The Magic Ring
Волшебное кольцо
Volshebnoye koltso (ru)
El anillo mágico (es)
Võlusõrmus (et)
355 visitors
Волшебное кольцо
Volshebnoye koltso (ru)
El anillo mágico (es)
Võlusõrmus (et)
❤ | |
Year | 1979 |
Director(s) | Nosyrev Leonid |
Studio(s) | Soyuzmultfilm |
Language(s) | Russian |
Genre(s) | Comedy Folklore & myth (Rus./East Slavic) Literature (Rus./East Slavic) Romance |
Animation Type(s) | Drawn (cel) |
Length | 00:19:30 |
Wordiness | 14.7 |
Animator.ru profile | Ru, En |
Subtitles:
⭳ Volshebnoye koltso.1979.en.1.25fps.1665640391.srt
Date: October 13 2022 05:53:11
Language: English
Quality: good
Upload notes: 292 characters long (view)
Creator(s): Niffiwan
⭳ Volshebnoye koltso.1979.es.1.25fps.1359951697.srt
Date: February 04 2013 04:21:37
Language: Spanish
Quality: unknown
Upload notes: 112 characters long (view)
Creator(s): Yefren
⭳ Volshebnoye koltso.1979.et.1.25fps.1549798968.srt
Date: February 10 2019 11:42:48
Language: Estonian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes: 95 characters long (view)
Creator(s): Pastella
⭳ Volshebnoye koltso.1979.ru.1.25fps-actual.1048560534.srt
Date: March 25 2003 02:48:54
Language: Russian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes: 113 characters long (view)
Creator(s): DeafNet.ru
⭳ Volshebnoye koltso.1979.ru.2.25fps-literary.1048543754.srt
Date: March 24 2003 22:09:14
Language: Russian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes: 208 characters long (view)
Creator(s): DeafNet.ru
⭳ Volshebnoye koltso.1979.en.1.25fps.1665640391.srt
Date: October 13 2022 05:53:11
Language: English
Quality: good
Upload notes: 292 characters long (view)
Creator(s): Niffiwan
⭳ Volshebnoye koltso.1979.es.1.25fps.1359951697.srt
Date: February 04 2013 04:21:37
Language: Spanish
Quality: unknown
Upload notes: 112 characters long (view)
Creator(s): Yefren
⭳ Volshebnoye koltso.1979.et.1.25fps.1549798968.srt
Date: February 10 2019 11:42:48
Language: Estonian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes: 95 characters long (view)
Creator(s): Pastella
⭳ Volshebnoye koltso.1979.ru.1.25fps-actual.1048560534.srt
Date: March 25 2003 02:48:54
Language: Russian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes: 113 characters long (view)
Creator(s): DeafNet.ru
⭳ Volshebnoye koltso.1979.ru.2.25fps-literary.1048543754.srt
Date: March 24 2003 22:09:14
Language: Russian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes: 208 characters long (view)
Creator(s): DeafNet.ru
Description:
A poor peasant lad befriends a snake, obtains a magic ring and decides to marry the princess, but the princess has other ideas. Based on the Pomor (Russian far north) folk take recorded and then rewritten by Boris Shergin.
This is a very old folk tale that is widespread among Indo-European people; #560 in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (go here to read various versions of it). The history of it in Russia can be read here - it was first recorded in 1804, and subsequently appeared in varying versions in different folklore collections. A version recorded on an ethnographic expedition by Boris Shergin was published in a book by Olga Ozarovskaya in 1931. Then in 1936, Shergin wrote and published another version in his own characteristic style. The 1931 version can be read here, and the 1936 version here. Koval and Nosyrev's screenplay for this animated film uses a mix of both versions (one notable detail from 1936 that didn't make it into the film: the snake is not "the daughter of the Snake Tsar", but an American lady serving a year's punishment as a snake for failing to pay a million-dollar debt).
The first version of the screenplay was not accepted by Goskino, with following objection being given: "The script is based on a fairy tale, the plot of which has been repeatedly used in various film productions. In addition, the target audience of the script is completely unclear: the plot and the characters of the tale seem to be designed for a child audience, but the very specific language, overloaded with the Pomor dialect, will not always be understood even by an adult."
For the second version of the screenplay, "revised in accordance with the recommendations of Goskino", the characteristic features of Shergin's language were removed, and in this form the script was accepted by the Committee. However, later, when recording the voices, Nosyrev restored the vocabulary of the source material and submitted the finished film without any revisions.
Because the language is non-standard, there are two versions of the Russian subtitles - an "actual" version (in which the words are transcribed as they are spoken) and a "literary" version (in which the words are changed from the Pomor dialect to how they would sound in modern standard Russian).
The film was well-received and won some awards. It was later included in Nosyrev's excellent 1987 feature, "Laughter and Grief by the White Sea".
The first video above is the 2019 HD scan in the original frame rate (24fps). The second video is the older scan in the slightly-too-fast 25fps TV frame rate, but more saturated colours.
Awards:
1979 - The Magic Ring - Silver Medal "For the Best Fairy Tale" at the IFF in Odense, 1980;
1980 - 2nd All-Union Film Festival in Dushanbe - 2nd Prize to actor Yevgeniy Leonov for the portrayal of the narrator in the film "The Magic Ring".
DISCUSSION
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I've been busy with some important backend work on the site, so there haven't been any newly added films in recent days. I decided to add this one because I'd already done the translation for it (for the later compilation).
Although I generally really like it, there were two things that always bugged me:
1) Why is the Tsar's palace located in a small town that is clearly not Moscow or St. Petersburg? (I asked Nosyrev this question once, and he replied: "the Tsar from "The Magic Ring" is an aggregated, fairytale figure. Neither St. Petersburg, nor Moscow have any relation to him. The characters and events in the tale are not tied to a concrete place and time, but to a particular historical epoch. The storyteller is free to think up whatever he can imagine in his tale, so long as it is interesting to the listeners (or in this case, the viewers) - that is his primary goal. We're not presenting a historical study, after all, but a joyous spectacle - that's what the folk tale is for.")
2) Why did the snake Scarapeya wait so long to reveal who she was, and why did she stay unhappily in Ivan's house if she could have left at any time? (I still don't know the answer to this one - let me know if anyone has any ideas).
>>1
>Why is the Tsar's palace located in a small town that is clearly not Moscow or St. Petersburg?
Yeah, I felt like they should have been more like local nobles or something, this would have also given the daughter more of a reason to run of to big Paris
>Why did the snake Scarapeya wait so long to reveal who she was, and why did she stay unhappily in Ivan's house if she could have left at any time?
I think Scarapeya waited for the right moment and place to tell Ivan her secret and to get rescued, after all he rode all the way to some remote place, maybe the snake people don't just want to show up in some populated area, but then again she had thet immensely powerful magical ring... I guess she couldn't gift him her ring if she just fled with it.
>>2
>this would have also given the daughter more of a reason to run of to big Paris
I mean, daughters did get exchanged between European noble/royal families, so I wouldn't say it's that far-fetched. And the Russian nobility really did often speak French among themselves for a long while, and held France in high regard.
>I think Scarapeya waited for the right moment and place to tell Ivan her secret and to get rescued, after all he rode all the way to some remote place, maybe the snake people don't just want to show up in some populated area, but then again she had thet immensely powerful magical ring... I guess she couldn't gift him her ring if she just fled with it.
Maybe... but it's still confusing because it's just not explained at all.