SOYUZMULTFILM 1951
Nikolai V. Gogol
The Night Before Christmas
written by Valentina Brumberg, Zinaida Brumberg, Michael Yanshin, Music : N Rimski-Korsakov sound V. Oransky, Nikolai Prilutsky
Directed by Valentina & Zinaida Brumberg
Art dir D Petritskogo,art directors Nadezhda Stroganova, Petr Repkin, Alexander Beliakov, Camera E Petrova
animators Konstantin Chikin, Boris Dezhkin, Gennady Filippov, Boris Butakov, Fedor Khitruk, Lidia Reztsova, N.Fedorov, Roman Kachanov,
B Meyerovich, R Davydov, Ye Kazantseva, L. Popov F. Yepifanova,E. Komova, I. Bashkova, K. Nikiforov, G. Kozlov, T. Fedorova, T. Taranovich, V. Lalayants,
voices N. Gritsenko, Michael Yanshin, A. Zhiltsov, Vladimir Gribkov, Vera Maretskaya, Lilia Gritsenko text is read by Alexei Gribov
Artists Ye Tannenberg, V Valerianova, V Rodgero, I. Troyanova O Ghemmerling, N Petritsky, K Malyshev cutter V. Ivanova, executive producer Ya. Bliokh
The last day before Christmas had passed.
A wintry, clear night had came.
Stars had peeped out and the moon rose majestically in the sky,
to shine upon good people and all the world,
So that everyone could merrily go caroling and glorify Christ.
The frost had increased since morning and it was so still ..,
that the frosty creaking under a boot could be heard for half a mile.
Suddenly smoke curled from the chimney of one cottage and went in a cloud across the sky.
and along with the smoke rose a witch, riding on a broom.
If the Sorochinsky magistrate had been passing by just then,
he would have surely noticed her, for no witch in the world
could elude the Sorochinsk magistrate.
But the Sorochensk magistrate was not passing by, and then, what business did he have with folk
other then from his own jurisdiction?.
The witch, meanwhile, rose so high, that she was only a little black spot flitting overhead.
Suddenly from the opposite side another little spot appeared.
A near-sighted man, even if he put wheels on his nose for spectacles.
wouldn't have made out what it was.
And yet, just,
by the goat's beard under his muzzle and the little horns on his head,
you might have recognized it was the devil,
whom had one last night to wander about the wide world
and teach good people to sin.
In Dikanka nobody realized that the devil had stolen the moon,
True, the local scrivener, leaving the tavern on all fours,
saw the moon, dancing about in the sky,
for no reason.
But what lead the devil to decide on such lawless business?
Here's what:...
he knew that the wealthy Cossack Chub was invited to a party by the deacon,
And meanwhile his daughter, the village-beauty, would stay at home,
and this daughter, would certainly be visited by the blacksmith, a stalwart and fine fellow,
whom the devil found more disgusting then father Kondrat's sermons.
The blacksmith devoted his leisure time to painting and was reputed to be the best artist in the district.
but the triumph of his art was one picture painted on church wall in the right-hand vestibule,
in which he portrayed St. Peter on the day of the last judgment,
with the keys in his hands, driving the evil spirit out of hell.
Ever since he painted it, the devil...
...had sworn vengeance on the blacksmith and for that he decided to steal the moon,
in the hope that the old Chub, lazy above all, would remain home
In such darkness you'd...
...hardly could drag him down from the stove to go out.
And the blacksmith, who had long been on bad terms with him,
would never dare visit his daughter then
despite all his strength.
So, Chum, you haven't been to the deacon's new house yet?
There will be a good drinking there tonight!
We'd better not be late!...
What the devil!
- Look, look, Panas ... - What?
- How what? There's no moon!
What the deuce! It's a fact, there's no moon!
Realy, as if for a joke, I looked out of the window on purpose as I sat inside:
A wonder of a night! Clear, snow shining in the moonlight.
The moment I step out the door - it's pitch-dark!
So then, Chum, what are we going to do?
- It's dark out. - Let's stay home then, if you like!
No, chum, let's go. It's impossible,
we have to go!
Having said that, he was already annoyed with himself for it,
He very much disliked dragging himself anywhere on such a night, but it comforted him....
that he himself had purposely wanted it and was not doing as he had been advised.
The frost increased.. to the maximum It became so cold! ..
The mother of the blacksmith Vakula was not more then forty years old,
Nevertheless, she know so well how to charm the gravest of Cossacks over to herself.
that she was visited by the headman, the deacon Osip Nikiforovich and the Cossack Korniy Chub.
Solokha know how to handle them very skillfully. It never occurred to any of them that they had a rival.
