Morozko

Morozko (1924) is the earliest-known screen adaptation of the Russian folk tale Father Frost, available to watch online on iFILM. Director Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky cast Boris Livanov, Varvara Massalitinova and Vasily Toporkov in a forty-minute silent picture about a cruel stepmother who sends her stepdaughter alone into a frozen forest — and the frost spirit who waits for her there.

It is the only fairy-tale feature produced in the Soviet Union during the 1920s silent era, which makes it an unusual artefact even by the standards of early Soviet cinema. The film was pulled from distribution shortly after release and shelved for years. Today Morozko (1924) reads very differently from the famous 1964 colour remake most audiences know.