This short film (32 minutes) was bothcharming and mesmerizing, with little details that add a lot to the old familiar story. Also, it had beautifully creative animation that delighted me. I also really enjoyed the same director's "The Frog Princess" (Mikhail Tsekhanovskiy). So far, that, this one and "The Snow Queen" are my favorites from Soyuzmultfilm. I will definitely be continuing my odyssey into Soviet animation.
Soyuzmultfilm was an animation studio based in Moscow, Russia, that released films mostly through the Soviet years of that country, from 1936 and on. Films used hand-drawn, rotoscoping, puppetry and various forms of animation styles.