In this fantasy with dragons and flying machines, 10-year-old Marta is determined to find her brother who was kidnapped at Christmastime by a fake Saint Nick because the little boy is blessed with the ability to locate gold. A kindly, wise philosopher-type by the name of Orlando joins Marta in her search, and together they survive a gigantic sleeping dragon and imprisonment in a tower with no clear means of escape. They overcome that hurdle, but later on, Orlando succumbs to the evils of The Plague (an all-consuming woman!) and Marta continues on her search alone. Eventually, she does find her brother -- but that only introduces problems she had never considered.
Practical Effects
Gigantic sleeping dragon puppet is gloriously unhinged
Costume
Fake Santa's nightmare suit haunts my dreams
Production
Flying machines built with Soviet industrial aesthetic
Director
Aleksandr Mitta
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Soviet fantasy films of this era smuggled subversive themes past censors through fairy tale allegory—The Plague as consuming woman reads differently through a communist lens.
Andrey Mironov was a beloved Soviet comedy star; his tragic turn here shocked audiences expecting laughs. He died just two years later, making this performance eerily prophetic.
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