

A Very Old Story
Overview
Based on the famous fairytale "The Tinderbox" by Hans Christian Andersen. The main character of the film is a puppeteer who lives in a poor and gray world. He composes a fairy tale in which he himself, in the guise of a brave soldier, finds a flint and is helped by a kind wizard. The soldier falls in love with a spoiled, capricious princess who, as befits a princess, poses riddles to her numerous suitors. Her father, the king, is eager to see the soldier as her husband, as he believes the soldier has a great deal of gold. In the fairy tale, everything ends well, but in real life, not so much. "But life is not a fairy tale," his beloved girl says to him as she bids him farewell.
Movie Details
Languages
Russian
Studio
Lenfilm
Key Crew

Nadezhda Kosheverova
Director

Valeri Frid
Screenplay

Yuli Dunsky
Screenplay
Cast

Oleg Dal
Soldier / Puppet master

Marina Neyolova
Princess / innkeeper's daughter

Vladimir Etush
King / Innkeeper

Georgiy Vitsin
good wizard

Vera Titova
witch / davil's grandmother

Viktor Perevalov
Prince-chimney sweep

Georgiy Shtil
Eastern Prince

Anatoly Korolkevich
doorman

Georgi Georgiu
"thick"

Lev Lemke
"thin"

Igor Dmitriev

Boris Lyoskin

Anatoli Abramov
contender for groom