The Nutcracker (Щелкунчик, pronounced "Shchelkunchik") is a 1973 Soviet animated film by the Soyuzmultfilm studio. It is an adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann's eponymous Fairy Tale, and uses elements and music from Tchaikovsky's ballet.
It can be seen here
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For the 2004 Russian-German adaptation, see The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
The Nutcracker provides examples of:
- Adaptation Distillation: The adaptation is based on the most famous musical pieces of the ballet, with the most relevant points of the original story edited back in. The adaptation also includes some music from "Sleeping Beauty" as well.
- Adorable Evil Minions: Despite them supposed to be intimidating and the Mouse King's soldiers, the mice in this short are adorable.
- Composite Character: The Nutcracker is both the Nutcracker and Princess Pirlipat: he himself is the king and queen's son, transformed into a nutcracker by the Mouse Queen under similar circumstances to Princess Pirlipat's enchantment in Hoffmann's story.
- Culturally Sensitive Adaptation: Because aristocratic and bourgeois protagonists were frowned upon in the Soviet Union and avoided whenever it was humanly possible, the protagonist became a poor servant girl who, for extra tear-jerking, isn't allowed to join the rich kids' celebration and has to watch it from a distance. It's quite the contrast from Marie Stahlbaum, whose parents are quite well-off.
- Distressed Dude: The Nutcracker.
- Doting Parent: It's implied in the flashback that the Mouse Queen is very protective of her son, who is angry that his mother died when the prince is cursed.
- Evil Counterpart: In the flashback, The Mouse King is set up as a full-fledged foil to The Nutcracker: also a prince, also loves toys, but spoiled rotten and evil to the core.
- Evil Sorcerer: Both the Mouse Queen and the King, thanks to the magic crown they wore.
- Fairy Tale
- Flashback: Explains The Nutcracker's origins.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: The Queen of the Mice is downright mean in this adaptation.
- Good Parents: The Nutcracker's parents in this story are shown to be very loving to their son and are horrified when their son is transformed to a Nutcracker. So much so, that the entire kingdom somehow becomes stone afterwards.
- Gorgeous Garment Generation: In the end, the heroine is transformed into a princess and gets a new dress created by magic.
- Multiple Head Case: The Mouse King has three heads, but so did his mother, the Mouse Queen before her death.
- Mime and Music-Only Cartoon: The cartoon has no dialogue, leaving everything to the music and action like, you guessed it, a ballet. (In export versions, a voice-over narration is sometimes added).
- Overlord Jr.: The Mouse King in the flashback, where he doubles up as a Royal Brat.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis: Several generations of Russian children were introduced to the ballet (and Tchaikovsky's music in general) by this cartoon.
- Recycled Soundtrack: In addition to The Nutcracker, the movie also borrows some music from The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake.
- Unrelated in the Adaptation: In this retelling, the Clara/Marie character is a maidservant in the house that hosts the Christmas party, not the family's daughter.
- Soul Jar: The Mouse King's magic crown apparently serves as this to him. He dies when the heroine's thrown shoe knocks it off his head and shatters it.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The mice are vulnerable to... things that make you sneeze, such as pepper. When they sneeze, they explode.
