A Night Before Christmas
Cast & Crew
Aleksandr Rou
Aleksandr Khvylya
L. Myznikova
Yu. Tavrov
L. Khityayeva
S. Martinson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
On Christmas Eve in the Ukrainian village of Dikanka, the pig-faced Devil steals the moon. His purpose is to discourage the Cossack Chub from attending a party given by a kinsman of the sacristan's and leaving his beautiful daughter, Oksana, alone and vulnerable to a visit by the blacksmith Vakula, whose fine religious paintings the Devil finds offensive. However, the plan backfires as Chub sets out from home in the darkness with his friend Panas. Inside the house, Oksana sits in front of her mirror, talking to herself of her own beauty. Vakula, who is head-over-heels in love with Oksana, arrives to woo her, but she mocks him. The Devil creates a snowstorm to send Chub home, but the Cossack, roughly turned away from his own door by Vakula, believes he has stopped at the wrong house. He proceeds to the home of Vakula's mother, the witch Solokha, who counts among her lovers the Devil, the sacristan, and the Head, as well as Chub. Each of them arrives at her house in turn, believing her to be alone, and at each knock on the door she hides her current visitor in a coal sack to prevent his discovery. Meanwhile, Oksana taunts Vakula in front of her friends, who have gathered to sing carols, promising that she will marry him if he can bring her the czarina's slippers. The lovelorn Vakula visits the sorcerer Patsyuk to enlist the Devil's help, carrying with him a small coal sack from his mother's house. He discovers that he has been carrying the Devil in the sack and catches him by the tail. Forced to do Vakula's bidding, the Devil takes him to Saint Petersburg, and there the blacksmith joins a troop of Zaporozhian Cossacks who are to be reviewed by the czarina. The czarina is touched by Vakula's simple-hearted request for a pair of her slippers and gladly complies. By the time Vakula is returned home by the Devil, gossip has it that he has taken his own life. Meanwhile, Oksana, fearing that she has lost him, has fallen madly in love with him. Oksana and Vakula wed, and Vakula paints the church as an act of penance.
Director
Aleksandr Rou
Cast
Aleksandr Khvylya
L. Myznikova
Yu. Tavrov
L. Khityayeva
S. Martinson
Anatoliy Kubatskiy
Vera Altayskaya
D. Kapka
N. Yakovchenko
M. Sidorchuk
A. Radunskiy
Georgiy Millyar
A. Ablova
V. Bubnova
M. Vasilyev
Ye. Grigoryev
A. Demyanenko
L. Korolyova
I. Murzayeva
N. Skvortsova
A. Smirnov
Mark Troyanovskiy
Z. Chekulayeva
Yu. Chekulayev
Crew
L. Akimov
V. Biryukova
K. Blinova
I. Davydov
A. Demyanenko
Anatoliy Dikan
Aleksandr Dikhtyar
L. Dushina
S. Filenova
A. Filippenko
A. Ivashchenko
G. Kozlov
V. Losev
Yu. Lupandin
V. Nikitchenko
Aleksandr Rou
Dmitriy Surenskiy
V. Tolba
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Released in the U.S.S.R. in December 1961 as Vechera na khutore bliz Dikanki. Synopsis follows Gogol's story.
