The Nutcracker (1973 film)
Encyclopedia
The Nutcracker is a 1973 Soviet/Russian
animated film from the Soyuzmultfilm
studio directed by Boris Stepantsev and based partly on Pyotr Tchaikovsky
's ballet The Nutcracker
, but more closely on E.T.A. Hoffmann
's novelette The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
, the story which inspired the ballet.
Ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov
, who himself starred in his own classic TV edition of The Nutcracker in 1977, included the 1973 animated film as part of his PBS series Stories from my Childhood, of which he was the executive producer. For the U.S. telecast, narration spoken by Shirley MacLaine
was added. There is no dialogue in the original film, except for a few "chipmunk
"-like squeals when the mice vanish. The music is taken from several of Tchaikovsky's compositions aside from The Nutcracker, including Swan Lake
and The Sleeping Beauty.
The first scene is a Christmas party where numerous children are celebrating. The female protagonist, an unnamed girl who works as a maid, watches the household children frolicking around. A boy begins using a nutcracker to crack nuts, but he is quite brutal with it and eventually leaves the nutcracker with a nut stuck in its mouth. When the party is over late at night, the girl comes down to the hall for cleaning, but the night is full with magic, which manifests firstly in the maid's broom animating and dancing with her. She eventually finds the nutcracker on the floor. When she kisses him, he comes to life and is devastated when he sees what he has become.
The story of how he became the nutcracker is then told. There was a party at a royal castle to celebrate the prince's birthday, which was interrupted by the arrival of the three-headed mouse queen and her son, who both behaved very rudely and refused to leave or improve their manners. In exasperation, the king entered a chamber to obtain a poison against the mouse queen, but was locked in by the mouse prince. The mouse prince then started harassing the queen and the baby prince, and when the prince hit the mouse prince, its tail got stuck under the cradle and was hurt. In retaliation, the vengeful mouse queen had cursed the baby prince, turning him into a nutcracker, just before she was vanquished by the king. The king and queen were devastated, and the entire hall was petrified while the mouse prince escaped as the new mouse king. Eventually, the nutcracker came to hang as an ornament on the Christmas tree within this house.
Just after the nutcracker has finished his story, mouse soldiers begin to appear in the hall, followed by the mouse king. The soldiers try to get the nutcracker, but the girl stops them, leading the mouse king to shrink and capture her. The nutcracker brings the toys around the Christmas tree to life, and a war is fought between the toys and mice. The nutcracker is captured, bound and about to be whipped to pieces by the mouse king when the girl throws her wooden clog
on the mouse king, causing him to drop his crown. The crown breaks, releasing a deadly spell, and one by one all the mice pop and vanish into thin air.
The clog is transformed into a glittering shoe. When the nutcracker takes up the shoe, his nutcracker shell falls away and he is restored to his human (and now young adult) self. He puts the shoe on the girl's foot, and her dress is transformed into a ball gown. The two dance to the royal castle to the music of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy; the king and queen are brought back to life through the Waltz of the Flowers, and the girl and the prince pass into the realm. All that is left behind of them in the human world are the girl's wooden clogs and the remains of the nutcracker's shell lying before the Christmas tree.
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
animated film from 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 directed by Boris Stepantsev and based partly on Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's ballet The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
, but more closely on E.T.A. Hoffmann
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann , better known by his pen name E.T.A. Hoffmann , was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist...
's novelette The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a story written in 1816 by E. T. A. Hoffmann in which young Marie Stahlbaum's favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls...
, the story which inspired the ballet.
Ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...
, who himself starred in his own classic TV edition of The Nutcracker in 1977, included the 1973 animated film as part of his PBS series Stories from my Childhood, of which he was the executive producer. For the U.S. telecast, narration spoken by Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
was added. There is no dialogue in the original film, except for a few "chipmunk
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
"-like squeals when the mice vanish. The music is taken from several of Tchaikovsky's compositions aside from The Nutcracker, including Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
and The Sleeping Beauty.
Plot
During the opening credits, a mouse soldier is climbing around a Christmas tree with a light.The first scene is a Christmas party where numerous children are celebrating. The female protagonist, an unnamed girl who works as a maid, watches the household children frolicking around. A boy begins using a nutcracker to crack nuts, but he is quite brutal with it and eventually leaves the nutcracker with a nut stuck in its mouth. When the party is over late at night, the girl comes down to the hall for cleaning, but the night is full with magic, which manifests firstly in the maid's broom animating and dancing with her. She eventually finds the nutcracker on the floor. When she kisses him, he comes to life and is devastated when he sees what he has become.
The story of how he became the nutcracker is then told. There was a party at a royal castle to celebrate the prince's birthday, which was interrupted by the arrival of the three-headed mouse queen and her son, who both behaved very rudely and refused to leave or improve their manners. In exasperation, the king entered a chamber to obtain a poison against the mouse queen, but was locked in by the mouse prince. The mouse prince then started harassing the queen and the baby prince, and when the prince hit the mouse prince, its tail got stuck under the cradle and was hurt. In retaliation, the vengeful mouse queen had cursed the baby prince, turning him into a nutcracker, just before she was vanquished by the king. The king and queen were devastated, and the entire hall was petrified while the mouse prince escaped as the new mouse king. Eventually, the nutcracker came to hang as an ornament on the Christmas tree within this house.
Just after the nutcracker has finished his story, mouse soldiers begin to appear in the hall, followed by the mouse king. The soldiers try to get the nutcracker, but the girl stops them, leading the mouse king to shrink and capture her. The nutcracker brings the toys around the Christmas tree to life, and a war is fought between the toys and mice. The nutcracker is captured, bound and about to be whipped to pieces by the mouse king when the girl throws her wooden clog
Clog (shoe)
A clog is a type of footwear made in part or completely from wood.The Oxford English Dictionary defines a clog as a "thick piece of wood", and later as a "wooden soled overshoe" and a "shoe with a thick wooden sole"....
on the mouse king, causing him to drop his crown. The crown breaks, releasing a deadly spell, and one by one all the mice pop and vanish into thin air.
The clog is transformed into a glittering shoe. When the nutcracker takes up the shoe, his nutcracker shell falls away and he is restored to his human (and now young adult) self. He puts the shoe on the girl's foot, and her dress is transformed into a ball gown. The two dance to the royal castle to the music of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy; the king and queen are brought back to life through the Waltz of the Flowers, and the girl and the prince pass into the realm. All that is left behind of them in the human world are the girl's wooden clogs and the remains of the nutcracker's shell lying before the Christmas tree.
External links
- The Nutcracker from Russian animation in letters and figures