The Tale of Tsar Saltan (cartoon, 1984)

Talking among themselves, the three sisters behind the spinning wheel dream of what each of them would do if suddenly she became the queen. The first of them promises to hold a feast for the whole world, the second - to hit the canvases, and the third - “for the priest-king” to give birth to “the hero”. At this moment the king Saltan himself enters the luminaries, who had already overheard the conversation of the sisters. He proposed the third of them marriage, and the other two - the place of the weaver and cook in the palace.

When the king goes to war in distant lands, the queen gives birth to his son - Tsarevich Gvidon. However, the sisters and women of Babarah, out of envy, replace the letter to the king that she bore him an “unknown animal”. The king orders to wait until his return, but the sisters here also change the king's letter (since Babarikh bribed the diak) with a fake letter with an order — the king's nobles dumped the mother with the newborn into the sea inside the barrel.

Barrel makes a desert island, with Guidon out of it already an adult young man. To feed his mother, he makes a bow and arrow and goes to the sea to hunt. There he rescues a white swan from a kite, and she promises to thank him. A city appears on an empty island, and Guidon becomes its ruler.

Four merchants swim past the island. After arriving in the kingdom of Saltan, they tell him about the wonderful city and invite him on behalf of Prince Guidon. The prince himself, having turned (with the help of swans) into a mosquito, sails with the merchants to his father and listens to this conversation. But one of the envious sisters, the cook, tells Saltan about a new wonder of the world: a singing squirrel that lives under a spruce and gnaws nuts with emeralds and golden shells. Hearing about a new miracle, the king refuses to go to Gvidon. For this mosquito stings cook in the right eye. Guidon tells the swans about a squirrel, and she moves her to the city of Guidon. For the squirrel, the prince builds a crystal house.

The next time the merchants tell Saltan about the squirrel and pass on a new invitation from Guidon. The prince, already in the guise of a fly, listens to this conversation. Weaver tells about 33 heroes, emerging from the sea, led by Uncle Black Sea. Sultan, hearing about a new miracle, again refuses to travel, for which the fly bites the weaver in the left eye. Prince Guidon tells the swans about 33 warriors, and they appear on the island.

Once again, merchants tell Saltan about miracles and pass on a new invitation, while Gvidon overhears them in the form of a bumblebee. Swati Babariha tells about the princess, eclipsed by the "light of day," with a month under the scythe and a burning star in the forehead. Sultan, having heard of a new miracle, refuses a trip for the third time. For this, the bumblebee bites Babarikha in the nose and flies away.

After returning, Guidon tells the swans about the beautiful princess and says that she wants to marry her. She again fulfills the desire of Guidon, because the princess with a star in her forehead is herself herself.

The king again takes over the merchants. Those tell him about all three miracles of the island of Buyan and convey the words of Guidon that the king “promised to visit them, but he did not gather to this day.” At this time, Saltan firmly decides to go to the island of Buyan. Upon arrival, he recognizes his wife as a queen, and his son and daughter-in-law in a young prince with a princess. To celebrate, he forgives evil sisters and a marriage, and then lets them go home. A cheerful feast is arranged for the whole world, and everyone lives happily and richly.

• XVIII All-Union Film Festival (Minsk, 1985): Prize "For the successful adaptation of the Russian classic fairy tale" - "The Tale of Tsar Saltan".
• XIV Moscow Film Festival (Moscow, also 1985): The prize for the best cartoon - "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" ^[2]

Ivan Ivanov-Vano was the first to use the motifs and techniques of folk art in animation. Studying in VHUTEMAS, education in the traditions of the Russian avant-garde, excellent knowledge of world artistic culture - all this was reflected in his work. From the point of view of art history mechanics, he could be called a formalist, he was not afraid to experiment. This directorial experiment was "The Humpbacked Horse", which became a classic. In it, Ivanov-Vano combined everything: love for Russian culture, poetry, knowledge of the profession, and good command of the entire arsenal of animation of that time. He turned Disney technology into a powerful event - a Russian film. Here was, of course, the merit of the artist, Lev Milchin, with whom he had not parted all his life. Their last work was the Tale of Tsar Saltan. It was a perfect tandem - an irresistible nature, a man-warrior, a fanatic, a tyrant Vano and an intellectual to the core, not allowing himself anything superfluous, but understanding everything, acute to the grotesque Milchin. For several decades, its elements, its natural habitat, remained a Russian fairy tale.

- Yuri Norshtein ^[3]

In the early 1990s, the cartoon was released on videotapes by the Close-up Film Association, and in the middle of the same decade it was released on VHS Studio Pro Video in the collection of cartoon tales by A. S. Pushkin and separately by the Soyuz studio. In the 2000s, the film was released on DVD by the “Krupny Plan” film association and the Soyuz studio, and in 2003 in one of the issues of the “Golden collection of favorite cartoons”.

• The Tale of Tsar Saltan (cartoon, 1943) - a black and white cartoon by Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg ( Soyuzmultfilm , 1943)
• The Tale of Tsar Saltan (film) - Alexander Ptushko's feature film (Mosfilm, 1966)

• " The Tale of Tsar Saltan " (Eng.) On the Internet Movie Database
• The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1984) on Animator.ru
• "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" on the site "Encyclopedia of the national cinema"
• The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1984). Stills