-
SOYUZMULTFILM
Moscow, 1951
-
Nikolai V. Gogol
-
The Night before Christmas
-
Written by
V. & Z. Brumberg & Michael Yanshin
-
Music: N. Rimski-Korsakov
-
Directed by
Valentina & Zinaida Brumberg
-
The last day
before Christmas had passed.
-
And a clear winter night
had come on.
-
Stars had appeared and the moon rose
majestically in the heavens,
-
to shine upon good people
and the whole of the world,
-
So that they might gaily sing carols
in praise of the birth of Christ.
-
The frost had grown stronger than
in the morning, and it was so quiet...,
-
that crisping of the snow under a boot
could be heard for half a mile around.
-
Suddenly out of the chimney of
one of the cottages volumes of smoke
-
ascended in clouds
towards the heavens.
-
and in the midst of those clouds,
riding on a broomstick, rose a witch.
-
If at that time the magistrate of
Sorochinsk had happened to pass,
-
no doubt he would have seen the witch,
because no witch could glide away
-
without the Sorochinsk magistrate
noticing it,
-
But the Sorochensk magistrate
did not pass,
-
and then, what had he to do with
people outside of his jurisdiction?
-
The witch, meanwhile,
had risen so high,
-
that she only looked like
a little dark spot up above.
-
Suddenly from the opposite side
appeared another spot.
-
A short-sighted man, even if he had
put wheels on the nose instead
-
of glasses would not have
recognized what it was.
-
And yet, a mere look at the goat's beard
under it's snout and the small horns
-
sticking out of his head, you might guess,
it was the Devil in person,
-
to whom only one night was
left to wander around the world
-
and tempt good people to sin.
-
In Dikanka nobody suspected
that the devil had stolen a moon,
-
It's true, that the village scribe,
coming out of the brandy-shop on all fours,
-
saw how the moon,
without any apparent reason,
-
danced in the sky.
-
But now, what was the reason the devil
had decided on such a unlawful step?
-
Simply this:...
-
he knew that the rich
Cossack Chub was invited
-
to an evening party
at the parish clerk's,
-
he knew that in the mean time, his daughter,
the village beauty, would stay at home,
-
and he knew, moreover,
that to this daughter,
-
would come the blacksmith,
a lad of athletic strength,
-
whom the devil held in greater aversion
then the sermons of father Kondrat.
-
When the blacksmith had no work on hand
he used to practise painting
-
and had acquired the reputation of being
the best painter in the district,
-
but his masterpiece was
a picture painted
-
on the right side
of the church door,
-
in which he portrayed St. Peter
at the Last Day Court
-
with the keys in his hands,
driving away the evil spirits from hell.
-
Ever since he painted it the devil
vowed revenge on the smith
-
and for this purpose
he decided to steal the moon,
-
in the hope that the old Chub,
lazy above all things, would remain home
-
In such darkness hardly anyone
could have dragged
-
him off the stove and
pulled him out of the house.
-
The blacksmith, who had long been
at odds with him,
-
would not dare to visit his daughter,
in his presence despite his strength.
-
So you say, kinsmen, that you have not been
yet to the parish clerk's new abode?
-
There will be a good
drinking party there!
-
Only we must not be too late!
What the devil!
-
Look, look, Panas...
- What now?
-
What now? Why,
where is the moon gone?!
-
Ah! Sure enough, gone she is!
-
Oh, what a laugh,
I was purposely looking out
-
of the window as I was
sitting in my room,
-
such a splendid, moonlit night.
-
And now we have hardly
crossed the threshold,
-
and behold,
it is as dark as blindness!
-
Well, kinsman, what are we to do?
-
The night is dark.
-
Well, I am ready to
remain at home!
-
No, kinsman, come on,
we will go.
-
Go we must.
-
While saying this,
Chub was already
-
cross with himself,
for having thus spoken,
-
it was very unpleasant
to be dragged
-
into such a night,
but it comforted him,
-
having had his own
way and having
-
gone contrary to the advise
he received.
-
The frost increased...
to the maximum.
-
It became so cold!
