Film Year: 1964
Genre: Fantasy
Director: Aleksandr Rou
Starring: Alexander Khvylya, Natalya Sedykh, Eduard Izotov
MST Season: 8
The Movie
This colorful Russian fairy tale tells the story of the cute as a button Nastenka, who is put down and all but enslaved by her evil stepmother and stepsister (are there any other kind?). The arrogant and narcissistic Ivan tries to woo her, only to turn into a bear after pissing off a small mushroom man (no, I’m not making this up as I go along). Bear Ivan runs off to do good deeds in an attempt to change back, only to learn true selflessness in the process, while Nastenka is abandoned in the woods by her stepmother for being attractive. Nastenka takes refuge with Father Frost, but is turned to ice by his staff by accident. Now only true love’s kiss can break the spell.
Like most Russo-Finnish productions seen on the show, Jack Frost is daffy, gonzo, and loony. Maybe a bit more so. I think there could also be an argument that it is actually the best one of the bunch. The movie’s aspiration is to be a fun fairy tale, and it’s hard to debate that it genuinely succeeds at being one. Unlike oh say the works of Walt Disney’s animation studio, I can also honestly say that as far as filmed fairy tales go, Jack Frost doesn’t have any particular movie magic at its heart.
I’m not Russian, and I’m not familiar with the Morozko story that Jack Frost is based upon, so I can’t tell of its faithfulness. What I can say is that as aimless as the film seemingly is at times, I get the feeling that it’s very faithful. There’s not really a straightforward narrative to be found here. But if you’re a Russian family looking for a mythic fantasy film for your younglings, I imagine you can do a lot worse.
The Episode
Due to the family friendly nature of the movie, the fact that it’s not painful, and the unintentional hilarity of it, I would very much claim that Jack Frost might very well be one of the finest gateway episodes of the series for new viewers, especially with younger viewers. A child would be engaged by the colorful fantasy on display, and likely enjoy the cute little puppet show at the bottom of the screen. This is a very easy “safe” episode that I’m sure could play far more mainstream than the rest of the series.
For seasoned veteran fan who has seen ‘em all, it’s pretty good, but not great. The movie pretty much does most of the work, while Mike and the bots more or less just cast their sails and let the wind guide them. To their credit they often enhance the hilarity of the movie quite well, but I do have to wonder if maybe the movie is too entertaining by itself and even a lackluster commentary on it would get a pass. However I’m almost certain that a lackluster commentary on this particular movie is pretty much impossible, because there is so much to respond to. Mike and the bots get laughs to be sure, but my gut tells me that the movie gets just as many if not more.
If the host segments were up to scratch I’d probably deem this with classic status, unfortunately they’re the fatal flaw. The episode seems a bit intent on dating itself with mocking several people who were relevant at the time but have faded somewhat since then, such as Michael Flately and Yakov Smirnov. And those are actually the better SOL segments of the bunch. Other than that, we have Crow pretending to be a bear and Tom pretending to be Nastenka, to middling results. The interaction between Bobo and Observer without Pearl are probably the strongest moments of these portions, but even those never really rise above a few chuckles.
Jack Frost is a fan favorite, but I feel that the other Russo-Finnish episode edge it out. You can’t really go wrong when the crew tries to mock one of these things though, which makes Jack Frost a must-watch regardless of it being a bit lesser.
Good
The DVD
Jack Frost warmed things up on Shout Factory’s Volume XVIII release. Audio and video were aces, while the only special feature was an intro by Kevin gushing about how silly but enjoyable this movie was.
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