Plasticine Crow

Plasticine Crow
Directed by Aleksandr Tatarskiy
Produced by Aleksandr Tatarskiy
Written by Aleksandr Tatarskiy
Alexander Kushner (lyrics)
Ovsey Driz
Eduard Uspensky
Starring Leonid Bronevoy
Grigory Gladkov
Lev Shimelov
Music by Grigory Gladkov
Cinematography Ernst Gaman
Edited by Lyubov Georgieva
Distributed by Studio Ekran
Release dates
August 6, 1981
Running time
8 min. 57 sec.
Country Soviet Union
Language Russian

Plasticine Crow (Russian: Пластилиновая ворона, translit. Plastilinovaya vorona) is a 1981 Soviet clay animation by Aleksandr Tatarskiy (T/O Ekran studio). Animation divided into three independent parts (Picture, Game and But maybe, but maybe...).

Plot synopsis

Picture

This first part tells kids about the three painting styleslandscape, still life and portrait.

Lyrics for the first part were composed by Alexander Kushner.[1]

Game

This part narrates about the children game where the player periodically opens and shuts his eyes. Every time the player opens them he's amazed as the new details appear.

Lyrics for the second part were composed by Ovsey Driz. Performed by Leonid Bronevoy.[2]

But maybe, but maybe...

This part is sung by storytellers who have forgotten the details of the fable of The Crow and the Fox, best known in Russian in the version by Krylov, and who are trying to remember it on the fly.

Thus, instead of the crow from Krylov's story, a dog appears, and then a cow, and even a Hippopotamus. The original fox is also replaced by an ostrich and then by a street cleaner.

At the end of the entirely distorted fable, a distorted moral is given: Don't stand and don't jump, don't sing and don't dance where there is construction in progress or heavy load hanging. (This is a pun on the two common Russian danger signs – "Don't stand under heavy load" and "Beware! Construction works in progress!").

The lyrics for the third part were composed by Eduard Uspensky.[3]

Voice cast

Censorship

The Soviet censorship wanted to decline the film because they saw it as "ideological nonsense". Xeniya Marinina and Eldar Ryazanov saved it by showing "The Crow" in one of the releases of their "Kinopanorama" in contrary to the Soviet censors.

Interesting facts

Notes

  1. (Russian) Song about the paintings
  2. (Russian) Here I see...
  3. (Russian) But maybe Crow…

External links

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