Anastacia Zyubina

Аленький цветочек (The Scarlet Flower)

49 in x of animated feature film history Release: 1952 Country: Soviet Union Director: Lev Atamanov

“The Scarlet Flower is based on the story of the same name by Sergei Aksakov, which is an adaptation of the traditional story ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ 

Before going on an overseas journey, a merchant father asks his three daughters what they would like him to bring back for them. The youngest (Nastenka) asks her father to bring her a beautiful scarlet flower like one which she saw in her dreams. During his travels, a storm strikes and the father is washed overboard. He wakes up on a strange island, upon which he finds a flower just like the one Nastenka described. The instant that he plucks it, however, a great storm comes upon him and the owner of the island - a hideous monster - makes his presence known. He tells the father that he will let him keep the flower, but in return he must send one of his daughters to live with him. The father refuses, and the monster gives him a ring, telling him that whoever puts it on will be teleported back to the island, and that if his daughter doesn’t come then he himself must come and be killed. Nastenka overhears a conversation where her father reveals this to his friend and secretly puts on the ring herself.

Nastenka’s singing was performed by the famous chamber singer Victoria Ivanova.”

(source)