-
The mother of the blacksmith Vakula
was not more then forty,
-
yet, she know well how to make
herself pleasant to the aged Cossacks,
-
many went to call upon her,
the elder,
-
the clerk Osip Nikiforovich
and the Cossack Chub.
-
Solokha perfectly understood
how to manage with them none
-
of them ever suspected
for a moment he had a rival.
-
These very artifices
where perhaps the cause
-
that it became to be rumoured
amongst the old women
-
that Solokha was
positively a witch.
-
As soon as the blizzard began and
the wind blew sharply in his eyes,
-
Chub felt some remorse and
pulling his cap over his eyes,
-
he began to abuse himself,
the devil and his own kinsman.
-
Stop, kinsman, it seems to me
that we have lost our way,
-
there is not a single cottage to be seen.
Oh, what a storm it is!
-
Go a little on that side, kinsman,
and see if you can find the road?
-
And I will seek it on this side.
-
Do not forget to call me,
when you find the road.
-
Oh, what a lot of snow the devil
has sent into my eyes!
-
The kinsman with his long booths
started of on one side
-
and after rambling backwards
and forwards
-
ended with finding his way right
into the brandy-shop.
-
He was so glad of it,
that he forgot everything else, and,
-
after shaking off the snow,
stepped into the passage,
-
without once thinking of his kinsman
who had remained in the snow.
-
Let us now take a quick glance,
what chub's
-
beautiful daughter was about
when left alone.
-
Oksana had not yet completed
even her 17th year,
-
and already all the people
-
from Dikanka, nay,
even beyond Dikanka,
-
talked of nothing but her beauty.
-
Why do men talk so much
about my being so pretty?
-
Nonsense,
there is nothing pretty in me.
-
What's so pretty about this Little snub
nose of mine?
-
And in these cheeks... and lips?
-
No, I see very well that
I am not at all beautiful!
-
No, I really am pretty! And how pretty!
How Beautiful!
-
What joy shall I bring to him
who's wife I am to be!
-
Yes, a peahen, and be aware!
-
Look at me how gracefully I walk!
-
My bodice is embroidered
with red silk,
-
and what ribbons I have
got for my hair!
-
Oh!
-
Why did you come here,
do you wish me to take up
-
the shovel and drive you
from the house?
-
You instantly seem to sniff out when
father has turned his back on the house!
-
Is my chest finished?
- It will be ready, dear heart of mine
-
it will be ready
after the festival!
-
Do not be mad at me.
Allow me to talk to you, no...
-
even just to look at you!
- Who means to forbid it?
-
Speak and look.
- Allow me to sit down beside you.
-
Be seated.
-
Oksana, my darling,
let me kiss you!
-
Away with you!
Your hands are harder then iron
-
and how much you
smell of smoke!
-
What!?
-
There is someone knocking
at the door!
-
It must be the maidens and the lads.
- Hush, I'll go and open it.
-
What do you want?
-
No, surely,
this is not my cottage.
-
The blacksmith would not come
to my cottage.
-
And yet, now I look at it again,
it cannot be the blacksmith's!
-
Whose then can it be?
- Who are you?
-
And what business do you have
lurking about this door?
-
No, I will not tell him
who I am.
-
He might beat me,
the cursed fellow!
-
My good man, I come here
in order to amuse you
-
by singing carols
beneath your window.
-
Go to the devil
with your carols!
-
What do you wait for,
didn't you hear me?
-
Be gone, directly!
- What makes you shout in that way?
-
My intention is to sing a carol,
and that is all.
-
Ah, words are not sufficient
for you!
-
Now I see, you are getting quarrelsome!
You want to fight seriously!
-
Get going! Get going!
-
Ah you devilish smith!
-
May the devil beat up you
and your forge!
-
But now I think of it,
if he is not at home...
-
Solokha must be alone.
Shall I go there?
-
At the time when
the dashing gentleman
-
with the tail and
a goat's beard,
-
flew out of the chimney,
and then into the chimney again,
-
The pouch which hung by
a shoulder belt at his side
-
and in which he had
hidden the stolen moon,
-
somehow accidentally, caught in
something in the oven, flew open,
-
and the moon, availing herself
of the opportunity,
-
mounted through the chimney
of Solokha 's cottage,
-
and rose majestically in the sky.
