Jack Frost (1964 film)

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One-sheet for Jack Frost.

Jack Frost (Russian: Морозко, Morozko) is a Soviet-Finnish production (Gorky Film Studio) that was originally released in 1964. A version with a new soundtrack was released in 1966 in the U.S. It was directed by Aleksandr Rou, and starred Eduard Izotov as Ivan, Natalya Sedykh as Nastenka, and Aleksandr Khvylya as Father Frost. The script was written by Nikolai Erdman. The soundtrack was composed by Nikolai Budashkin, who was inspired by the works of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

1 Plot synopsis
2 DVD
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Plot synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

2000 Ruscico DVD cover

The lovely, sweet Nastenka is despised by her stepmother who favors her own daughter. After forcing Nastenka to sew socks before the cock crows (with the intervention of the sun sinking again) for her stepmother. Nastenka finishes, and is then sent to go gather water. We are then introduced to Ivan, who stops his chores after chopping a single piece of wood, and taking off on orders from his mother whom he tells "Don't worry."

Soon, in the woods, Ivan is accosted by bandits. He tosses their wooden clubs so high in the air that he claims they won't fall down again before winter. Ivan soon meets Father Mushroom, and spends a while chasing after him and failing to catch him. He soon angers Father Mushroom, who vows to teach Ivan humility. Nastenka meets Ivan in the woods, and it's made to be that sparks are flying in the air. However, soon after this happens, Father Mushroom turns Ivan into a bear. Nastenka feels she is to blame, and searches the land to find Ivan, who himself is trying to find out how to reverse the spell. Ivan learns that he has to do a good deed, and helps an old woman carry sticks to her home, then thinks of doing a further good deed which is enough for Father Mushroom to reverse the spell.

Illustration by Ivan Bilibin.

Meanwhile, the evil step-mother is trying to marry off the other daughter. A wealthy suitor comes and after a while says he wants Nastenka instead. The mother can't have this, so she orders her husband to go drop Nastenka off in the woods. There, she finally comes across Father Frost (aka Jack Frost), 40 minutes into the film. At the same time, winter appears in minutes. Ivan is searching for Nastenka, now that he's fully human again. He comes across a witch (Baba Yaga), who is so upset as his refusal to leave her alone that she directs a bunch of ambulatory trees to kill Ivan. He defeats them and threatens to bake the witch in her own oven until she tells him how to find Nastenka. Meanwhile, Nastenka and Father Frost travel over the snow to his dwelling. While Father Frost is running some errands, Nastenka accidentally touches his staff, which freezes her forever. Ivan arrives to find her frozen and kisses her. The power of love trumps the staff's power, it seems, and she comes back to life. To celebrate, Father Frost gives Nastenka and Ivan a large dowry for their impending nuptials.

They return to the village, where Nastenka's greedy step-sister eyes their fortune and demands the same. Unfortunately for her, when she tries to duplicate Nastenka's adventure in the snowbound forest, Father Frost is so horrified by her rudeness that he gives her swine instead of pearls. On their way to Ivan's home, he and Nastenka are accosted by the bandits he'd encountered before, with help from the witch. After being overpowered, they are saved when the clubs fall conveniently on the bandits' heads, and they trap the witch in a barrel. At the end, Nastenka and Ivan have a sumptuous wedding.

[edit] DVD

The original Russian version was released on DVD in 2000 by Ruscico. It has nine different subtitle options including English, as well as Russian, English and French audio tracks and special features.