The Stone Flower (1946 film)
| The Stone Flower | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Aleksandr Ptushko |
| Written by |
Pavel Bazhov Ivan Keller |
| Starring | Vladimir Druzhnikov |
| Music by | Lev Shvarts |
| Cinematography | Fyodor Provorov |
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Running time
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83 minutes |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
The Stone Flower (Russian: Каменный цветок, tr. Kamennyy tsvetok) is a 1946 Soviet fantasy film directed by Aleksandr Ptushko. It is an adaptation of Pavel Bazhov's story of the same name, in turn based on Ural region Russian folklore. It also incorporates plot elements from the stories "The Mistress of the Copper Mountain" and "The Master Craftsman".
The Stone Flower was theatrically released by Mosfilm on April 28, 1946. It was the Soviet Union's first color film shot on Agfacolor negative film seized in Germany, and was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. It was a success at the box-office in the year 1946 in USSR, it was seen by 23,17 million viewers.
The story is told from the point of view the old storyteller Slyshko.
The skilled gemcutter Prokopych is getting old, and the landlord's bailiff forces him to take an apprentice. Prokopych tries to teach several boys, but none of them understands "the soul of stone". Eventually he picks a young boy Danilo, who appears to be very scatterbrain and careless in everything else, but shows extreme talent in shaping gemstones and creating patterns. He quickly surpasses his old teacher, who takes a liking to him. Prokopych decides to keep him away from the craft for the time being because gemcutting can seriously damage health.
Years pass. One day the landlord summons Prokopych. He announces that he has been to France and visited a marquess, who showed him the beautifully crafted casket; the landlord started bragging that he had "a better one at home", and they made a bet that the landlord's casket would prove more beautiful. He now needs to present the casket, so he orders Prokopych to make one that should be so beautiful that "you will not be able to take your eyes of it". Prokopych works day and night, but fails to think of an original design. Danilo makes the malachite casket for him. The landlord's wife is very satisfied with his work and orders a stone cup "that would look exactly like a flower". Danilo starts working on the cup. He wants to create something outstanding to reveal "the full power of stone". Prokopych scolds him for trying too hard for no good reason, but secretly admires Danilo's determination. He believes that it is a sign of the expert craftsman. Danilo works on his flower cup for several months, paying little attention to his fiancée Katinka. After he finishes the cup, every villager admires his work, but Danilo is unhappy. He feels that there is no true "living" beauty in his malachite cup, yet he wants to collect "all the beauty of the real flower" and convey it though stone. An old craftsman warns him against walking this path, otherwise he might end up as one of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain's craftsmen. Those craftsmen understood the beauty of stone after they saw the legendary Stone Flower. However those who saw the Flower never wanted to go back from the Mistress' domain. Katinka asks her beloved to forget about the Stone Flower, but he is tempted.
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