The genre of children's cinema was very popular in the USSR. Every second film released on the big screens of the cinemas of the Soviet Union was shot for children. With the collapse of a powerful country, they began to somehow forget about this genre. Currently, filmmakers only occasionally make children's films, trusting contemporary children with foreign-made paintings. Agree, the last few generations grew up on Harry Potter and Star Wars.
During the Soviet Union, dozens of good family films were shot. So let's remember USSR children's films list of the best.
10. Welcome, or no trespassing | 1964 year
The picture, which opens the top of the best children's films, is the full-length debut of the brilliant Soviet director Elena Klimov. The film tells about a boy who was unjustly expelled from a children's camp, and he secretly remained there. His friends are forced to protect the guy from the evil administration.
Children and adults have seen this film in different ways. If for young viewers it was a picture of friendship and fellowship, then adults easily glanced at the satire in the plot for Soviet double standards and red tape. Perhaps the tape would not have come out in a wide rental. Soviet censorship would not allow viewing such a provocative picture. But Nikita Khrushchev himself gave the go-ahead to showing the film. By the way, the head of the CPSU Central Committee was removed from office a few days after the premiere of the motion picture.
9. Scarecrow | 1983 year
Rolan Bykov is known as the greatest comedian and director, but it was he who directed the scarecrow, the most piercing Soviet drama for children. The picture of a girl who took upon herself another's betrayal and became an outcast, subjected to bullying, in the year of release did not find popularity with the viewer. On the contrary, the film was condemned for cruelty that should not be shown to children.
Opponents of the picture, which occupies the 9th place in the list of the best children's films of the USSR, said that in the Soviet Union there were no such bullying of peers over peers, and the film provokes the public. But they had nothing to oppose the statement of the author of the book “Scarecrow”, on which the picture was taken, that he wrote his creation based on the events that happened to his granddaughter.
8. The Elusive Avengers. Trilogy | 1966 year
If you thought that the trilogy started filming in Hollywood, we dare to disappoint you. Long before The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix, Edmond Keosayan made three films about children fighting on the front lines of the Civil War.
If the picture "Ivan's childhood" was shot about adult children: it was distinguished by gloom and cruelty. That is the opposite in this trilogy. There are far fewer moral teachings than the crazy and fun adventures that happened with the guys.
According to Hollywood tradition, the third part of “Elusive”, occupying the 8th place of the top of the best children's films, turned out to be much worse than the first two.
7. Guest from the future | 1985 year
The words from the song “The Beautiful Far Away” are familiar to all residents of Russia whose age has exceeded 20. Despite the internal processes that have been gaining momentum in the country, which led to the collapse of communist ideology, the picture, which is one of the best children's films, instantly gained cult status. The lead singer Natalya Guseva became the most coveted girl of the Soviet Union. And the performer of the role of the robot Yevgeny Gerasimov, thanks to his brilliant game, got a place in the City Duma.
But the main triumphs were the scriptwriter and author of the original source Kir Bulychev, and the film's director Pavel Arsenov, famous for the fairy tale "The Deer King".
6. You never dreamed of | 1980 year
In Soviet cinema, first love was shown in a playful form, they say, these are fake feelings, but only echoes of experiences. But in the film “You Never Had A Dream” the opposite is true. The film tells about high school students in love with each other. The plot of the film, which occupies the 6th place of the top of the best children's paintings, was taken from the book of Galina Shcherbakova “Roman and Julia,” which she wrote, inspired by the story of Romeo and Juliet. To avoid analogies with Shakespeare, the filmmakers changed the names of the main characters. For example, Julia became Katka.
A 16-year-old schoolgirl was played by 23-year-old Tatyana Aksyuta. But the high school student actually played a high school student. According to experts, Nikita Mikhailovsky coped with his role on a professional level, not inherent in many actors of that era.
5. Adventure Electronics | 1979 year
The mini-series about the friendship of a guy and a robot occupies the middle of the list of the best children's films of the USSR. The heartfelt story about Electronics was fond of all the spectators of the Soviet Union. And the main song “Winged Swing” instantly pops up in my head at the mention of the name Syroezhkin. It is interesting that the action of the picture takes place in Moscow, but they shot "Electronics" in Odessa. This did not appeal to those viewers who knew the capital very well.
4. Moscow-Cassiopeia | 1973 year
In Soviet films, astronauts were portrayed as superheroes without fear and reproach. And this was not surprising, because after the war, the heroes of the country were representatives of this particular profession. Only Tarkovsky in his Solaris dared to introduce the astronaut as a man with his fears and weaknesses. The rest was forbidden. But the director Richard Viktorov brilliantly came out of this situation, sending to conquer the space of children. In the picture, which occupies the 4th place in the list of the best children's films of the USSR, there is a place for jokes and scientific observations, fears and exploits. This was the Soviet response to the American Star Trek, where, at times, adult heroes behaved like children. Here, the opposite is true.
3. The Adventures of Pinocchio | 1975 year
Every American viewer watched at least once a cartoon about Pinocchio, shot by the great Walt Disney. In our country, they also know about a wooden boy, but he is different from his American brother. The two-part musical about Pinocchio, which took the bronze rating of the best children's films, is familiar to every resident of the Soviet Union. And the song “Bura-ti-no” instantly became a children's hit. It is interesting that the roles of the cat Basilio and Alice's fox were played by Rolan Bykov and Elena Sanaeva, being husband and wife. And the tortoise Tortilla was supposed to play Faina Ranevskaya, but did not grow together. The woman was afraid for her health, because the shooting took place in a distant Belarusian republic.
2. Kingdom of crooked mirrors | 1963 year
The film by Alexander Rowe is saturated with communist pathos. Therefore, he now does not look with the same sensations as before. But still, the director shot a bright film with great actors.
The film, which took the silver rating of the best Soviet children's paintings, takes place in the world of Curved Mirrors, where everything is distorted, presented on the contrary. The thin ones are shown plump, evil-kind, high-low. Girl Olya falls into this world, where she encounters her double, embodying all her worst qualities. Looking at herself from the outside, and analyzing her own shortcomings, she, with her understudy, saves the inhabitants of the kingdom from evil aristocrats.
1. The adventures of Petrov and Vasechkin, ordinary and incredible | 1983 year
The path to the big screen was unusual for Petrov and Vasechkin. Vladimir Alenikov originally came up with these characters for Yeralash. The audience liked the guys so much that it was decided to launch a full-length film about the adventures of schoolchildren. The two-part comedy immediately gained success with the mass audience. And a year later, the continuation of the picture, which is the leader in the rating of the best children's films of the USSR, "Vacations of Petrov and Vasechkin."
Music from films was no less popular than the films themselves.