This 1964 Soviet fairy tale film tells the story of the young maiden Nastenka, and her suitor, Ivan. Nastenka is a sweet, innocent girl who's tormented by both her evil stepmother and her spoiled, ugly stepsister, Marfushka, to the point where her father's ordered to dump her out in the woods. Ivan insults the elderly Father Mushroom and is turned into a bear because of his pride. Despite these and many other obstacles, including constant interference from the witch Baba Yaga, the two lovers finally reunite (with the help of the titular character, a.k.a. Jack Frost), get married, and live happily ever after.This film gained a cult following in Czechoslovakia and fans of vintage foreign fantasy films. In 1966 it was released in the United States as Jack Frost. In 2011, the film recieved a remake as a musical-comedy that featured such reimagining as the scene where Ivan revives Nastenka featuring a parody of "I Will Survive."Not to be confused with the film about a killer snowman, or the other film about a friendly snowman.For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version, please go to the episode recap page.
Provides Examples Of:
Aborted Arc: So... Nastenka is favored over Marfusha by a suitor. This causes the Wicked Stepmother to banish Nastenka. However, what happened to the suitor and his mother? Did they suddenly lose interest in Nastenka? Obviously, Nastenka was never interested in the suitor. She loved Ivan.
Adaptation Expansion: The original fairy tale only covered Morozko rescuing and rewarding the Nastenka character for refusing help even while freezing to death, and him later punishing her stepsister for trying to trick him.
Bowdlerized: In the actual tale, Marfusha was killed and stuffed in that pig-driven sleigh. Never mess with Jack Frost. You Have Been Warned.
A short while later, the gate to the yard creaked. The old woman went outside and saw her husband standing next to the sleigh. She rushed forward and pulled aside the sleigh's cover. To her horror, she saw the body of her daughter, frozen by an angry Morozko. She began to scream and berate her husband, but it was all in vain. Later, the old man's daughter married a neighbor, had children, and lived happily. Her father would visit his grandchildren every now and then, and remind them always to respect Old Man Winter.
Even Evil Has Standards / Traumatic Haircut: The Wicked Stepmotherrefuses to cut off Nastenka's braid at her prized daughter's insistence, with the lame excuse that she'd have nothing to pull her around with. Considering how highly long hair braids are viewed in that culture, it is akin to defacing Mona Lisa.
Fairy Tale Kitchen Sink: See Adaptation Expansion. The movie's writers seem to be throwing in every fairy tale trope they can think of, and pulling in characters like Baba Yaga from unrelated legends.
The Freelance Shame Squad: Trope Namer. It's sort of impressive how quickly they can mobilize out of nowhere any time Marfushka makes a fool of herself.
Friend to All Living Things: Nastenka, and then some. When her stepmother gives her an impossible task to complete before sunrise at the beginning, she tries asking the local rooster not to crow until she's finished. The rooster passes the buck and tells her to ask the sun — and she actually manages to convince it not to rise for long enough for her to finish.
She also appears to have a conversation with flowers at one point. We don't hear them speak, but Nastenka apparently can understand them.
Hoist By Her Own Petard: Once Nastenka is gone, the stepmother laments the fact that not only does she have to do all the housework now, but now she has no one to pick on for amusement.
An Ice Person: Jack Frost, though this version visually has a lot in common with Santa Claus: cool white beard, neat coat, friendly demeanor, magic sleigh, showers you with gifts if he likes you.
Kneel Before Zod: Father Mushroom advises Ivan to bow his head before a very old man. Ivan mocks him, saying that people who bow their heads run the risk of losing them. He then foolishly tells Father Mushroom that bears may bow before him, but not Ivan. See Laser-Guided Karma / Tempting Fate.
Although Baba Yaga tops everyone in this department.
Love at First Sight: Ivan proposes to Nastenka within minutes of meeting her. Nastenka falls for him as well, though she never tells him.
Messy Pig: Not only do we have Baba Yaga's pet pig (which gets turned into a wooden pig sleigh that Ivan has to chase...don't ask), but Marfushka, after trying to get Jack Frost to give her everything Nastenka got near the end, ends up coming home on a dinky little sled pulled by pigs.
Papa Bear: Subverted by Nastenka's father for most of the movie — he loves his daughter but he just can't stand up to his nagging wife.
Parental Favoritism: The stepmother's attitude towards her biological daughter.
The Power of Love: This, apparently, is the cure for getting frozen by Jack Frost's sceptre.
Pragmatic Villainy: The evil stepmother refuses to cut Nastenka's long braid off, but only because then she won't have anything to grab her stepdaughter by.
Which is a lie, since she never grabs Nastenka by the braid. See Even Evil Has Standards.
Too Dumb to Live: Nastenka knows that touching the ice scepter means instant death, and has seen this demonstrated. Yet when pursuing the cat across the room, she reaches out and grabs it for no discernible reason.
Marfushka meets up with the Anthropomorphic Personification of freezing to death, and immediately starts talking smack to him, even knocking him on his ass. In this adaptation she got off damn easy, and even a few pigs ahead on the deal.
Wicked Stepmother: Invoked by Ivan ("You must have a very wicked stepmother!"), and lampshaded by Nastenka ("Stepmothers are stepmothers.")
Wicked Witch: Baba Yaga (renamed "The Hunchbacked Fairy" in the English version presumably because they thought English viewers would be unaware of the original Russian fairy tales).
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