Novelly
About Novelly
The film is two stories. In The Swineherd, from Andersen, a prince sends a neighboring princess a rose and a nightingale. She wants toys, not living things. He comes to the palace as a swineherd who makes toys, each one priced at a kiss. The king finds them kissing and drives both out. The swineherd is the prince again. She would follow him. He refuses her. In Heaven and Hell, from Mérimée's Clara Gazul play, Don Pablo is in a plot against the king. His beloved Doña Uracca's confessor, the monk Bartoloméo, is an Inquisition spy. He stirs her jealousy until she names Pablo. Pablo is thrown in a cell. She gets in, stabs Bartoloméo, and leaves with Pablo.
Cast & crew
More about Novelly
Aleksandr Macheret directed this Mosfilm feature, premiered August 22, 1941. Igor Gelein photographed it. Russian sources give 47 minutes. It was shot in a three-color hydrotype process developed at Mosfilm and NIKFI. A note on the production credits cameraman P. M. Mershin with that method. Yuri Lyubimov plays the prince, Vera Altayskaya the princess, and Grigory Shpigel the king. Natalya Gitserot plays Doña Uracca and Yevgeny Samoylov plays Don Pablo.
Themes
Background
The premiere was August 22, 1941, two months after the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
Making
The two stories were a color test as much as a pair of plots. The hydrotype work was done with Mosfilm and the NIKFI research institute.
Look
Igor Gelein photographed the two stories in the three-color hydrotype process associated with P. M. Mershin.
Technique
The picture is an early Mosfilm trial of three-color hydrotype, developed with NIKFI.
Preservation
A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The Russian title used on the release is Tsvetnye kinonovelly, color film-novellas.
- The second story comes from Mérimée's Le ciel et l'enfer in the Théâtre de Clara Gazul.
- The swineherd's price is one kiss per toy.
- The Wikimedia file is titled with the Russian name and the year 1941.
Scenes
- The princess pays a kiss for each toy, and the king walks in.
- Doña Uracca stabs Bartoloméo in the cell and leaves with Don Pablo.
Influenced by
- Hans Christian Andersen's The Swineherd
- Prosper Mérimée's Heaven and Hell
