''Plasticine Crow'' (russian: Пластилиновая ворона, translit. ''Plastilinovaya vorona'') is a 1981

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

Alexander Tatarsky Alexander Mikhailovich Tatarsky (russian: Александр Михайлович Татарский; December 11, 1950 – July 22, 2007) was a Soviet and Russian animation director, screenwriter, animator, producer, artist, co-founder and a ...

('' T/O Ekran'' studio). Animation divided into three independent parts (''Picture'', ''Game'' and ''But maybe, but maybe...''). The film was Russia's first

claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

film.

Plot synopsis

Picture

The first part tells kids about the three

painting style In the visual arts, style is a "...distinctive manner which permits the grouping of works into related categories" or "...any distinctive, and therefore recognizable, way in which an act is performed or an artifact made or ought to be performed a ...

s –

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

and

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

. Lyrics for the first part were written by

Alexander Kushner Alexander Semyonovich Kushner (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Семёнович Ку́шнер) is a Russian poet from Saint Petersburg. Biography Kushner was born in Leningrad into a Russian-Jewish family; his father was a naval eng ...

and sung by Grigory Gladkov, who also composed whole cartoon.

Game

The second part features the story of grandpa and his nephew playing the children game where the players periodically opens and shuts their eyes. And every time they are amazed with looking to something new in front of them. This part was based on lyrics by Ovsey Driz and performed by

Leonid Bronevoy Leonid Sergeyevich Bronevoy (russian: Леони́д Серге́евич Бронево́й; December 17, 1928 – December 9, 2017) was a Soviet and Russian actor. Though primarily a stage actor in the Lenkom Theatre, Bronevoy also made occasiona ...

and Alesha Pavlov.

But maybe, but maybe...

The final part is a parody of '' The Crow and the Fox'', best known in Russian with the version by

Krylov Krylov (masculine; russian: Крылов) and Krylova (feminine; russian: Крылова) is a Russian surname, derived from the word "''крыло́"'' (wing). Alternative spellings are Krilov, Kryloff, Kriloff (masculine) and Krilova (feminine). ...

. The storytellers (Lev Shimelov and Alexander Levenbuk) can't remember the story plot, and they are trying to recall it. Thus, instead of the crow from Krylov's story, a dog appears, and then a cow, and even a hippopotamus. The original fox is also replaced by an ostrich and then by a

street cleaner A street sweeper or street cleaner may refer to a person's occupation or to a machine that cleans streets. Street sweepers have been employed in cities as "sanitation workers" since sanitation and waste removal became a priority. A stre ...

. At the end of the entirely distorted fable, a distorted moral is given: ''Don't stand and don't jump, don't sing and don't dance where there is construction in progress or heavy load hanging.'' (This is a pun on the two common Russian danger signs – "Don't stand under heavy load" and "Beware! Construction works in progress!"). The lyrics for the third part were written by

Eduard Uspensky Eduard Nikolayevich Uspensky (russian: link=no, Эдуард Николаевич Успенский; 22 December 193714 August 2018) was a Soviet and Russian children's writer and poet, author of over 70 books, as well as a playwright, screenwri ...

.But maybe Crow…
/ref>

Voice cast

* Grigory Gladkov * Lev Shimelov *

Alexander Levenbuk Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

* Alesha Pavlov

Censorship

At the time of release, the Soviet state officials wanted to ban the film because of (what they described) "ideological nonsense". Nevertheless, head of Kinopanorama television programme

Xeniya Marinina Xenia (variants include Ksenia, Ksenija, Kseniya; derived from Greek ξενία '' xenia'', "hospitality") is a female given name. The below sections list notable people with one of the variants of this given name. Related names include '' Oksan ...

and host and film director

Eldar Ryazanov Eldar Aleksandrovich Ryazanov (russian: Эльдар Александрович Рязанов; 18 November 1927 – 30 November 2015) was a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter, poet, actor and pedagogue whose popular comedies, satiriz ...

managed to show cartoon in one of editions of Kinopanorama on

Soviet Central Television The Central Television of the USSR (russian: Центральное телевидение СССР, translit=Tsentral'noye televideniye SSSR; abbr. CT USSR .html" ;"title="/nowiki>">/nowiki>/nowiki>) was the state television broadcaster of the ...

, bypassing the censorship.

Production

* Creation of the film required about 800 kg of soviet plasticine. Because of withered colors the plasticine was dye-colored. * The music in the third part of the film was intended to sound in the ordinary tempo, but its total length appeared to be longer than the animation created (8 minutes instead of 5). While Tatarskiy was in doubt, the voices arrived. Then the genius decision came when Tatarsky remembered how the gramophone-recorded voice of

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

was restored by varying speed of phonation. He griped the recording to the necessary length (5 min), and the song acquired its recognisable sounding. * The music in the third part is borrowing heavily from the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

Whiskey in the Jar "Whiskey in the Jar" ( Roud 533) is an Irish traditional song set in the southern mountains of Ireland, often with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry. The song, about a rapparee ( highwayman) who is betrayed by his wife or lover, is ...

''. The beginning of the second verse of the song ("Но тут лиса бежала...") in this part is based on

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

's song ''

My Sweet Lord "My Sweet Lord" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in November 1970 on his triple album ''All Things Must Pass''. It was also released as a single, Harrison's first as a solo artist, and topped charts worldwide; it was the ...

''.

Notes

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0219251
''Plasticine Crow''
at

Animator.ru Animator.ru is a Russian website chronicling the films, people and studios of the animation industry in Russia, the former Soviet Union and (to a lesser extent) the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It also includes a forum, a news block, ...

The Plasticine Crow / Пластилиновая ворона - Russian cartoon with English subtitles
* Translation into English of the song from the third part * ''Авторы сценария и режиссёры: —'' Александр Татарский * ''Художники-постановщики: —'' Игорь Ковалёв * ''Операторы: —'' Эрнст Гаман * ''Композиторы: —'' Григорий Гладков * ''Звукооператоры: —'' Нелли Кудрина * ''Авторы текстов песни: —'' Эдуард Успенский, «А может а может…» * ''Монтажёры: —'' Любовь Георгиева * ''Редакторы: —'' Валерия Коновалова * ''Директоры: —'' Лидия Варенцова 1981 animated films 1981 films 1981 in the Soviet Union Soviet animated films Clay animation films Studio Ekran films 1980s stop-motion animated films