-
It grew light all at once;
the storm subsided;
-
The snow covered fields seemed all
over with silver,
-
set with crystal stars.
-
Even the frost seemed to have
grown milder, songs resounded
-
and carolling crowds of lads
and lasses made
-
their appearance,
with sacks upon their shoulders.
-
Odarka, you got new boots!
-
Oh, how beautiful they are!
All ornamented with gold too!
-
Do not grieve about boots,
my incomparable Oksana!
-
I will bring you such boots...
-
as few ladies wear!
-
Ha, we shall see where
you get such boots
-
as will suit my foot.
-
Unless you bring me the very boots
which the Czarina wears!
-
Just see what she has
taken fancy to now!
-
Yes. I call all of you to witness:
-
that if the blacksmith
Vakula bring me
-
the very boots which
the czarina wears.
-
I pledge him my word...
-
instantly to marry him!
-
Laugh on, laugh on.
-
I myself laugh
at my own folly.
-
No, truly,
-
it's high time for me to leave
off making a fool of myself!
-
Ah!
-
The elder, after having shaken
off the snow from his cap said
-
that he hadn't gone
to the clerk,
-
because of the snowstorm,
-
and that, having seen
a light in her hut,
-
he had come to past
the evening with her.
-
Open up, dearest Solokha!
-
Hide me somewhere!
-
I would not like to meet
the clerk now!
-
The clerk made his appearance,
giving way to a dry cough
-
and rubbing his hands together,
he said that no one had come
-
and how he was heartily glad of it
as it had given him the opportunity
-
of taking a walk to her abode
in spite of the blizzard.
-
What have you go here,
most magnificent Solokha?
-
How, what? It's my arm,
Basil Nikiforovich.
-
Your arm?
-
And what is this,
dearest Solokha?
-
As if you cannot see for yourself,
Basil Nikiforovich,
-
That's my neck
and my necklace on it.
-
Your necklace upon
your throat!
-
And what have you here,
unequalled Solokha?
-
Heavens! Who could it be?
-
What will happen
if get caught here?
-
In heavens name,
most virtuous Solokha,
-
"Your goodness" as the Scripture
says in Luke 13th...
-
three.., three...
-
Knocking! By God knocking!
-
Hide me somewhere!
-
Good evening, Solokha.
-
You maybe did not
expect me, eh?
-
Maybe you were already engaged
in flirting with someone?
-
Maybe you have already
someone hiding, huh?
-
Well now, Solokha,
give me a glass of vodka.
-
I think the abominable frost
has frozen my throat!
-
What a night before Christmas,
God had sent us!
-
Open up!
-
Someone is knocking
at the door!
-
Open up!
-
It's the blacksmith!
-
Listen, Solokha,
hide me wherever you want!
-
On no account in
the world do I want
-
to meet that confounded lad!
Devil's son!
-
Oh, help!
-
Not to offend
a woman's honour!
-
I wish he had a blister as big
as a haycock under each eye!
-
The poor clerk had to restrain
his cough and his sighs
-
when the weighty Cossack
sat down almost on his head
-
and placed his booths, covered
with frozen snow,
-
just on his temples.
-
Why do these bags lie here?
-
They ought to have been
taken away long ago.
-
This stupid love has
made quite a fool of me!
-
What, the devil!
-
Why the sacks appear to have
grown heavier then they were?
-
What a fool I am!
-
Have I forgotten that everything
seems to me heavier then it used to be.
-
No! Shall it be said
that I am a woman?
-
Had I ten such sacks,
I'd lift them all at once!
-
I will take this little one too.
-
I think I put
my instruments into it.
-
Ah, Vakula, there you are!
A good evening to you!
-
Did you get the boots
that the czarina wears?
-
Get the boots
and I'll marry you!
-
Farewell, Oksana!
-
Take whatever bridegroom you please!
Make a fool of whom you will!
-
As for me, you shall
never more meet me in this world!
-
Whither away, Vakula?
- Farewell, my friends!
-
God willing, I'll see you
in the next world,
-
but in this one
we'll meet no more!
-
He has gone mad!
- Pour lost soul!
-
I'll go tell about the blacksmith
having hanged himself!
