Der Zauberer aus der Flasche

Love a lot of fantasy, the best of them captivating, enthralling and enchanting me as a child and as a young adult, even more so with some with appreciating aspects more and noticing things, big and little, not noticed when younger. This has been something that has been common in a lot of childhood favourite re-watches. Also love foreign cinema, have been seeing even more of it with a broader knowledge of it and the knowledge is continuing to broaden even more.

It's been a while since seeing a Russian film, but do remember with great fondness being on a roll watching many Russian fantasies and animations five years ago, out of interest and nostalgia, and decided to do it again with a little more time on my hands and being in the midst of a calming down period. Starting with 'The Flying Carpet'. My experience of Russian fantasy and animation has been one of great pleasure with so many gems and 'The Flying Carpet' brought all of those fond memories back. Not one of my absolute favourites of all the Russian fantasies but only because of the high quality of so many to count.

'The Flying Carpet' is well made visually and has held up well, or so to me it has. The scenery makes me pine for a trip to Russia and the settings are the very meaning of wondrous, enhanced further by photography that is never too flashy or overblown nor simplistic or static. The special effects are not overused or abused and do have a magical charm, don't think they've dated at all. The music is atmospheric, whimsical and infectious, as well as appealing to listen to and not detracting at all from what's happening.

Also highly successful is the writing and storytelling. The writing is the kind that made me laugh, cry and probe thought. There are also political elements but they didn't feel out of place or heavy-handed. The story has a sense of wonder and has a lot of heart and charm, moving swiftly and never feeling tiresome.

Characters are always engaging and ones worth caring for and while the acting is slightly theatrical it still suits the characters and their personalities very well and there is a lot of spirit in the portrayals.

Overall, wondrous and flies high. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Starik Khottabych is classic Soviet film, which screenplay is based on a bestseller, Lazar Lagin's book. The book was some kind of modern Harry Potter novels for soviet kids.Personally, I've read that book about 10 times when I was a kid.It's about a pioneer (communistic analogue of boyscout) who finds a genie bottle in 1930's.Boy calls the genie "starik Khottabych", it's hard to translate this name, because russian "starik" literally means "old man" in English but starik has another sense, while Khottabych is a usual for russians and ukrainians second name, which means "son of Khottab".Overally the boy thinks of genie as an old baby and tries to learn how to use genie's abilities to help his friends, his favourite soccer team and so on.Pioneer don't bothers about money, his main concern is how to make Khottabych a true communist. This film may be influenced by Comrade Stalin himself, but it doesn't mean nothing today.It's moral is looking naive for modern kids in ex-USSR, they prefer to watch meaningless Pokemon cartoons.Still, if you want to know something about such an unique thing as Soviet Fantasy, this movie is one of the few examples of it.

I've seen a few other Soviet era children's films before, but they were mostly of the fairy tale or folk tale genre and were set in distant times and/or places. "Old Hottabych" is set in contemporary (mid 1950s) Soviet Russia, which helped facilitate the strong dose of socialist propaganda in this film. A translation of the original book can be found online, and it seems that the propagandic nature of the story was there from the beginning. I suspect that the screenwriters were strongly encouraged to retain all the socialist talking points in the process of condensing the story for the screenplay, and this causes the propaganda elements to seem more dominant in the film then they might have seemed in the original book. This film is certainly a product of its time and place, and it may seem a bit weird or creepy to western audiences to see a 10 or 11 year old school kid berating a classmate for "hooligan" behavior in school, and threatening to take it up with the "Young Pioneer Council." I was never in the Boy Scouts when I was a kid, but I wonder if they ever cultivated that same kind of cultish fervor here in the west.

I do find it interesting to get a glimpse of what mid-50s Moscow and its citizens looked like, and the story is certainly colorful if you can look past the Soviet propaganda, which is admittedly difficult. The kids are appealing enough too when they're not acting like fanatical little commissars, but even that aspect is interesting to see. As a lifelong US citizen I look at this film as a remarkable artifact of a vanished culture, access to which was once strictly prohibited. Mr. Sidorov's comment below about Soviet fantasy being a unique and not often encountered thing is certainly true, and I'm glad of the opportunity to see it. The Russian Cinema Council (RUSCICO) just released a beautiful DVD of the film with optional subtitles or English language voiceover, which is probably the only way I could have managed to see it. For the adventurous film lover, this is an interesting detour.

it seems be the right choice for understand the Soviet Union in "50. in same measure, it is an adorable children film, mixture of exoticism, political command, crumbs of fairy tale and the authentic charm of young actors. and this did it seductive. because the adventures of old genie preserves the fascination of mystery and young wise characters and good intentions, and the impact between worlds. and the political message is almost archaeological artifact, more funny but the story itself. maybe, it remains, first, a film for the East public. for its details who are source of special humor and nostalgia, memories and simple cinematographic tricks. in same measure, it has an universal message. and this did it interesting. and , maybe, for adult generations, adorable.