Baba Yaga (1973)
"Zolotye roga" (original title)

A long time ago a splendid deer with golden antlers lived in the woods, always protecting the poor and weak and disdaining evil. In a little village nearby the woods widow Yevdokya lived ... See full summary »

Director:

Aleksandr Rou

Writers:

Mikhail Nozhkin (poems), Lev Potyomkin,

Stars:

Raisa Ryazanova, Vera Altayskaya, Volodya Belov

Cast

Credited cast:
Raisa Ryazanova	...	Mother Yevdokya
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vera Altayskaya
Volodya Belov	...	Yevdokya's son
Anatoli Gorbachyov	...	Wood spirit Lyab
Yuri Kharchenko	...	Wood spirit Chochrik
Aleksandr Khvylya
Margarita Korabelnikova
Saveli Kramarov
Georgiy Millyar	...	witch Baba Yaga
Lev Potyomkin
Mikhail Pugovkin	...	Robber-chief Irod
Boris Sichkin
Aleksei Smirnov	...	Old wood spirit Kapytonich
Ira Tchigrinova	...	Mashenka
Lena Tchigrinova	...	Dashenka

Storyline

A long time ago a splendid deer with golden antlers lived in the woods, always protecting the poor and weak and disdaining evil. In a little village nearby the woods widow Yevdokya lived with her twin daughters Mashenka and Dashenka, her son and her old father. One day the girls observe robbers hunting the deer. Shortly after they are lured into the woods by forest spirits. Infuriated about their presence, witch Baba Yaga turns them into fawns. Meanwhile, Yevdokya searches for her daughters. For protecting the deer of robbers she gets a magical ring to protect her from danger. The deer advises her to set off to the red sun or the clear moon. But both cannot reach the magic woods with their light. Finally, the boy accompanied by his cat goes in search for sisters and mother.

---

Plot Keywords:

fawn | mother | magic | witch | chicken | 

---

Genres:

Family | Fantasy

---

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

21 December 1973 (East Germany)

Also Known As:

Baba Yaga

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gorky Film Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Wonderful Russian Weirdness!

I stumbled across this DVD at my local library so I took it home and watched it -- I'm glad I did! It appears to be a theatrical adaptation of a Russian fairytale -- goblins, witches, children disobeying their parents and learning a lesson from it, etc. It's very colorful and bizarre and though a little surreal/disjointed at times, it is competently made and would certainly delight children between ages 5-10 I'd say. Actually, it is very very similar to another Russian film -- "Morozko" (Jack Frost), which was featured on Mystery Science Theater. It's so familiar in fact that the witch character of Baba Yaga was played by the same actor in both films! And the witch lives in the same house -- a cabin that walks around with the aid of chicken legs! If you come across it and want to expose your kids to something culturally different that they won't get bored of or if you just are a fan of colorful, strange Russian cinema, definitely watch it!