Maybe this keenness and cunning were responsible for the rumors started by the old women.
that Solokha was in fact a witch.
As soon as the blizzard arose and the wind blew sharply in their eyes,
Chub showed repentance and pulling his ear-flapped hat further down,
treated himself, the devil and the chum to abuse.
Wait, chum! I don't think this is the right way,
There is not a single cottage in sight. Oh, what a storm!
Go to that side a little, chum, maybe you'll find the road
Meanwhile I will seek it on this side!
Don't forget to holler if you find the road.
Oh, what a heap of snow the devil's thrown into my face!
The chum went to one side and, wandering back and forth in his high boots,
finally wandered right into the tavern.
His find made him so happy that he forgot everything and,
shaking off the snow, he went in, not the least concerned about his chum he left outside.
E-re-re-re-re!
U-ha-ha-ha-ha!
He-he-he-he!
Now let's have a look what the beautiful daughter was doing, left alone.
Oksana had not yet turned 17 but already in almost all the world,
on this side of Dikanka and on the other, the talk was of nothing but her.
Why is it that people decided to praise my prettiness?
People lie, I'm not pretty at all.
What's so pretty about this upturned nose?
And these cheeks? and lips?
I see now that I am not pretty at all!
No, I am pretty! Ah,how pretty! A wonder!
What joy I'll bring to the one whose wife I become!
Yes, lads, am I a match for you? Just look at me!
how smooth my step is!
My shirt is embroidered with red silk,
and what ribbons in my hair! ..
Oh!
Why have you come here? Do you want to be driven out the door with a shovel?
You guys all instantly get wind of it when our fathers aren't home!
- Is my chest finished? - It will be ready - my dear heart - ...
...it will be ready after the holiday!
Do not be angry with me! Allow me at least to talk,..
- at least to look at you! - Who's forbidding you...?
- Talk and look. - Allow me to sit down beside you!
Sit,
Wonderful, darling Oksana, allow me to kiss you!
Go away!! Your hands are harder than iron and you smell of smoke!
What!?
Ah, somebody's knocking!
- It must be the lads and the girls. - Wait, I'll go and open it myself.
- What do you want here!?
Ah, no, it's not my cottage. The blacksmith would not come to my cottage.
Again, on closer inspection, it's not the blacksmith's either!
- Whose house could it be? - Who are you?
...and why are you hanging around the door?
No, I won't tell him who I am; he may give me a thrashing for all I know, the cursed bastard!
It's me good man, I come to your windows to sing some carols for your amusement.
Go to the devil with your carols! Why are you standing there?
Clear out right now, do you hear?
- Really, why are you shouting so?
- I want to sing carols, that's all.
Oh-ho! There's no stopping you with words!
- So, I see you're already starting to fight! - Away, away!
Just you wait, fiendish blacksmith! May the devil smash up you and your smithy!
He is not at home now, though...
I suppose Solokha is sitting there alone. Hm ...�why not go there!
While the nimble fop with the tail and the goat's beard
flew out of the chimney and back into it
the little pouch that hung at his side, in which he had put the stolen moon,
accidentally caught on something in the oven and came open,
The moon seized the opportunity and, flying out of the chimney of Solokha's house,
rose smoothly into the sky..
Everything lit up. As if there had been no blizzard.
The snow gleamed in wide, silvery fields
and was all sprinkled with crystal stars.
The frost seemed to grow warmer. Songs rang out
Crowds of lads and girls appeared with sacks.
Ah, Odarka! you have new booties!
Oh, what pretty ones! and with gold! Ah, Odarka! you have new booties!
Oh, what pretty ones! and with gold!
Don't grieve, my darling Oksana! It's a rare young lady who wears such booties
as I'll get for you.
- You?! I'd like to see where you're going to get booties such as I could wear on my feet.
Unless you bring me the ones the tsaritsa wears.
See what she wants!
Yes, you'll all be witnesses:
if the blacksmith Vakula brings me the very booties the tsaritsa wears,
I give my word
that I'll marry him at once.
Laugh, laugh! I'm laughing at my own self!
No, enough, it's time to stop playing the fool.
knock
Ah!
The headman, after shaking the snow off, said that he had not gone to the deacon's
on account of the blizzard,
and seeing a light in her house, had stopped by, intending to spend the evening with her.
Oh.
knock
Open up, dearest Solokha!
Hide me somewhere, I don't want to meet the deacon right now.
knock
The deacon came in, grunting and rubbing his hands,
and said that none of his guests had come,
and that he was heartily glad of this opportunity
to sport a little at her place and the blizzard did not frighten him.
