The Key (1961 film)

The Key
The boy being hailed a hero after winning the golden key
Directed by	Lev Atamanov
Written by	Mikhail Volpin
Starring	Anna Komoleva Georgiy Vitsin V. Tumanova L. Glushchenko Rina Zelyonaya Sergey Martinson
Music by	Lev Solin
Release date	1961 (1961)
Running time	57 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

The Key (Russian: Ключ; tr.:Klyuch) is a 1961 Soviet feature animated film directed by Lev Atamanov. It was produced at the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow.

The critic S. V. Asenin about the animated film: "The director L. Atamanov and the screenwriter M. Volpin used a fantastic form to mention (1961) burning questions of education in the animated film "Key". With original skill and a step they enclosed the new, modern contents in traditional fantastic images. What is the happiness as to reach it, what key its treasured door - this subject equally interesting to adults and children opens, they devoted the animated film."

The film is a cautionary tale about the need to develop good work habits, personal responsibility and conscience in life.

Three fairies visit the parents of a newborn boy and give them a red ball of string which they say will give him a happy life. They also speed up his growth and tell the parents that he will grow by "hours, not days". The boy's grandfather comes to visit and tries to give the boy working tools for later in life, but the gifts are refused by the parents and fairies, who tell him that the boy is already promised happiness and will have no need to work. They magically turn the grandfather into a sheet of paper and send him off to his apartment. The grandfather, not liking the idea of his grandson having ready-made happiness, breaks out of his magical cage and decides to seek help.

He visits a friend of his; a scientist who works in a large laboratory with a collection of amazing inventions such as human-like robots, including one which can compose poetry. He asks the scientist's robots what will become of a person who is born into ready-made happiness. Most of them tell him that he will become disagreeable, lazy and arrogant, but the poetry-composing robot tells him that it would be terrible to take happiness away from a child. Unsure of what to do, the grandfather decides to visit the Land of Happiness and see for himself what it is like.

The scientist synthesizes a copy of the magical red ball by using a few fragments that were left on the grandfather's hand after he held it while he was visiting his grandchild. The grandfather uses the scientist's teleportation machine to teleport to the gates of the Land of Happiness, and uses his red ball to gain entrance. The many fairies who are in charge of this land lead him on a tour. The ground is sticky with candy and the rivers run milk. School consists of the "summer holidays", "fall holidays", "winter holidays" and "spring holidays". At old age, the entire day consists of sitting on rocking chairs.