-
Well, where am I running?
-
Is really all lost?!
-
Try it one more thing.
-
I will go to the pot-bellied Patzuck,
the Zaporoghian.
-
This fat Padzuck had indeed once
been a Zaporoghian.
-
Nobody, however, knew if he had been
turned out of this warlike community,
-
or if he had fled from it
of his own accord.
-
Barely a few days after
his arrival in the village,
-
everyone already knew that
he was a witch doctor.
-
I have come for your help,
Patzuck.
-
I am on the point of endangering
the salvation of my sinful soul.
-
Nothing in this world
can serve me!
-
It will be what is.
-
May I to seek help from
the devil himself!
-
Well, Patzuck,
what am I to do?
-
When you want the devil,
then go to the devil!
-
I came to you for this very reason,
as, besides yourself,
-
there is hardly anyone
that knows the way to him.
-
He who has got the devil
on his back
-
has no long way to go to him.
-
Here I am, I, your friend.
-
I will do everything
for a comrade and friend as you!
-
No later then this very day
Oksana shall be ours!
-
Well, on this condition
I am ready to be yours!
-
Well, Vakula,
you know very well,
-
that nothing can be done
without a contract!
-
I'm ready! I have heard that it is
custom with you to write it in blood!
-
Wait, let me get a nail
out of my pocket.
-
Stop, my dear fellow!
-
What will you say now?
- Have mercy on me, Vakula!
-
I am ready to do whatever
you want, only do not make
-
the dread sign of
the cross on me!
-
Take me riding on your back
this very hour, you hear?
-
A pretty ride I must have.
- Where to?
-
To St. Petersburg,
straight to the czarina!
-
Oksana remained a long time
-
pondering over the strange
speech of the blacksmith.
-
Something within her
told her that she
-
had behaved with too much
cruelty towards him.
-
What if he should indeed
resort to some frightful decision?
-
He may perhaps
fall in love with some other girl,
-
And, out of spite, proclaim her
to be the bell of the village!
-
But no, he is too much
in love with me!
-
I am so handsome!
-
For none will he ever leave me!
-
Stop, the blacksmith has
left his bags behind.
-
Look, what enormous
sacks too!
-
Are these the blacksmith's sacks?
-
Let us take them into my cottage!
- But we'll never be able to lift them!
-
Wait, come with me to fetch a sledge
and we'll drag them home on it.
-
The prisoners were far from pleased
at sitting in the bags.
-
What sacks are these? Someone has left
them on the road!
-
There must be pork for
a certainty in there!
-
Who had the good luck
to so many donations?!
-
I'd better bring them out of the way
lest anyone should see them!
-
No I could not carry it home alone.
-
Oh, here comes as if on purpose,
the weaver!
-
Help me here, good man,
to carry off these sacks!
-
Some caroller has left them here
in the middle of the road.
-
We will divide
the booty between us.
-
Where shall we carry it?
-
Take it to my house.
-
No one shall interfere with us,
my wife is not at home.
-
Who's there?
- What to do now?!
-
Show me directly what you have
got there, you hear!
-
Show me what is
in this bag of yours!
-
May the bald devil show it
to you, we will not!
-
Why should we?
The bag is ours, not yours!
-
No, you show me,
worthless drunkard!
-
Help! Help!
-
Why, here lies a whole boar!
-
A boar! Away with you!
Away! It's our boar!
-
Go, go, damn woman!
-
This is not your property!
-
This is not a boar!
-
Just see what a man
someone threw in the bag!
-
It's my kinsman!
-
And who else should
it be then?
-
Was it not a capital
trick of mine!
-
And you thought of eating
me like pork?
-
Wait a minute,
I will make you happy.
-
In the bag is another being,
if not a wild boar,
-
it's probably a pig
or other livestock.
-
Below me, something was
stirring constantly.
-
It's the clerk!
-
Well I'll be damned,
ah you, Solokha!
-
Put the clerk in a bag too.
-
That's why I saw her room
all full of sacks!
-
Now I know.
-
She has got two men
in each of them.
-
Well, you, Solokha!
-
There is nothing to be done.
-
We must content
ourselves with this one.