And what have you got here, magnificent Solokha?
How�what? An arm, Osip Nikiforovich!
Hm! an arm! heh, heh, heh! ...
And what have you got here, dearest Solokha?
As if you can't see, Osip Nikiforovich! A neck,
and on that neck a necklace.
Hm! a necklace on the neck! heh, heh, heh!
And what have you got here, incomparable Solokha?...�
knock
Ah, my God, an extraneous person!
What now, if someone of my station is found here?...
For God's sake, virtuous Solokha,
Your kindness, as it says in the Gospel of Luke, chapter
thir�th�
knock again
Knocking! By God, there's knocking!
Oh, hide me somewhere!
Oh, oh, oh-e-her!
Good evening, Solokha! Maybe you weren't expecting me, eh?
Maybe you've been having fun here with somebody? ...
Maybe you've already hidden somebody away, eh?
Well, Solokha, now give me some vodka.
I think my throat got frozen in this cursed cold.
What a night before Christmas God has sent us!
knock
Open up!
Somebody's knocking,
Open up!
It's the blacksmith!
Listen, Solokha, put me wherever you like;
not for anything in the world do I want to show myself to that cursed bastard,
Oh,help!
may the devil's son get himself blisters as big as haystacks under each eye!
The poor deacon didn't even dare to show his pain by coughing or grunting
when the heavy fellow sat almost on his head
and stuck his frozen boots
on both sides of his temples.
Why are these sacks lying here?
They should have been taken out long ago.
I've grown all befuddled on account of this stupid love.
Why the devil do these sacks seem heavier than before!
Fool that I am! I forgot that everything seems heavier to me now.
No, what a woman I am!
Let it even be ten sacks, I'll lift them all.
This one, too,
I think I put my tools in it.
Ah, Vakula, you're here! Good evening!
So, the booties that the tsaritsa wears, did you get them?
Get me the booties and I'll marry you!
Farewell, Oksana!
Seek whatever suitor you like, fool whomever you like;
but you won't see any more of me in this world.
Where to, Vakula? - Farewell, brothers!
God willing, we'll see each other in the next world; but in this one we'll meet no more!
He's cracked in the head! - A lost soul!
I'll go and tell them the blacksmith has hanged himself!
Where am I running, in fact?
as if all is lost.
I'll try one more way:
I'll go to Paunchy Patsiuk, the Zaporozhets.
This fat Padzuck had indeed once been a Zaporoghian*, * brotherhood of armed warrior
but whether he had been driven out or had run away on his own, no one knew.
A few days after his arrival in the village, everybody already knew he was a wizard.
I've come for your kindness, Patsiuk,
My sinful self is bound to perish! nothing in the world helps!
Come what may, I must ask for help from the devil himself.
Well, Patsiuk? what am I to do? - If it's the devil you need, then go to the devil!
That's why I came to you. Apart from you, I don't think anybody in the world knows the way to him.
He needn't go far...,
...who has the devil on his back
It's me, your friend �I'll do anything for a friend and comrade!
Oksana will be ours today,
Very well,for that price I'm ready to be yours!
Well, Vakula! You know, nothing is done without a contract.
I'm ready! With you, I've heard, one has to sign in blood;
Wait, I'll get a nail from my pocket!
Ah-ah-ah!
Wait, my sweet fellow!
and how will you like this? - Have mercy, Vakula!
I'll do anything you want, anything, only leave my soul in peace; don't put the terrible cross on me!
Take me on your back this minute, do you hear?
Carry me like a bird! - Where to?
To St. Petersburg, straight to the tsaritsa!
For a long time Oksana stood pondering the blacksmith's strange words.
Something inside her was already telling her she had treated him too cruelly.
What if he had indeed decided on something terrible?
maybe in his sorrow he'll fall in love with another girl...
and out of vexation call her the first beauty of the village?
But, no, he loves me.
I'm so pretty!
He wouldn't trade me for anyone;
Wait, the blacksmith forgot his sacks. Look, what frightful sacks!
Are those the blacksmith's sacks?
Let's quickly take them to my house - But we can't lift them!
Wait! Let's run and fetch a sled, we can take them on a sled.
The prisoners were very weary of sitting in the sacks
E-he-he-he-he.
Look what sacks somebody's left in the road!
There must be pork in them. Somebody's had real luck to get so much stuff for his caroling!
I'll take it quick, before anybody sees me.
No, it's too heavy to carry alone,
but here, as if on purpose, comes the weaver.
Please, help me, good man, to carry these sacks!
Somebody went caroling and then dropped them in the middle of the road.
We'll divide the goods fifty-fifty.
