Morozko
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"Well, Mike - I guess this is just a Magical Land. (Beat) I hate magical lands." |
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Morozko is a 1964 Soviet fairy tale film that tells the story of the young maiden Nastenka, and her suitor, Ivan. Nastenka is a sweet, innocent girl who's tormented by both her evil stepmother and her spoiled, ugly stepsister, Marfushka, to the point where her father's ordered to dump her out in the woods. Ivan insults the elderly Father Mushroom and is turned into a bear because of his pride. Despite these and many other obstacles, including constant interference from the witch Baba Yaga, the two lovers finally reunite (with the help of the titular character, a.k.a. Jack Frost), get married, and live happily ever after.
This film gained a cult following in Czechoslovakia and fans of vintage foreign fantasy films. In 1966 it was released in the United States as Jack Frost and (as seen in the page image) Father Frost. In 2011, the film recieved a remake as a musical-comedy that featuring such reimagining as the scene where Ivan revives Nastenka featuring a parody of "I Will Survive."
Not to be confused with the film about a killer snowman, or the other film about a friendly snowman.
For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, please go to the episode recap page.
- Adaptation Expansion: The original fairy tale only covered Morozko rescuing and rewarding the Nastenka character for refusing help even while freezing to death, and him later punishing her stepsister for trying to trick him.
- Animorphism: Ivan being turned into a bear.
- Laser-Guided Karma: "If you didn't act like a bear, you wouldn't have the head of a bear."
- Baba Yaga: Called "the Hunchbacked Fairy" in the English dub.
- Boring Invincible Hero: Ivan, bordering on Marty Stu after he loses his pride and selfishness
- Bowdlerized: In the actual tale, Marfusha was killed and stuffed in that pig-driven sleigh. Never mess with Jack Frost. You Have Been Warned.
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A short while later, the gate to the yard creaked. The old woman went outside and saw her husband standing next to the sleigh. She rushed forward and pulled aside the sleigh's cover. To her horror, she saw the body of her daughter, frozen by an angry Morozko. She began to scream and berate her husband, but it was all in vain. Later, the old man's daughter married a neighbor, had children, and lived happily. Her father would visit his grandchildren every now and then, and remind them always to respect Old Man Winter. |
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- Brick Joke: The cudgels.
- Canine Companion: Nastenka's dog
- Cats Are Mean: Baba Yaga's cat, who tricks Nastenka into getting herself frozen.
- If by tricked you mean she was stupid enough to reach out and touch the magical ice staff that she knew froze people when the cat just walked past it, then yeah.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: The cudgels thrown in the air at the beginning come back down at the most opportune time.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Jack Frost tends to leave his magic sceptre lying around - which tends to result in things being frozen to death.
- Cool Old Guy: Morozko, in more ways than one.
- Dawson Casting: Averted with Nastenka.
- Maybe, maybe not. The actress was 16 when the film was made, and though she looks like a well-developed preteen her character's age is never given.
- Deliberately Cute Child: Nastenka
- Damsel in Distress: Nastenka
- Do Not Push Over And Threaten Jack Frost
- Fairy Tale: It is one.
- Fairy Tale Kitchen Sink: See Adaptation Expansion. The movie's writers seem to be throwing in every fairy tale trope they can think of, and pulling in characters like Baba Yaga from unrelated legends.
- The Freelance Shame Squad: Trope Namer. It's sort of impressive how quickly they can mobilize out of nowhere any time Marfushka makes a fool of herself.
- Friend to All Living Things: Nastenka, and then some. When her stepmother gives her an impossible task to complete before sunrise at the beginning, she tries asking the local rooster not to crow until she's finished. The rooster passes the buck and tells her to ask the sun -- and she actually manages to convince it to not rise for long enough for her to finish.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: At one point Ivan talks about never having sat on a shovel before, causing Mike to quip "the flat part, anyway."
- Henpecked Husband: Nastenka's father, until the end.
- Ironic Echo: "I won't say it, I'll be quiet."
- Hoist By Her Own Petard: Once Nastenka is gone, the stepmother laments the fact that not only does she have to do all the housework now, but now she has no one to pick on for amusement.
- An Ice Person: Jack Frost, though this version visually has a lot in common with Santa Claus: cool white beard, neat coat, friendly demeanor, magic sleigh, showers you with gifts if he likes you.
- Large Ham: Almost the entire cast.
- Although Baba Yaga tops everyone in this department.
- Love At First Sight: Ivan proposes to Nastenka within minutes of meeting her.
- Messy Pig: Not only do we have Baba Yaga's pet pig (which gets turned into a wooden pig sleigh that Ivan has to chase...don't ask), but Marfushka, after trying to get Jack Frost to give her everything Nastenka got near the end, ends up coming home on a dinky little sled pulled by pigs.
- Nice Hat: Father Mushroom
- Older Than They Look: Nastenka.
- Parental Favoritism: The stepmother's attitude towards her biological daughter.
- The Power of Love: This, apparently, is the cure for getting frozen by Jack Frost's sceptre.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The mushroom-gathering bear cubs leave Mike and the 'Bots too busy d'awwing to riff the movie for a short while.
- Too Dumb to Live: Nastenka knows that touching the ice scepter means instant death, and has seen this demonstrated. Yet when pursuing the cat across the room, she reaches out and grabs it for no discernable reason.
- Marfushka meets up with the Anthropomorphic Personification of freezing to death, and immediately starts talking smack to him, even knocking him on his ass. In this adaptation she got off damn easy, and even a few pigs ahead of the deal.
- Wicked Witch: Baba Yaga (renamed "The Hunchbacked Fairy" in the English version presumably because they thought English viewers would be unaware of the original Russian fairy tales).