Golden Horns (1973)
A long time ago a splendid deer with golden antlers lived in the woods, always protecting the poor and weak and disdaining evil. In a little village nearby the woods widow Yevdokya lived with her twin daughters Mashenka and Dashenka, her son and her old father. One day the girls observe robbers hunting the deer. Shortly after they are lured into the woods by forest spirits. Infuriated about their presence, witch Baba Yaga turns them into fawns. Meanwhile, Yevdokya searches for her daughters. For protecting the deer of robbers she gets a magical ring to protect her from danger. The deer advises her to set off to the red sun or the clear moon. But both cannot reach the magic woods with their light. Finally, the boy accompanied by his cat goes in search for sisters and mother.
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Reviews
As Good As It Gets
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
It seems that throughout the '60s and '70s, a number of the movies targeted at tykes ended up pretty bizarre, even demented. A number of the ones that came from the Soviet Union have to get seen to be believed. I had previously seen the Soviet TV adaptations of "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Pinocchio" - that one was basically "The Partridge Family" on steroids and acid - but Aleksandr Rou's "Zolotye roga" ("The Golden Horns" in English) is a more sedate one. True, the musical scenes look as if they're trying to make kids need psychiatric help, but it's an enjoyable movie. People familiar with Russian fairy tales will know who Baba Yaga is. If not, you'll get an idea while watching the movie. Another interesting depiction of her is the Italian movie "Baba Yaga" in which Carroll Baker starred during the years when she worked in Italy.Yes, it's one of the weirder movies out there, but you're sure to love it. Another WTF children's movie from the Soviet Union is a 1983 adaptation of "Mary Poppins" containing 1980s pop music (I spent the whole movie wondering how the Soviet Union got its hands on 1980s pop music). Bert - played by Dick Van Dyke in the more famous version - looks like a cross between Elliott Gould and Keith Richards.
In Germany it is quite frequent now that magazines come with movie DVDs attached. The price is modest, mostly in the 3..5 range, so that a movie fan can get fresh meat every few weeks, even throwing away the magazine unread, just for the movie. Mostly you get B-league action thrillers from Hollywood, but there are pleasant exceptions. And Super-Illu, a weekly with a focus on East German affairs, hasn't yet disappointed me in their DVD extra, brought out every first Thursday in a month.I felt disappointed when I saw the year's program started in September 2008, because it would be only children movies, alternatingly of GDR and USSR production, but I gave them a try.. and the first two issues were definitely worth it.Zolotye roga, literally "golden horns", is fully focused on children. Unlike Disney productions, which usually include some fodder for adults as well, you have to feel like a child to really enjoy it (and not be bored or annoyed by silly overacting). It took me a while to get "into it", but at the end I was carried away, at age 52.The story is of a family getting gradually lost in the magic forest: first the twin girls collecting mushrooms, then their mother and the dog searching for them, finally their older brother and the cat as well. Many nice shots of animals, first rather realistic as in a nature documentary, and gradually more anthropomorphic - the animals start to talk, and somehow act resembling humans. Plus discussions of the mother with sun, moon, and whirlwind. Unforgettable images, like the witch Baba Yaga, playing mushroom domino, and her shack walking on two hen's legs. The mother as knight in shining armor... quite a trip, indeed.Some adults may dismiss this as childish. Let them. Other adults (like me) can enjoy being thrown back to a child's emotions by this 1972 Soviet movie. And not that you have to order it from a specialized online shop.. you can just pick it up at the news-stand, for 2.99. I'm really grateful to Super-Illu for this magic experience. It's "only" an obsolete movie for children.. but weren't we all?
I stumbled across this DVD at my local library so I took it home and watched it -- I'm glad I did! It appears to be a theatrical adaptation of a Russian fairytale -- goblins, witches, children disobeying their parents and learning a lesson from it, etc. It's very colorful and bizarre and though a little surreal/disjointed at times, it is competently made and would certainly delight children between ages 5-10 I'd say. Actually, it is very very similar to another Russian film -- "Morozko" (Jack Frost), which was featured on Mystery Science Theater. It's so familiar in fact that the witch character of Baba Yaga was played by the same actor in both films! And the witch lives in the same house -- a cabin that walks around with the aid of chicken legs! If you come across it and want to expose your kids to something culturally different that they won't get bored of or if you just are a fan of colorful, strange Russian cinema, definitely watch it!