- Where shall we carry them? - Take them to my place.
No one will be in our way: my wife isn't home.
- Who's there? - What to do now?!
Show me this minute! Do you hear? Show me your sack right this minute!
The hairy devil can show it to you, not us,
What business is it of yours? We got it for caroling, not you.
No, you're going to show it to me, you worthless drunkard!
Help! Help!
Eh, there's a whole boar in there!
A boar! do you hear, a whole boar!
Away with you! Get out, cursed woman!
It's not your goods
Ah, ah!
Oh!
E.. well .. ah ..
- This is not a boar! - See what a man got thrown into the sack!
It's my chum!
And who did you think it was? A nice trick I pulled on you, eh?
And you probably wanted to eat me as pork?
Wait, I've got good news for you:
there's something else in the sack...
- if not a boar, then surely a piglet or some other live thing.
Something's been moving under me all the time.
It's the deacon! Well, now! That's Solokha for you!
putting us into sacks ... That's why she's got a house full of sacks ...
Now I see it all:
she had two men sitting in each sack.
Well, you, Solokha!
No help for it, this one will be enough for us
Let's see what's in it!
Ah, somebody's in there!
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
What the devil! Why are you running around like crazy?
Ah, Papa! There's somebody in the sack!
In the sack?
Where did you get this sack?
The blacksmith left them in the middle of the road,
What are you so afraid of then? Let's see.
Now, then, my man,
never mind if we don't call you by your full name
- get out of the sack!
Oh .. oh ..
Phew!
Oh!
The headman was in it, too, fancy that!...
Uh .. - Must be cold out?
A bit nippy
And, if I may ask, what do you grease your boots with,
mutton fat or tar?
Tar's better!
Well, goodbye, Chub.
Why did I ask so stupidly what he greases his boots with!
That's Solokha! putting such a man into a sack!...
A devil of a woman!
Fool that I am ...
At first Vakula found it frightening when he rose to such a height
that he could see nothing below
The air was transparent, all in a light silvery mist. Everything was visible;
and he could even observe how a sorcerer, sitting in a pot, raced past them like the wind;
how the stars gathered together to play blindman's buff;
how a devil dancing around the moon took his hat off on seeing the mounted blacksmith
how a broom came flying back,
having just served some witch ...
The blacksmith flew on, and suddenly Petersburg, all ablaze, glittered before him.
My God! the clatter, the thunder, the glitter;
Shall we go straight to the tsaritsa? - No, it's scary
The Zaporozhtsy who passed through Dikanka in the fall are staying here somewhere.
I'd better talk it over with them.
Hey, little Satan, get in my pocket and lead me to the Zaporozhtsy
- Good day, gentlemen! God be with you!
We'll talk more with you later, landsman;
right now we're on our way to the tsaritsa.
To the tsaritsa? Be so kind, masters, as to take me with you!
You? What will you do there?
No, impossible.
We, brother, are going to discuss our own affairs with the tsaritsa.
Take me! Beg them!
Let's take him, brothers!
All right, let's take him!
My God, what light! Back home it's not so bright at noontime.
What a stairway! It's a pity to trample it underfoot.
Such ornaments!
My God, what a banister!
Such workmanship! It's fifty roubles' worth of iron alone.
What a painting!
what wonderful art!
Oh, my God, what colors!
I bet there's not a kopeck's worth of ochre; it's all verdigris and crimson.
What, then, do you want? - Now's the time! The tsaritsa is asking what we want!
Your Imperial Majesty, punish me not, but grant me mercy!
Please tell me
Meaning no offense to Your Imperial Grace,
but what are the booties you're wearing made of?
My God, if only my wife could wear such booties!
Ha-ha-ha-ha ..
Get up! If you want so much to have such shoes, it's not hard to do.
Bring him my most expensive shoes at once, the ones with gold!
Truly, this simple-heartedness pleases me very much!
My God, what an adornment!
Ku-ka-re-ku
Where are you going?
Hold on! Wait, friend, that's not all
- I haven't thanked you yet.
Have mercy, father! Don't be angry!
Here's a whip for you: beat me as much as your soul desires,
Well, that's enough for you, get up!
So, tell me now, what do you want?
Give me Oksana for my wife, father!
Choub thought a little, looked at the hat and belt;
it was a wonderful hat and the belt was no worse;
He remembered the perfidious Solokha and said resolutely:
Right-o! Send the matchmakers!
Oh!
Look, what booties I've brought you!
The very ones the tsaritsa wears!
No! no! I don't need any booties!
Even without the booties, I ...
Subs by Eus after Russian subs & a translation of the original story by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky
The end