Russian)
- Review of 2004 Krupnyy Plan DVD (in Russian but with helpful images)
- Short article at Anipages comparing the 1947 and 1975 versions