Three from Prostokvashino

Three from Prostokvashino
File:Troe iz Prostokvashino.jpg Uncle Fyodor, His Dog and His Cat
Directed by	Vladimir Popov
Produced by	Soyuzmultfilm
Written by	Eduard Uspensky
Starring	Lev Durov Valentina Talyzina Boris Novikov Maria Vinogradova Gyerman Kachin Oleg Tabakov
Music by	Yevgeni Krylatov
Cinematography	Kabul Rasulov
Edited by	Natalya Stepantseva
Release dates	1978 (1978)
Running time	18 min 48 sec
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

Three from Prostokvashino (Russian: Трое из Простоквашино, tr. Troye iz Prostokvashino) is a 1978 Soviet animated film based on the children's book Uncle Fedya, His Dog, and His Cat by Eduard Uspensky. The film has two sequels, Vacations in Prostokvashino (Каникулы в Простоквашино) (1980) and Winter in Prostokvashino (Зима в Простоквашино) (1984).

The main character is a six-year-old boy who is called Uncle Fyodor (voiced by Mariya Vinogradova) because he is very serious. After his parents don't let him keep the talking cat Matroskin (voiced by Oleg Tabakov), Uncle Fyodor leaves his home. With the dog Sharik (voiced by Lev Durov), the three set up a home in the country village Prostokvashino (Russian: Простоквашино; IPA: [prəstɐˈkvaʂɨnə], "soured milk"). There they have many adventures, some involving the local mailman, Pechkin (voiced by Boris Novikov).

The series has been a source of many quotable phrases in post-Soviet countries. It has made an impact comparable to Nu, pogodi! in Russian culture.

Plot

Uncle Fyodor is a very independent city boy, "a boy on his own". After his mother forbids him from keeping his talking cat Matroskin, Uncle Fyodor runs away from home to live on his own. He and his friends arrive at the village Prostokvashino, where a house is provided for them. There is a lot of extra space in the house, and therefore the local dog Sharik was called to fill it; he joined them cheerfully and amicably.

Uncle Fyodor's parents became very agitated at the loss of their son, and even put out a missing persons notice in the paper … Such a notice couldn't pass the nose of the extremely curious mail carrier Pechkin, who right then and there declared his hopes to earn a reward for the boy's safe return — a new bicycle.

Interesting facts

• At the request of the director Vladimir Popov, work on the creation of screen images was divided between art directors. Levon Hachatryan worked on depictions of the mail carrier Pechkin, Uncle Fyodor, and his Father and Mother. Nikolay Erykalov worked on images of animals: the cat Matroskin, the dog Sharik, the cow Murka and her calf, Gavryusha. The image of Galchonka didn't turn out well for a long time; therefore, everyone who came into the drafting room for "Soyuzmultfilm", asked Leonid Shvartsman, the founder to Cheburashka, to try his hand at drawing Galchonka.
• Levon Hachatryan modeled Uncle Fyodor's mother after his wife, Larisa Myasnikova. "Small stature, short hairdo, wearing spectacles. Popov made the amendments ... in the sketch they were round as were worn by my wife, but Popov asserted that they were better square" (from Levon Hachatryan's records).
• The animation of Uncle Fyodor's parents in 1978 is very similar to that of the Swedish parents of the Kid in 1968 from the animated film "Kid and Carlson" (that, however, isn't surprising as both movies had same art directors, and virtually the same group of animators).
• Before "Prostokvashino," Nikolay Erykalov and Levon Hachatryan had worked together on the animated film "Bobik on a Visit at Barbos". There is a certain similarity between the protagonists of these two animated films.
• The only depiction on which the team didn't come to a uniform decision is that of Uncle Fyodor. Therefore, his screen image changes drastically from series to series.
• The episode where the mail carrier Pechkin knocks at the door, and Galchonka answers "Who's there?", is very similar to a similar episode in the American educational cartoon serial "The Electric Company" (1971) where the plumber knocks at the door and is answered by a parrot.
• The mail carrier Pechkin is very similar to citizen Kurochkin from V. Popov's animated adaptation of "Vasya Kurolesov's Adventure" (1981), especially as both heroes were voiced by actor Boris Novikov.
• Before production of "Prostokvashino," there were existing animated films about Uncle Fyodor, shot by Ekran studio in cutout equipment: "Uncle Fyodor, the Dog, and the Cat" (1975 — 1976).

External links

• Three from Prostokvashino at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Three from Prostokvashino at IMDb