Lev Atamanov might have had been the most successful Soviet animation director when it came to having his movies have an impact in the West. This is rather startling when you think of during the ’50s, the Cold War was turning nastier. House Un-American Activities Committee were looking for anyone they suspected of being a communist sympathizer in Hollywood. What would make you more of a suspect than being a lover or distributor of Soviet animation? And yet Lev Atamanov’s The Snow Queen found itself being distributed in America thanks to Universal Studios – the home of Woody Woodpecker and the Classic Monsters. Of course by the time his movie made it to cinemas and TV Screens, the studio had redubbed it. Everything sounded and felt American. But now we can get the Soviet tone of his film on Treasures of Soviet Animation Volume 2. This is how it played in Moscow. This disc is a celebration of Lev Atamanov’s animation with two other of his shorts joining The Snow Queen.
The Snow Queen (1957 – 63:14) adapts the Hans Christian Andersen story. Th movie opens with a copy of the book and a tiny guy, Ole-Luk-Oie inside the Hans Christian Anderson museum. He was once the God of sleep. He explains why he carries a colorful umbrella and a black one. You don’t want him to open up the black one. He opens up the colorful umbrella to tell us the tale of The Snow Queen. Young Gerda warns her friend Kai about going too close to the notorious Snow Queen when she rides through town on her sleigh. But he hitches a ride on the back of her sleigh. She takes off with the boy for her frozen kingdom. Gerda waits until Spring to journey out and figure out where her sworn brother Kai has gone. She meets quite a few characters on her search. This story would later be adapted into Frozen by Disney. You’ll learn in the bonus features how the film inspired Japan’s Hayao Miyazaki to stay in the animation world.
The Scarlet Flower (1952 – 41:29) has a ship’s captain promise his youngest daughter a precious flower when he goes on an oceanic trading venture. He’s invited to a castle where he finds the Scarlet Flower. He can’t help but pluck the flower to get it back home. Except the beastly owner isn’t happy at losing his flower and tells the father of the deal he’s entered that involves the youngest daughter. The film is a variation of Beauty and the Beast and completed nearly forty years before Disney’s version.
The Key (1961 – 56:51) goes beyond the fairytales of the previous films with a more modern tale although there is a bit of fairy and robot action. An expecting father goes nuts with buying stuff for the baby. He has enough helium balloons to keep his heels floating above the pavement while pushing a toy filled baby stroller. The wife is a harsh realist and doesn’t want germs near the newborn so dad must mask up. The family gets a visit from fairies who want to bless the child with magic. Objecting to all this is the baby’s grandfather who only wants the kid to benefit through hard work. What follows is a battle that also includes futuristic robots and thinking machines. I guess this cartoon is vital again as you can lump “magic” and “Thinking machines” with the current youth generation who are being sold Artificial Intelligence as a solution to not do anything. A scientist has created a robot that can compose poems and the Grandfather points out they’re all terrible. This is the moment we’re at in time with A.I. crap. Atamanov knew what was coming.
Lev Atamanov could easily be called The Walt Disney of the Soviet Union. But he didn’t have a TV show or a theme park outside of Moscow. Even more interesting is his two big fairytale films weren’t adapted into Disney blockbusters until Walt Disney was put into the deep freeze for decades. This Soviet filmmaker saw the future of the Disney animation and got there first. The big difference is he didn’t have the big musical moments. Atamanov made beautiful animated films meant for the whole family. He even kept most of them under an hour which is dream of a parent who sat through movies with the kid. Treasures of Soviet Animation Volume 2 is a perfect retrospective of Lev Atamanov’s best work for adults and kids to enjoy.
The Video is 1.33:1 full frame. The 4K restorations bring out the joyful colors used to bring a sense of wonder to these stories. You’ll see the snow as white. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono for all the shorts. The shorts are subtitled in English.
Audio Commentaries are provided on all three short films by Rolf Giesen. He gives plenty of background on Lev Atamanov and others key figures in the production of the films.
Written with Ice Crystals (19:05) is a visual essay by Evan Chester on Lev Atamanov’s career. He co-directed the first Soviet sound cartoon. He made cartoons in Armenia. Universal Pictures licensed the film for release in 1959 and had Sandra Dee dub the lead. The film played for years on American TV.
Innocence & Cynicism (10:48) is a visual essay by John Atkins about the impact the Snow Queen has on Hayao Miyazaki. Turns out that when Miyazaki was working at an animated house that focused on family films, he was feeling this wasn’t the life for him. One day the company screened The Snow Queen for the staff. This viewing made him eager to stick around. Atkins uses interviews and writing from the animation legend to show his admiration. We also see how elements in the Soviet film found themselves inside his masterpieces.
Deaf Crocodile presents Treasures of Soviet Animation Volume 2. Directed by Lev Atamanov. Boxset Contents: 3 movies on 1 Blu-ray disc. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: November 11, 2025.
