Gennady Shpalikov enters animation: Documents related to the production history of “There Lived Kozyavin”
Abstract
It is believed that Andrei Khrzhanovsky’s debut animation “There Lived Kozyavin” allowed the famous screenwriter of the Thaw era Gennady Shpalikov (“I’m Walking Around
Moscow”, “Ilyich’s Gave”, “A Long Happy Life”, etc.), who first acted as an author
of a script for an animated film, to reveal new unexpected aspects of his talent. In fact, upon
a closer inspection of the first versions of the screenplay (“literary sctipt”) called “The Life
of Kozyavin”, created on the basis of several works by Lazar Lagin, it turns out that by
the time the filming was completed, little was left on the screen of the screenwriter’s original
ideas. Moreover, the first film works of Khrzhanovsky (both “There Lived Kozyavin” and
“The Glass Harmonica”) do not have that much in common with the ideas of Shpalikov, who,
as an analysis of his screenwriting shows, had a keen appreciation of the nature of the animation language and was quite well versed in animation in general.
In this article, excerpts from different versions of the screenplay “The Life of Kozyavin’
are published for the first time: they were not filmed or were significantly changed during
the development of the shooting script. The article also includes excerpts from the surviving transcripts of the production’s discussions during the meetings of the Artistic Council
of the Soyuzmultfilm Studio (including speeches by Shpalikov, Khrzhanovsky, Fyodor
Khitruk, Lev Atamanov, Valentina Brumberg, Arkadiy Snesarev, Mikhail Valkov, and others).
Keywords
Soviet cinema of the Thaw era, “There Lived Kozyavin”, “Life of Kozyavin”, Gennady
Shpalikov, Andrei Khrzhanovsky, Lazar Lagin, Fyodor Khitruk, Soyuzmultfilm Studio,
Mickey Mouse, Disneyland.
For citation
Dedinskiy S.N. Gennady Shpalikov enters animation: Documents related to the production history of “There Lived Kozyavin”. Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2022, no. 3, pp. 117–136.
DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2022-3-117-136
References
- Kulagin A. Shpalikov. Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya, 2017. 278 p.
- Dolgaya schastlivaya zhizn’. Instruktsiya dlya nachinayushchikh Pod. red. S. Dedinskogo i N. Ryabchikovoy [A long happy life. An instruction for beginners. Ed. by S. Dedinskogiy & N. Ryabchikova]. Moscow; Saint Petersburg: Iskusstvo kino; Podpisnyye izdaniya, 2021.
- Segodnya vecherom my prishli k Shpalikovu: Vospominaniya, dnevniki, pis’ma, posledniy stsenariy [Tonight we’ve come to see Shpalikov: Memoirs, diaries, letters, the last screenplay] / Sost.A. Y. Khrzhanovsky. Moscow: Ruthenia, 2018. 816 p.
- Khrzhanovsky A.Y. Dorogie moi… khoroshie… [My dear ones… my good ones…]. Moscow, Ruthenia, 2020. 744 p.
- “Zhitie Kozyavina” (literaturnyy stsenariy) G.F. Shpalikova po motivam skazok L.I. Lagina (varianty). 1964 g. [“The life of Kozyavin” (screenplay) by G.F. Shpalikov based on the tales of L.I. Lagin (versions)]. RGALI. F. 2469. Op. 2. Ed. khr. 113.
- Delo fil’ma “Zhil-byl Kozyavin” (protokoly, dogovor, perepiska) [Materials on the production of the film “There lived Kozyavin” (minutes, contract, correspondence)]. RGALI. F. 2469. Op. 2. Ed. khr. 115.
- Lagin L. Zhitie Kozyavina. In: Lagin L. S”yedennyy arkhipelag. Satiricheskiye skazki i pamflety [The life of Kozyavin. The eaten archipelago. Satirical tales and pamphlets]. Moscow: Sovetskaya Rossiya, 1963.
- Ya shagayu po Moskve. Vozvrashchenie v utopiyu [I walk around Moscow. A return to utopia]. Ed.S. Dedinskogo i N. Ryabchikovoy. Moscow; Saint Petersburg: Iskusstvo kino; Podpisnyye izdaniya, 2022.
Received: 12.07.2022
Revised: 06.08.2022
Accepted: 12.08.2022