Fairy Goodwin of voluminous animation Mysterious and hidden from the eyes of outsiders - this halo was fixed for Vladislav Starevich in the early XX century, when his short animated film "Beautiful Lukanida, or War of mustaches with rogues" was released, where the main characters-beetles depicted scenes from knightly novels with raging passions. Viewers did not even know that these beetles were handmade crafts - numerous legs moved using small hinges, springs, wheels, while repeating the natural movements of the beetles. Everyone considered Starevich a great trainer, and distributors literally tore apart the “Lucanida”. At the peak of the wave Starevich shoots a number of cartoons with the participation of insects, among which was the famous fable “Dragonfly and the Ant”, and for the first time in the history of cinema combines animation with the shooting of live actors in movies. So there was “Terrible revenge” and “The night before Christmas” with I. Mozjukhin in the title role. But after the revolution he emigrated from the Russian Empire first to Italy and from there to France. One day Starevich came to us from Eastern Europe with his daughter and a suitcase full of junk – a real Hoffmann character. He found a deserted place near Fontenay, said a few words in a language that no one, not even himself, understood, and immediately the stone walls of the country villa rose before him. A few more syllables, and windows and doors cut through the stone ... wrote the French writer Alexander Arnoux. “No, I will not go to Starevich’s villa in Fontenay, I do not want him to turn me into a stone right on the doorstep, or to put his dwarves, spirits, houseflies, his terrible flies and dragons with diamond eyes on me.” So began the work of Vladislav Starevich in France, where he shoots the first ever full-length puppet film.
The novel about the fox is a fairy tale and satire at the same time. On the pages of an old book come to life guttaperchy figures of animals with funny faces. Snorting, wrinkling with trembling and vibrating mustaches and coats of animals are so similar to the real ones, and at the same time facial expressions and movements reflect and ridicule the negative traits inherent in people. Starevich, the wizard of three-dimensional animation, not only made figurines of birds and animals like real ones with the help of soft wire construction, but also revived the facial expressions of his heroes. To do this, more than 150 masks with various grimaces were made, and some muzzles were made of a soft material that changes the expression in the hands of the artist. All production was carried out exclusively by the family of Starevich: his wife Anna sewed costumes for dolls, the eldest daughter Irina was a screenwriter and puppeteer, the younger Jeanne played roles. But not only the main characters received such a thorough study, but the background was not left without careful participation: the scenery of the forest, peasant houses, snow in winter, which so juicy crunches under the sled, the images and sounds of nature in frog roar, the murmur of the stream, the singing of birds – all this is recreated with unprecedented accuracy. Vladislav Starevich, like a fabulous Goodwin, breathed life into his characters, filming them frame-by-frame and combining the shots into a coherent narrative. The story turned out monochrome, but this is no less interesting. The story of the cunning, quirky fox appeared from the epic poem of Johann Goethe, where under the masks of animals are presented and large feudal lords in the images of a bear, wolf and badger, and a small bison - hares, chickens, roosters, tits. Some stories are borrowed from folklore, and it is impossible to establish their belonging to any of the countries, since the image of a fox that leaves its enemies and opponents in a fool is inherent in different peoples. These instructive tales and a poem by Goethe were summarized by Vladislav Starevich in his cartoon. But some ideas were invented by Starevich himself and his daughter Irina, such as hints at a serf theater in one of the episodes or the presentation of a duel between the Fox and the Wolf in the form of a dream resembling a sports reportage.
In the cartoon, unlike the poem, all animals are called not by entertaining and “talking” names, but by belonging to a certain species of animals: Lion, Bear, Wolf, Fox, etc. This brings the story closer to folklore, with its representation of human characters through animalistic imagery. But at the same time, following the poetic syllable of Goethe, Starevich through the habits and behavior of the characters shows the relationship between the powerful, the clergy and peasants, ridiculing greed, gluttony, servitude, arrogance, indulgence, cowardice. So in a number of stories, the fox lures the Bear, the Wolf or the Cat into a trap and himself summons ordinary people to shame them. Some stories give the impression that Reinecke (as Goethe's fox is called) is just happy to mock the stupid and envious glutton Wolf. The story of getting into the well, from where Reinecke admonished the Wolf that he was in paradise and saw from the depths of the well all his ancestors in heaven and from this he is happy that there are garlands of sausages and delicacies, angels-rabbits fly among the stars, and it is only necessary to go down to the well to receive this bliss without labor and care - another confirmation of this. It is noteworthy that during this story, the water in the depths of the well glows and is reflected by the mosaic of the stained glass window of the cathedral, and in combination with the fiery tone of Romain Bouquet, who voiced the Fox, the sparkling humor of the cartoon appears. It is very funny to watch the dressing up and tricks of the Fox, the manner of protecting his actions by Badger, turning any situation for the benefit of a relative. Or how the Cat, with the voice of Jaime Plama, serenades the lioness queen. The cartoon turned out not only a collection of instructive novels, but also the quintessence of the skill of Starevich, who in this work generalized and deepened the technique of animation, which was especially clearly manifested in the scene of the siege by the lion king of Malpertuis - the castle of the Fox. A similar scene of fights was previously presented in “Beautiful Lucanid”, but did not have such a detailed study as in “The novel about the fox”. The director used this technique in subsequent works, for example in the short film “Fern Flower”, which absorbed several instructive fairy tales. The wizard and animator Starevich died quietly, without revealing to anyone the secret of his unique dolls and techniques, but left for lovers of animation rare piecework, which is still considered a benchmark for his followers.