Original title: Сказка о попе и его работнике Балде
Release date: 1933*
Director: Mikhail, Vera Tsekhanovsky/aya
*Date made; was published years later
Review information
Original publication date: 24/12/24 Link to original post
Verdict: 5 stars (of 5)
I forget that there isn't much English material on this piece and the words are often lost in YouTube comments, so I'm going to provide some context and an English translation of what's being said. If you've watched this previously and thought it was bunk, I urge you to read through this and rewatch with an open mind.
The whole film, had it been completed, was an adaptation of the Pushkin story of the same name. The score was composed by Dmitri Shostakovich with the lyrics belonging to Alexander Vvedensky, which would later be the reason it halted production, as 'Muddle instead of Music' was published in 1936 and Shostakovich would be censored. Tsehanovsky had decided he was going to put together the completed parts, but it was left in Lenfilm's archives which were later affected by the bombings of Leningrad. Tsehanovskaya (his wife) managed to save the Bazaar scene that survives today, and it alone is an extremely impressive and bittersweet reminder of what could have been.
The bazaar scene is meant to depict all kinds of strange people from all over the place, and in turn many caricatures range from uncomfortable to racist. The people around are advertising their wares, with some selling food and one strange looking man quietly selling pornography to the viewer. There also seem to be some minor animation errors (the woman at the end meowing with her cat, though that could be intentional) but the animation is incredibly smooth for how early in the century it is.
I was originally going to post the translated contents here, but I've simply re-uploaded the animation and added it to the video captions. So for those who are interested, here it is with English: