The name of the princess from the Town Musicians of Bremen. Why is the fairy tale called “The Town Musicians of Bremen. Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Musicians of Bremen"

There is nothing better in the world... than looking for mistakes while reviewing a wonderful Soviet cartoon. By the way, completely atypical for its time: the characters communicate only through singing, pretend to be criminals, dress like hippies and specifically resemble the Beatles. Oh yes, the first episode was voiced overnight by only two actors - due to scheduling problems at the Melodiya studio, all the roles except the Princess went to Oleg Anofriev, who was ill at that time. Created in such a fun and crazy time pressure, the cartoon simply could not afford to be sleek and correct in everything.

BLOOPS IN OTHER SOVIET CARTOON FILMS

By the way, at the time of its release, “The Bremen Town Musicians” caused a lot of negativity among parents: how can you even show this to children?! What is typical is that modern mothers and fathers have not changed the nature of their complaints about today’s cartoons, and their favorite childhood “Bremen Town Musicians” does not cause any complaints. It's a classic!

And against the backdrop of rumors that Sarik Andreasyan (“The Defenders,” “Mafia: Game of Survival”) is preparing to shoot a prequel to this Soviet masterpiece, and not just in any way, but in the spirit of Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” giving In this case, the main characters are named after the Beatles - nostalgia for the original animated film seems especially relevant. Let's not think about the fate of the future prequel for now and let's admire the minor flaws and funny mistakes in the good old and very good cartoon.

THE THIGERS OF BREMEN AND OTHER FAILED CARTOON FILMS

Traditionally, the first thing we do is look at something that is missing. Let's start with the Rooster, who strangely disappeared from the cart in a matter of frames. One might assume that he was obscured - but the Dog and the Cat are sitting too far from each other. The rooster clearly went for a walk.

The second disappearance, or rather sudden restructuring, is the doorway in the house of the robbers. Either the stone acting as a threshold was also frightened by the animals making strange sounds and ran away, or they managed to quickly expand the entrance hole.

And here are the mysterious lights on the car of the brilliant detective from the cartoon “In the Footsteps of the Bremen Town Musicians.” First there are two of them, then one, jumping from one side to the other. A detective with such smart technology definitely doesn’t need any extra help.

Continuing the theme of disappearances: after tying the King to a tree, the self-proclaimed robbers ended up with four turns of rope; during the rescue operation, only three can be seen.

The stickers on the suitcase of the Bremen musicians, which disappear and appear at their own discretion, and the dunce’s boot, which left its owner’s foot at the most crucial moment, also have special independence. More precisely, this criminal appeared with a boot in only one frame; the rest of the time he appears barefoot.

There are a couple of beautiful appearances in the cartoon. This concerns the number of bars in the lattice city gates (when the heroes are expelled from the settlement, there are five bars in the lattice, at the end of the cartoon - six) and the lid of the royal spinet. This amazing instrument from the harpsichord family can also grow parts.

As for sudden changes, it’s worth remembering the sign with bones on the already mentioned robbers’ hut (one or another bone appears on top, plus they change in appearance) and the indispensable doors, this time palace ones. Well, where would there be without incidents with doors in a self-respecting cartoon! The pigeons change sizes, the keyhole disappears.

It is worth separately showing you the amazing royal umbrella. At the moment of danger, the number of colored sections on this accessory increases very sharply.

Let's move on to the most interesting part - the heroes. In a nutshell: it seems that in the two parts of the film they are “played” by different actors. The troubadour from a simple guy with a potato nose turned into a noble young man with a square jaw. According to the idea, the hero was supposed to simply become older, but people don’t change their type so dramatically as they grow older. Or do they change? Just look at these completely different guys!

But the Rooster at the beginning of the first part sports a beautiful tail, which was later torn out. In the second series, the tail “grew” to be much more modest and colored completely differently. And Rooster’s legs have noticeably gained weight. The reason is unknown.

The Cat also experienced an amazing change in the second episode: his blue eyes changed to green. As you know, usually the eyes of kittens change from their “baby” blue color to four months. Is the Cat really still a kitten? It is a difficult fate to wander at such a tender age.

We continue our excursion into the wonderful world of The Bremen Town Musicians with several almost rhetorical questions. Here's the first one: Is the King left-handed or right-handed? It is quite possible that he is a very rare representative of the human race - ambidextrous. Dexterously operates with both hands.

Question two: how do the heroes manage to dance in the air? In this scene, you can see that their paws and feet are not touching the ground.

Question three: Does the princess run on water or on grass? At first splashes are visible, then this same green substance behaves quite solidly, like earth, for example. Amazing surface. Maybe this is the same carpet-flower meadow?

And finally, a puzzle frame: count the legs and heads. How many legs does one terrified guard have?

Happy nostalgia!

40 years ago, in 1969, when The Town Musicians of Bremen was released, Soviet audiences were introduced to a new genre - the animated musical. Or a musical fairy tale (at that time the foreign word “musical” was not in circulation). In 1973, the long-awaited sequel appeared - “In the footsteps of the Bremen Town Musicians”. In it, the characters looked even more “un-Soviet”: the main character wears even more flared trousers and an “Elivis” shirt, the Princess wears a tight-fitting mini dress, and their friends wear fashionable “foreign” glasses.

Troubadour

As you know, in the original "The Town Musicians of Bremen" by the Brothers Grimm, the main characters were animals wandering to Bremen in search of a better life, and robbers in a forest hut. But Vasily Livanov, the screenwriter of the favorite Soviet cartoon and the future screen embodiment of Sherlock Holmes, decided that the four animals should have a “human artistic director,” quotes the poet and screenwriter of the cartoon Yuri Entin tvcenter.ru.

When the cartoon was just being created, artist Maxim Zherebchevsky made several sketches of the main characters. “Max’s troubadour looked like a buffoon in a cap, which I absolutely didn’t like,” recalls the director of “The Bremen Town Musicians” Inessa Kovalevskaya. “Once I was leafing through a foreign magazine and saw a blond man with a Beatles hairstyle in jeans. photograph to the artist, and immediately our future Troubadour appeared."

So in 1969, Troubadour introduced fashionable foreign bell-bottoms. But the famous shirt with a high turn-down collar and a deep neckline was put on him later - in 1973 in the cartoon “In the Footsteps of the Bremen Town Musicians.”

In general, in the second cartoon, Troubadour’s appearance changed very much - his face became more expressive, his eyes were better drawn, his potato nose disappeared, his chin became more masculine. The Troubadour's hairstyle also changed: the Beatles-style shaggy look was replaced by a haircut with a neat parting and sideburns. In the updated Troubadour, many saw similarities with Elvis Presley.

But most of all, the baritone of Muslim Magomayev gives away the matured Troubadour - in the first part of "The Bremen Town Musicians" Oleg Anofriev sings for the main character.

“I remember I was so excited when they were recording the phonogram that I offered to sing for the Princess. Well, I could do it!” - recalls Oleg Anofriev.

Over the course of four years, the Princess has noticeably matured: instead of two ponytails, she has loose hair, children's knee socks remained in the first cartoon, and a tight-fitting mini dress emphasized her feminine figure.

By the way, this dress on the Princess, according to the scriptwriter of the cartoon, poet Yuri Entin, is actually his wife’s wedding dress: “The same red dress that you see in the cartoon, I bought her for 40 rubles, she wore it at the wedding ".

There is a version that in the image of the Princess who escaped from the palace there is an allusion to the daughter of the General Secretary of the Central Committee Galina Brezhneva, notorious for her eccentric behavior and numerous novels. She was especially attracted to artists. Her first husband, because of whom she ran away from home and dropped out of university, was circus artist Evgeniy Milaev. The second husband - for only 9 days, until she was taken away under escort and the marriage was annulled as illegal - was Igor Kio, the son of the famous illusionist. She also had affairs with the famous dancer Maris Liepoji and the gypsy actor, soloist of the Roman Theater Boris Buryatse.

Friends of the Troubadour

The Troubadour's four faithful friends in the sequel to The Musicians of Bremen have not changed as significantly as the main characters. The rooster's bright multi-colored tail was replaced by a white tail with two colored stripes. The cat changed his eye color a little, the dog darkened and lost his medal.

Initially, the members of “Chord” were supposed to voice the wandering musicians, but when it turned out that they could not come to the recording, the poet Anatoly Gorokhov, the author of the song “Our service is both dangerous and difficult...”, was asked to sing for them.

“Many people thought that we made a parody of Western rock bands: they saw Elvis Presley in the Troubadour, and the Beatles in these four little animals...” says Gennady Gladkov.

Indeed, many fans of the legendary British group recognized their idols in the cartoon quartet - in particular, we are talking about the scene when the animals with their performance distract the attention of the king and the detective while the Troubadour frees the Princess. According to fans of the Fab Four, the dog looks like George Harrison, the Cat looks like Paul McCartney, the drummer Rooster looks like Ringo Starr, and the donkey looks like John Lennon.

One-bo-bo-boys

But the images of the robbers cannot be confused with anyone else: they are copied from characters popular in the 60s - the Coward, the Dunce and the Seasoned.

“We worked on the images of the robbers for a very long time, we even announced a competition among artists,” says the director of “The Town Musicians of Bremen” Inessa Kovalskaya. “We drew them slanted, and red, and green, different - everything seemed wrong to us. But one day our editor Natasha Abramova brought a calendar with photographs of the trinity popular at that time: Vitsin, Morgunov and Nikulin, and it immediately dawned on me: here they are, robbers!

Zinovy ​​Gerdt was originally supposed to sing for Atamansha, a plump woman of “gypsy appearance,” but due to the fact that he could not come to the recording of the phonogram, Oleg Anofriev sang instead. By the way, bloggers believe that the prototype of Atamansha was “definitely Nonna Mordyukova.”

In the second cartoon - "In the footsteps of the Bremen Town Musicians" - Muslim Magomayev sang for Atamansha.

The material was prepared by the online editors of www.rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Young, unknown composer Gennady Gladkov, poet Yuri Entin and film director Inessa Kovalevskaya decided to make an animated musical for children. What a musical was was roughly known, but the authors did not know what an animated one, and even a children’s one, was. But they really wanted the viewer to “sing the cartoon”...

Gradually the outline began to emerge. It was best to take a simple and well-known fairy tale as the basis for a musical animated film, so that the plot could be understood from the actions of the characters. And instead of storytelling, all efforts should be directed towards creating musical images of heroes. All that remained was to find a fairy tale, but try to find one that no one has yet filmed?

No one will remember who exactly had the idea to make an animated musical based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Town Musicians of Bremen.” She was not the best from the collection of famous storytellers. The owners drove the Dog, Cat, Donkey and Rooster out of the yard as unnecessary. The poor fellows were forced to wander the roads and gradually became wandering musicians. The episode with the robbers slightly embellishes the fairy tale, diversifying its action. But the dramaturgy of the film had to be reinvented so that it would become interesting, dynamic and fit within the framework of a musical.

At this stage, V. Livanov joined the work on the script as a second screenwriter. So, "Bremen Town Musicians"!

There are Dog, Cat, Donkey and Rooster - wandering musicians or, in modern terms, a musical ensemble.
Well, what about without a musical director?! He became the Young Man, who later became the Troubadour. But, if the hero is Troubadour, then there must certainly be a Princess in the fairy tale! And the Princess, naturally, has a father, the King, with his royal palace and a crowd of courtiers. For the Brothers Grimm, the whole drama comes down mainly to the episode with the robbers, which means being a royal guard for protection.

Now, all the heroes of the future film have been named.

The film was born from such unsightly sketches:

I would like to note the peculiarity of Yu. Entin’s poems written for this film. They are very expressive, precise, full of humor and clearly characterize the singing characters.
There are a lot of funny puns in the poems:

“Oh, the security gets up early!” “Any roads are dear to us!” “I lost my peace in the royal chambers!” and “I’m locked in the castle!”
“Without my dear Princess, life is not sweet to me!”

All these literary jokes greatly decorate the songs, making them entertaining and memorable.

(Gennady Gladkov, Inessa Kovalevskaya.... Max Zherebchevsky)

While the fairy tale was taking shape, composer Gennady Gladkov was writing music for it. Not only the group working on the film immediately liked the verses, but other studio members also sang them.

Soyuzmultfilm did not have the necessary capabilities to record the music as the composer intended it. We negotiated with the Melodiya recording studio for a long time. They invited the Accord quartet, which was very popular at that time, consisting of two female voices and two male voices. The recording was scheduled for the night - there was no other free time at the Melodiya studio.

The music was recorded by a small orchestra consisting mainly of young musicians. The orchestra was conducted by the composer himself, Gennady Gladkov. It was the singers' turn. The role of Troubadour was offered to Oleg Anofriev, a theater actor with a pleasant voice, to sing.

At the very last moment it turns out that the Accord quartet did not show up for the recording!

Is it really possible to abandon the Melodiya studio, obtained with such difficulty? Catastrophe!

In the middle of the night we managed to get through to singer Elmira Zherzdeva and poet and singer Anatoly Gorokhov...

We've arrived!

Anatoly Gorokhov

Oleg Anofriev and Elmira Zherzdeva

Yuri Entin (right)

The recording began with little effort... It’s just happiness that a wonderful sound engineer and later composer Viktor Babushkin took part in the creation of the film.

We recorded Troubadour's serenade, his duet with the Princess. It was the turn of the ensembles. And then, as it turned out, Oleg Anofriev is a good imitator. The sound engineer recorded the singer on separate tracks, then connected everything together, adding the rich bass of Anatoly Gorokhov.

Big secret! – Gennady Gladkov sang for the King in a weak tenor.

We got to the verses of real robbers and again there was a dead end... The head of the gang should be a woman - Atamansha. Elmira Zherzdeva's lyric soprano was in no way suitable for this. And then Oleg Anofriev offered to sing for Atamansha too! Everyone was dumbfounded. But he insisted, then asked which actress should be “seen” in the role of Atamansha?
- Most likely, Faina Ranevskaya?
- Great! I’ll try “under Ranevskaya”! - Anofriev said and went to the microphone.
The recording ended successfully. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. As they say, in the Russian folk proverb - no, there is a silver lining! The Melodiya recording studio left in the morning. Moscow, which had not yet woken up, with clean streets and rare cars, seemed beautiful, life was amazing and completely happy...

Max Zherebchevsky and Inessa Kovalevskaya

Let's talk about directing for the first time. Why is it needed and what does the director do?
A screenwriter writes a script, a poet writes poetry, a composer composes music, an artist draws characters, actors voice roles, animators bring characters to life.
What is left to the director?
Each of the participants in the creation of the film sees the future film in their own way. The director’s task is to piece together a mosaic of creative perceptions so that they look whole and not scattered. At the same time, keep in mind that every creative person is very vulnerable and has difficulty accepting criticism.
The preparatory period for the film was ending, and disputes with the artist were in full swing.

- Then I decided to take a rather risky step,- recalls Inessa Kovalevskaya, – to present to the Art Council of the film studio, along with the director’s script, storyboard and music, precisely these characters, which, in my opinion, are completely inconsonant with either the music or the genre of the film.

There was hope that instead of taking offense, the artist would listen to the opinions of the members of the Arts Council.

The members of the Artistic Council were surprisingly unanimous in their opinion that these characters did not correspond to the script, and especially to the music.

We must pay tribute to Max Zherebchevsky - he agreed. After searches and new disputes, the Troubadour type was found in some foreign magazine with portraits of avant-garde musicians. The princess with funny tails sticking out in different directions was suggested by assistant production designer Svetlana Skrebneva. The director found the dress for the Princess while leafing through fashionable foreign magazines in the closed library of Goskino.

The rest of the musicians also appeared in a new form. Even the carriage became a suitcase on wheels. The king, guards and courtiers did not pose any difficulties, but the robbers...

Robbers are fairly common characters, but we need special ones, unlike anyone else! The film went into production, but there were no “own” robbers. A secret competition was announced at the studio. But it was not all that! One fine day, and it was certainly the most beautiful, studio editor Natalya Abramova brought a colorful calendar, which depicted a trio of the most famous comedians of that time: Yuri Nikulin - a dunce, Georgy Vitsyn - a coward and Evgeny Morgunov - an experienced one.

These are our heroes! Robbers! The chieftain had to be made to match everyone else.

The script is accompanied by a storyboard; it resembles modern comic books and consists of frame drawings. Unfortunately, only the director's sketches have survived.

The film is shot out of order, all the scenes are scattered and in order for everything to come together into a single whole, the director's script and storyboard are the main guide for everyone working on the film.

The preparatory period ends with a meeting of the artistic council of the film studio, which accepts all the work done. The creative and production group is being approved. It includes:

film director I. Kovalevskaya
production designer M. Zherebchevsky
cameraman E. Petrova
sound engineer V. Babushkin
Director assistant
assistant artist S. Skrebneva
editor E. Tertychnaya
editor A. Snesarev
group of cartoonists
Director of the film

What do wizards do?

(paint laboratory at the studio)

When everything is invented, you need to show all these fantasies to the viewer. But such painted artists do not exist in life and they should not exist like real people. Who will make the fantasy move? Looking for wizards? But they found them and even raised them.

At one time, the Soyuzmultfilm film studio itself trained its personnel in special courses. They came here very young, studied here and then worked here practically their entire lives.

In the studio, everyone had a permanent place with an indispensable mirror. The cartoonist will look in the mirror, imagine himself as a wolf or a kitten and transfer everything to paper!
No one was surprised if someone suddenly meowed or hopped around like a bunny in the studio corridor - it was just the artist getting into character!

Sometimes the profession of an animator is compared to that of an actor. An ordinary actor gets used to the role, adapting his body and creating an image out of it.

The animator not only gets used to the role, he creates an image that does not exist in nature. Gives him gait, habits, character, connects him with his voice. Even when his hero is “not alive.” Try to imagine how the chair moves, how the table dreams, how the pillows get angry or how the spoons dance! You can not? So you are not an animator!

Of course, every animator has his own preferences: one likes dynamic characters, another likes lyrical ones, a third prefers musical material. Some people like psychological scenes, while others like fights and chases. But, in principle, everyone should be able to get away with everything.

In an animated film, each individual scene is done by one single animator. He plays and draws one for everyone. Of course, the director tries to choose a task for the animator so that the same characters appear in the scenes, but this is rarely possible.

To make a film on time, several animators are simultaneously involved in working on the film. On average 3-5. Each animator brings the peculiarities of his creative style. At the same time, while preserving all the good things that the performer came up with, it is necessary to preserve the integrity of the film.
The more animators work on a film, the more difficult it is for the director and production designer.

“As for the film “Musicians of Bremen,” 16 animators worked on it at the same time. Only very little directorial experience could force me to undertake such an experiment. I never allowed myself to do this again!- says Inessa Kovalevskaya, - Since I met most of the animators for the first time on the film “The Town Musicians of Bremen,” the scene assignments were initially handed out at random, without taking into account or knowing the abilities and characteristics of the given performer. Only after some time, after watching the first samples of the cartoon, I began to better understand who and what kind of work to offer.”

Despite the difficulties and creative disputes, fate bound many to long happy years of working together.

Ella Maslova recalls:

“I worked on many films directed by I. Kovalevskaya. Every time after the end of the film there was a feeling of celebration. I think that the audience, after watching these musical cartoons, feels the same way.
I would also like to tell you about the amazing profession of an animator. It’s tempting to write this word with a capital letter.
This is an artist-actor who must be a comprehensively gifted person. He must have skills in other professions: musician, dancer, athlete, etc. Constantly observing everything that happens around, the animator spies on the habits of animals and birds.
A cartoonist can be compared to a wizard who can bring drawn people, animals, and birds to life, giving each one its own character.

For example, in the film “The Musicians of Bremen,” while developing the scene with the cat fakir, I had to remember how a fakir works in a circus. How his hands move, how he manipulates his cloak, from which strange objects appear.

Many wonderful films were made at the studio during my 40 years of work in animation, but I received the greatest satisfaction working on musical films, in particular those created by director I. Kovalevskaya. These films not only cultivate taste and love for music, but also instill goodness in people. Our children especially need this.”

It’s a shame that a tradition has already developed when songs from cartoons were joyfully picked up by children and adults, becoming almost a “national treasure”, lost.

It is almost impossible to explain only in words what kind of dance it should be; for this you need to be a choreographer. The director showed it to the animator as best she could, who listened to the music many times and noted notes on the exposure sheets. Then he copied the recording onto his tape recorder and left, singing...

“The scene turned out exactly as I imagined it and even better!”- recalls Inessa Kovalevskaya.

Inspired by luck, the director suggested that Davydov take the famous song of the false robbers, in which the heroes dressed as musicians: “bang - bang - and you are dead!” Almost all the characters in the film were involved here.

“It seems to me that this method of work is the most interesting for a cartoonist, as it gives a lot of scope for independence and does not constrain his creative imagination. But, of course, only when this creative imagination is available in sufficient quantities. This fully applies to Sasha Davydov. I wouldn't even call him a good drawer. But his ability to listen and hear music (which is not the same thing at all), his ability to accurately place accents in the movements of characters, his heightened sense of screen time are simply remarkable!”- says Inessa Alekseevna.

Oleg Safronov loved temperamental, dynamic scenes. And he was especially good at bright, eccentric characters. It so happened that a very important episode with the robbers and the Chieftain did not work out very well for the animator to whom the scenes were given. When the scene was handed over to Oleg Safronov, the episode began to play, became passionate, defiantly mischievous.

Digressing from the topic, you can tell a funny incident related to the robbery episode.
After the end of the film, the creative group of directors went to Kazan with new films: “Musicians of Bremen”, “Spy Passions”, “Cheburashka”, etc.
The reception was wonderful. The group was accompanied by a very serious and not talkative official from the local rental office. After a short performance, the audience watched the program, and the group behind the scenes sat down at the table, listening out of the corner of their ears to the reaction of the audience. And every time, as soon as it came to the number with the robbers, “our serious official” embarrassedly apologized, got out from behind the table and went to the auditorium to watch his favorite bandit number. With a wide smile he returned to the table. It’s hard to say how many times he watched and listened to this number.

“Oh, it’s early, the security is up!”
The viewer saw, heard and remembered!
This is a great merit of the artist and animator Vitaly Bobrov. His accents, discoveries in his gait and facial expressions captured a vivid episode that the viewer loved.
An excellent draftsman who was good at both people and animals, dynamics and lyrics, a dreamer and inventor, sincerely passionate about his work.

The rough sample tape is glued into a ring and run many times in a row. Everyone is extremely tense. Immediately the director and artist make their amendments. Discussion and controversy arise.

Viewing rough samples, both your own and others’, is an excellent school for cartoonists, where you can learn a lot, hear a detailed assessment of your work, and see your own mistakes.

Gradually, as the animation is ready, the film studio’s workshops get involved: drawing, phasing, contouring, filling. More and more studio people are working on our film. This is no longer a dozen, but a good hundred pairs of skillful and hardworking hands.

Phasing - rough, finishing or on celluloid - connects the layouts that the animator makes into a single whole, which creates movement on the screen. And finally, shading, when the characters change from outline, transparent ones to full-fledged, colored heroes of the film.

(fill)

All these stages of work go through endless checks, finishing touches, and clarifications so that there is no shaky outline or error in the coloring of the characters on the screen.

It was a particularly busy time towards the end of the film, so we stayed in the evenings and worked on weekends. Other groups rushed to help, because they knew that they would be helped in the same way.

I would like to note that the filming equipment was antediluvian and home-made, but, as it has now turned out, very good films were shot on it.

The 1969 Arts Council was crowded; in addition to studio members, it included famous writers, poets, artists, composers, whose opinions were quite professional. The studios received the film more than critically. One of the oldest and respected Masters certainly demanded voiceover. Another, no less respected, fiercely criticized, arguing that it was impossible to film like that. By the end of the discussion, the fate of the film had no prospects.

Only “non-professionals” saved the situation. The famous artist Boris Efimov (a master of political caricature) said that, without pretending to professionally analyze the quality of the picture, he received great pleasure from watching it, became ten years younger and will certainly show the film to his children and grandchildren and all his acquaintances.

The film was accepted by Goskino and even in the first category.

The screening also took place in the Great Hall of the Cinema House. The audience reacted noisily to the ultra-modern outfits of the heroes, fell silent in amazement, recognizing their favorite movie characters in the robbers, and applauded unanimously and for a long time after watching. Some immediately sang melodies... “Oh, the guards get up early”
It was a complete success!

But the intrigue had not yet begun.

The next stage can be called a discussion of the film in the Union of Cinematographers with the involvement of film critics who are successfully plowing in the field of animation. The same thing happened here as at the studio Arts Council. What was new and interesting in the film was not discussed at all. The film irritated film critics. N. Asenin tried especially hard, speaking furiously and with conviction about the spoiled fairy tale. However, somewhere higher up, obviously at Goskino, they decided to send the film to the festival in Berlin. Original posters were prepared...
And suddenly, one day everything was cancelled!

Many years later, the intrigue was revealed. As people at Sovexportfilm said, one of the authoritative directors of Soyuzmultfilm and the Union of Cinematographers very actively intervened in this matter. Most likely it was his film that went to the festival.

Inessa Kovalevskaya says:
“When they tell me about cruel censorship in Soviet cinema, and especially in animation, I just smile sadly. Long experience of working in cinema - first at Goskino, and then at the studio - showed me (and not only through my example) that 90% of all “troubles” are provoked by your own work colleagues. Moreover, the reasons can be very different. An ordinary official wouldn’t even think of this.”

But the film still met with the audience. In Moscow, in the area of ​​Vosstaniya Square, a cinema of an animated film with the strange name “Barricade” opened. The premiere of “The Town Musicians of Bremen” took place here, and since then the film has not left the cinema’s repertoire for a long time. Crowds of parents with children of all ages flocked here from all over Moscow. Tickets sold out instantly and were difficult to obtain.

The film gradually gained popularity. One day in the summer of 1972, during a break in a match at the stadium, the attention of fans was focused on a young man dressed in red jeans and a pullover. He also looked like Troubadour - just as slender, fair-haired and white-toothed!
The young man stood in the passage at the very top, proud and contented, allowing himself to be viewed from all sides.

Another side of the moon

The popularity was also promoted by the record released by the Melodiya record company almost simultaneously with the release of the film, and, thanks to this, received a huge circulation. This was undoubtedly pleasing, if not for one small circumstance. For the record it was only necessary to add text from the author, which is what V. Livanov did. The result is a musical fairy tale.

The only strange thing is that the work on the record was done in secret. On the beautiful sleeve of the record there was a modest annotation stating that an animated film had been made based on this fairy tale. Many film experts are confident that first Livanov made the record, and then the film appeared. In his book “White Crow,” V. Livanov tells how three friends (Gladkov, Entin and Livanov) suddenly, for no apparent reason, while having fun, came up with a musical script:

“So, with the script in our briefcase, we went to our favorite film studio, Soyuzmultfilm. A large artistic council gathered there: strict editors, experienced directors, venerable writers and talented artists and composers. We discussed, listened to the songs and decided - there will be “Bremen Town Musicians”!
And we started making the film."

This is where V. Livanov’s memories of the film end. In the book's annotation, Livanov is directly named as the film's director. At the same time that the film’s creative team was vying with each other for invitations to meetings with the audience, there was a different attitude at the studio and among film experts. The then director of the studio, M. Valkov, announced in a soft, apologetic tone that the director Kovalevskaya was not to the liking of the team and she had better submit an application.

Inessa Kovalevskaya says:
“This was probably a greeting from my past, when I worked as an editor at Goskino and supervised
film studio "Soyuzmultfilm". However, I firmly know that I never allowed myself to be offended or
offend someone because I love animation and respect people working in this field."

Over time, the studio “storm in a teacup” subsided. Livanov, Entin and Gladkov suggested that Kovalevskaya make a sequel. But the script did not inspire enthusiasm. This is how to continue your favorite fairy tale about Cinderella! The good plot development itself did not have a bright ending. Again the escape from the palace, which the viewer has already seen, as well as the robbers. We need to look for a new move!

Kovalevskaya suggested a replacement in the form of a sharp-parody detective and to work on the script while she was busy with other work. A little later, Inessa Alekseevna was surprised to learn that the film was in production...
What to do? This is cinema with its own “specifics”. You just need to step over everything and work on, - so Inessa Alekseevna reasoned. Later, developing the musical genre in animation, Kovalevskaya made two films: “At the Port” - based on modern material (composer M Minkov) and “The Tale of the Priest and his Worker Balda” based on the fairy tale by A.S. Pushkin (composer A Bykanov).

After many years, it becomes clear that the film musical “The Town Musicians of Bremen” was not only a new original phenomenon in Soviet animation, but also aroused interest among other directors in a new promising genre. These are “The Blue Puppy” and “Dog in Boots” by E. Hamburg. Even more interesting in this regard are the works of G. Bardin “The Flying Ship”. The songs and episodes precisely and inventively developed by the director, especially “Vodyanoy” and “Grandmothers - Yozhki,” brought the film well-deserved fame.

The story of the Bremen Town Musicians was retold in a Soviet cartoon from the 60s. The names of the characters did not change, but their characters began to correspond to images from popular magazines or Russian artists. The names of the Bremen musicians and their prototypes are now reliably known.

Instructions

Troubadour. This is the main character of the famous fairy tale. He is distinguished by courage, perseverance and lack of despondency. The troubadour spends the entire cartoon trying to reunite with the royal daughter. Its prototype was a certain dude from a fashion magazine. In 1969, when the cartoon was released, the image of a young man in flared
wearing trousers and a hairstyle like all Beatlemaniacs was most suitable. The musician was voiced by Oleg Anofriev. He sang most of his parts.

Donkey. The name of the Bremen musician does not reflect his character traits. The donkey had no other nickname other than to designate an equid animal. However, in the cartoon he showed himself as a bright and creative rock performer. Its prototype was the famous singer and musician Alexander Gradsky. His genius as a master of the stage was expressed in an episode with a concert at the court of the king. A cover of a lullaby was demonstrated there.

Rooster. The character's name also matches the name of the bird. He had no creative prototype, and he himself showed himself to be a silent hero, only occasionally behaving actively. But if the heroes got into trouble, the Rooster always helped them out, using his ability to fly and cunning.

Cat. The hero of the Puss from Bremen, who was called that in the cartoon and book, is somewhat reminiscent of the Soviet animation Puss in Boots. He is also assertive and cheerful. It is immediately clear from him that he is a tramp who knows how to stand up for himself. This is a bright and memorable character.

Dog. Few Bremen musicians had a special name. The dog also did not have a nickname. He represented the saddest cartoon character. But despite the depressing events of his life, he found true friends and associates with whom he was not so sad. This hero masterfully plays the guitar throughout the entire animated film.

note

In addition to the musicians themselves, there were other characters whose prototypes were real people. Thus, the Princess resembled the wife of the poet Yuri Entin both in appearance and in character. Her dress was chosen from a fashion model from a fashion magazine. And the three robbers corresponded to Nikulin, Vitsyn and Morgunov. Their characters were so consistent with the Coward, the Goon and the Experienced that there was no doubt about the similarity.

If you don’t understand why the fairy tale is called “The Town Musicians of Bremen,” then read our article and find useful information.

Why is the fairy tale called "The Town Musicians of Bremen"

Why is the fairy tale called “The Town Musicians of Bremen”? The main characters were heading to the city of Bremen, which was the city of dreams that everyone was so eager to get to.

This is a tale about four musicians who embodied the general image of the German people. "Bremen Town Musicians" - music that never made it to the much-desired city and did not become famous city performers.

Bremen is the cultural center of the region, where all dreams of a better life came true, so the animal musicians sought to reach the city. The image of animals is symbolic, which depicts the dream and desire of the people for a better bright life.

There is a legend that the basis of the fairy tale was European musicians, who were called “klezmer”. Kreizmers are European folk street musicians; performed at weddings, celebrations, and fairs. The leading instruments were violin, cymbals, double bass, trumpet, clarinet, drum, etc.

The main characters of the fairy tale “The Town Musicians of Bremen”: a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster, there were four of them, and the classical Klezmer Chapel consisted of 4 musicians playing the violin, clarinet, fifiole and drum with cymbals.