Jack Frost (1964 film)

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"Morozko" redirects here. For other uses, see Morozko (disambiguation).
Jack Frost
One-sheet for Jack Frost
Directed by Aleksandr Rou
Written by Nikolai Erdman
Mikhail Volpin
Starring Alexander Khvylya
Natalya Sedykh
Eduard Izotov
Inna Churikova
Pavel Pavlenko
Vera Altayskaya
Georgy Millyar
Music by Nikolai Budashkin
Cinematography Dmitri Surensky
Distributed by Gorky Film Studios (Soviet Union), Embassy Pictures (USA) Shout! Factory (2010,DVD)
Release dates 1964
Running time 84 min
Country Soviet Union
Language Russian

Jack Frost (Russian: Морозко, Morózko) is a Soviet film (Gorky Film Studio) originally released in 1964. It was based a traditional Russian fairy tale Morozko known in English as Father Frost.



The lovely, humble Nastya is despised by her stepmother who favors her own mean-spirited and ugly daughter, Marfushka, and her meek father is powerless to stop her. After forcing Nastya to knit socks before the rooster crows (with Nastya ultimately imploring the sun to go down again so she can have more time), Nastya's stepmother gives Nastya the tasks of feeding the chickens, watering the cattle, splitting wood, and sweeping the yard. We are then introduced to Ivan, who, finishing his chores, heads out into the woods after receiving some final words of guidance from his mother, such as not forgetting his mother, not harming the weak, and honoring those who are old. To all these pieces of advice Ivan off-handedly replies "Don't worry" repeatedly.


Later, Ivan comes across Nastya in the woods, ordered to pour water on a stump to make flowers grow in it. Taken by her beauty, he immediately asks her to marry him, citing his fine health and many accomplishments. She demurs, noting that he is too much of a braggart. Eager to prove his worth, he attempts to shoot a mother bear with her cubs. Father Mushroom is watching nearby, and as the panicked Nastya puts her water bucket on his head, he changes Ivan's head into a bear. Horrified at the change, Ivan accuses Nastya of being a witch and runs off, leaving her to sorrowfully weep alone by the stump, her tears causing flowers to grow from it.


Illustration by Ivan Bilibin.

Meanwhile, the evil stepmother is trying to marry off Marfushka. After dressing her up in fine clothes, covering her in makeup and attaching a false braid on to Marfushka's head, she forces Nastya to wear a rag over her head and puts mud on her face to make her ugly. A wealthy suitor comes and asks Marfushka, who has never done a day's work in her life, to prepare a meal for him. While chasing geese into a pond, Marfushka nearly drowns until she is rescued by Nastya. In the process, Marfushka's braid and makeup wash away and Nastya's beauty is revealed. The suitor and his mother choose Nastya for a bride instead. The mother can't have this, so she orders her husband to go drop Nastya off in the woods. On the way, the father decides he's had enough of his wife's bullying and vows to bring Nastya back home. Believing her stepmother will be even crueler to him for doing so, Nastya jumps off the back of his sleigh. There, she comes across Father Frost (aka Jack Frost) bringing winter to the woods. Touched by her kindness and unselfishness, he rescues her from freezing to death and brings her to his home.

Ivan is searching for Nastya, now that he's fully human again. He comes across the witch Baba Yaga, whom he pleads for aid to find Nastya. She flatly refuses to help, and after a short battle of wills with her moving house (which the old woman loses), she animates a group of trees to kill Ivan. After nearly being cooked alive, Ivan tricks her and threatens to bake the witch in her own oven until she tells him how to find Nastya. After he leaves, the angry witch sends her black cat to cause Nastya's death before Ivan can reach her. The enchanted sled sent by the witch to show Ivan the way to Nastya leaves him trapped in a snowbank. While Father Frost is running some errands, the cat tricks Nastya into accidentally touching his staff, which freezes her forever. Nastya's father and her dog sense that she is in trouble. The stepmother and Marfushka prevent him from leaving, but the dog escapes and rescues Ivan from freezing in the snow. They both arrive at Father Frost's home to find her frozen. Ivan pleads for forgiveness for his behavior towards her. The power of love trumps the staff's power, and she is restored. To celebrate, Father Frost gives Nastya and Ivan a large dowry of jewels and a horse-driven sleigh for their impending nuptials.

They return to the village, where Nastya's greedy stepsister eyes their fortune and demands the same. Unfortunately for her, when she tries to duplicate Nastya's adventure in the snowbound forest, Father Frost is so horrified by her rudeness that he sends her back on a pig-driven sleigh, with a box full of crows as a dowry. The stepmother is humiliated in front of the entire village and her husband after bragging that she would return with countless treasure, while the father is able to stand up for himself and regain his place as head of the household. On their way to Ivan's home, he and Nastya are accosted by the bandits he'd encountered before, this time with help from the witch. After being overpowered, they are saved when the clubs from earlier fall conveniently on the bandits' heads, and they trap the witch in her own giant mortar. Nastya and Ivan have a sumptuous wedding, and live happily ever after.


DVD release and other influences[edit]



The movie has been shown on Czechoslovak, Czech and Slovak TV channels (under name Mrazík or Mrázik) annually since 1965,[2] usually around New Year's Day. Baba Yaga was dubbed in the Czech Republic by František Filipovský.


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