-
Let's see what we have got here.
-
Oh, there's somebody in the sack!
-
What does this mean?
Where are you rushing like mad things?
-
Oh, father, there is
someone sitting in the bag!
-
In the bag?
-
Where did you get
this sack from?
-
The blacksmith threw it down
in the middle of the road.
-
Well, what are you afraid
of then? Let us see.
-
Come on, my good man,
-
excuse me for not calling you by
your Christian name and your surname,
-
please make your way
out of the sack.
-
The elder was in there too,
as you see!
-
It seems to be rather
cold out of doors.
-
Yes, the frost is rather severe.
-
But let me ask you,
-
What do you use
to black your boots with
-
tallow or tar?
-
I prefer tar.
-
Well, goodbye, Chub.
-
What a fool
I was to ask him,
-
What he uses to black
his boots with?
-
Ah yes Solokha!
To put such a man into a sack!
-
May the devil take her!
-
And I, fool that I was!
-
At first Vakula could
not help feeling
-
afraid at rising to such height
-
that he could distinguish nothing
upon the earth.
-
All was bright in the sky.
-
A light silvery mist covered
the transparent air.
-
Everything was distinctly visible
-
and the blacksmith
even noticed how
-
a wizard flew past
them sitting in a pot.
-
How some stars, gathered in a group,
played hide and seek,
-
how a devil dancing in
a moonbeam, seeing him ride,
-
took off his cap
and made a bow,
-
how there was a broom flying,
-
on which, apparently, a witch just
had taken a flight.
-
The blacksmith went on flying
-
and suddenly he saw
Petersburg all in a blaze!
-
Good heavens, what a noise,
what a clatter, what a blaze!
-
Do I bring you directly
to the czarina?
-
That would be frightening!
-
There must be some Cossacks here
that passed through Dikanka last fall.
-
Lets ask them for advice.
-
Now, Satan, get into my pocket
and bring me to those Cossacks.
-
Good evening your worships.
Do you recognize me?
-
We will have a chat with
you later, dear fellow,
-
now we must go at once
to the czarina.
-
To the czarina? Be kind,
your worships. Take me with you!
-
Take you with us?
What will you do there?
-
No, it can not be.
-
My dear fellow, we have to
speak to the czarina on business.
-
Do take me... Beg!
-
Well, come, comrades.
We will take him.
-
Well, then, let him come.
-
Gracious Lord,
what a glare!
-
We have nu suck light at Dikanka,
even during the day!
-
What a staircase,
it's a pity to walk upon it!
-
What beautiful ornaments!
-
My heavens, that a balustrade!
-
What workmanship,
the iron alone
-
must have cost no less
than some 50 roubles!
-
Ah, what a picture!
-
What a wonderful painting!
-
My God, what colours!
-
I should think there was no ochre
used in the painting,
-
certainly nothing but
ultramarine and lake!
-
What do you ask for?
-
Now it's time!
The czarina asks what you want!
-
Imperial Majesty,
do not show me thy anger.
-
Show me thy mercy!
-
Please tell me
-
and let not my question bring
-
the wrath of the Majesty's
worship upon me
-
of what stuff are made the boots
that you wear on your feet?
-
Gracious Lord, if ever my wife
had such booths to wear!
-
Stand up if you wish to have
such shoes,
-
your wish may be
easily fulfilled.
-
Let him have directly my
richest gold embroidered shoes!
-
This artlessness
pleases me exceedingly!
-
Gracious Lord, what ornaments!
-
Where are you going?
-
Hold on, buddy.
I haven't done with you.
-
I have not thanked you!
-
Have mercy on me, father.
Do not be angry with me!
-
There, take this scourge and
whip me as much as you want!
-
Well, that will do,
stand up!
-
Now, speak out,
what do you want?
-
Father, let me have Oksana.
-
Chub thought a bit and looked
at the hat and a belt.
-
The cap was beautiful,
the belt not less so.
-
He remembered the bad
faith of Solokha.
-
Well, send me your
marriage brokers.
-
Look at the boots
I have brought you.
-
They are the very boots
which the czarina wears!
-
No, no I do not want
those boots.
-
I will do without the boots.
-
The end
