Marketplace

Plot

The surviving 'Marketplace' scene depicts a bustling Russian fair with vendors, peasants, and various characters in Pushkin's satirical fairy tale. In the full intended story, a cunning priest hires a worker named Balda, who proves to be cleverer than his master through a series of clever tricks and bargains. The marketplace scene establishes the setting where the priest first encounters Balda and demonstrates the social satire inherent in Pushkin's tale. The animation uses avant-garde techniques to caricature Russian society and religious figures, with Shostakovich's satirical score accompanying the visual commentary.

Historical Background

This film was created during a critical period in Soviet cultural history, coinciding with Stalin's consolidation of power and the implementation of Socialist Realism as the only approved artistic style. The early 1930s saw the end of the experimental avant-garde period in Soviet art, replaced by strict ideological control. Shostakovich was facing intense criticism for his 'formalist' tendencies, and many artists were being arrested or executed during the Great Purge. The film's suppression reflects the broader destruction of experimental art in the Soviet Union during this period. The marketplace scene, with its caricature of Russian society and religious figures, represented exactly the kind of critical art that Stalin's regime sought to eliminate. This makes the surviving fragment an important document of a lost chapter in Soviet cultural history.

Making Of

The production of 'The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda' was an ambitious project that brought together some of the Soviet Union's most talented artists. Mikhail Tsekhanovskiy, already established as a pioneering animator, collaborated with composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who was at the height of his powers but increasingly under political pressure. The team sought to create a full-length animated feature that would showcase Soviet artistic innovation while adapting Pushkin's satirical fairy tale. However, as production progressed through 1934-1936, the political climate in the Soviet Union became increasingly hostile to experimental art. The film's satirical depiction of religious figures and social hierarchies, combined with Shostakovich's modernist score, attracted the attention of cultural authorities. In 1936, production was abruptly halted, and much of the footage was ordered destroyed. The surviving marketplace fragment was preserved only because it had been separated from the main reels for technical review.

Visual Style

The surviving marketplace scene demonstrates remarkable technical sophistication for its time, featuring complex character animation with exaggerated caricatures influenced by Russian folk art and constructivist design principles. The animation uses a combination of traditional cel techniques with experimental approaches to movement and perspective. The visual style incorporates elements of Russian lubok (folk prints) and avant-garde art movements. The scene features multiple layers of animation with detailed background elements and numerous moving characters, creating a rich, bustling atmosphere. The character designs are highly stylized, using geometric shapes and bold lines to create memorable caricatures that serve the satirical nature of the story.

Innovations

The film represented several technical innovations in early animation, including sophisticated character animation with emotional expression, complex crowd scenes with multiple independently moving characters, and innovative use of color and design to create visual satire. The animation techniques demonstrated in the surviving fragment were years ahead of what was being done in Western animation at the time. The film pioneered the concept of animated opera, synchronizing complex musical compositions with character movement and expression. The marketplace scene particularly showcases advanced techniques in creating depth and atmosphere through layered animation and background design.

Music

Dmitri Shostakovich composed an original operatic score specifically for this film, representing one of his few forays into film music during this period. The music was designed to work as a complete opera, with each character having distinct musical themes. The score incorporated elements of Russian folk music combined with Shostakovich's characteristic modernist harmonies and satirical musical commentary. The marketplace scene features particularly lively orchestration with woodwinds and brass creating the bustling atmosphere of the fair. After the film's suppression, Shostakovich repurposed some of the musical material for other compositions, though much of the original score is lost along with the film.

Memorable Scenes

• The bustling marketplace scene showing various vendors, peasants, and caricatured figures in a Russian fair, demonstrating sophisticated character animation and satirical visual commentary on Russian society

What Critics Said

As the film was never released, contemporary critical reception is unknown. However, film historians and animation scholars who have studied the surviving fragment universally praise its technical sophistication and artistic ambition. Critics consider it a lost masterpiece that was decades ahead of its time in its approach to animated storytelling. The marketplace scene is frequently cited as evidence of the sophisticated level Soviet animation had achieved by the mid-1930s. Modern critics lament the loss of the complete film and view it as one of the greatest casualties of Soviet cultural censorship. The fragment is often featured in retrospectives of lost films and is studied in film schools as an example of avant-garde animation techniques.

What Audiences Thought

No contemporary audience reception exists as the film was never publicly released. Modern audiences who have seen the surviving fragment through film festivals or archival screenings express fascination with its visual style and disappointment that more of the film doesn't exist. Animation enthusiasts and film historians particularly appreciate the fragment as a rare glimpse of experimental Soviet animation from this period. The scene has gained cult status among those interested in lost films and Soviet cinema history.

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