Vechera na khutore bliz Dikanki
Tags: romantic, historical fiction

Plot synopsis:
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
But Jerry emerges from his hole avoiding a Christmas-themed mousetrap placed by his hole. Jerry nears the Christmas presents, jumping merrily around the tree, licking candy canes and jumping onto a plush toy lion that squeaks. Jerry continues jumping on the soft toy, but bounces too hard and lands on Tom, who he inadvertently wakes up. Tom snarls and just before he can eat Jerry, the quick-thinking mouse grabs a nearby "Do Not Open 'Til Xmas" sticker and slaps it on Tom's mouth.
Jerry is chased among the myriad of toys (briefly stopping to fire a trick cannon's cork stopper at Tom) and hides inside a Christmas fairy light, causing him to glow. Not fooled, Tom grabs Jerry and is promptly electrocuted. Jerry hides among some toy soldiers, but Tom spots him and the mouse runs off, saluting the cat like a real soldier would. Tom chases Jerry, but is stopped by the barrier of a miniature level crossing. A toy train passes by, with many carriages. Jerry sits on top of the caboose, waving cheekily at Tom and pulling faces. As the train enters a model of a tunnel and Jerry hits his head, knocking him onto the track. He runs through the tunnel, pursued by Tom, who knocks the tunnel over. Jerry hides inside a boxing glove and boxes the puzzled cat in the face before running off behind the Christmas tree. Tom, now arming himself with a boxing glove of his own, follows him and spots him jumping into a jack-in-the-box. Opening up the box, Tom is punched by the boxing glove stuck on Jack's head and is knocked out. Jerry jumps out and holds it up in victory like a boxing referee.
Tom chases Jerry once again, but Jerry holds out a piece of mistletoe in front of him and persuades an embarrassed Tom to kiss him. Tom blushes and while his back is turned, Jerry kicks him in the rear. The mouse darts through the letterbox slot into the outdoors. As Tom opens the lid of the letterbox to see where Jerry has gone, Jerry hurls a snowball at his face. Tom angrily barricades the slot so that Jerry cannot get back into the house.
While Jerry trudges up and down in the heavy snow in a vain attempt to warm himself, Tom fluffs up his cushion and prepares to sleep. He is unable to settle himself; heavenly choirs sing carols, pricking Tom's conscience with the message of Christmas peace and goodwill. He first props open the slot to allow Jerry back in and when the mouse does not reappear, ventures anxiously outside to find Jerry, frozen. Fearing for Jerry's life, he brings the frozen mouse indoors and warms him up by the fire, saving his life. Slowly, Jerry regains consciousness, but is wary of the cat. Tom hands Jerry a candy cane, his Christmas present. A delighted Jerry licks his cane, but then quickly reacts to prevent Tom drinking from his bowl of milk. He dips his cane into the bowl and a loud snap is heard. Jerry uses the cane to fish a mousetrap that he had earlier planted in the bowl. Tom appreciates Jerry's warning and the mouse runs back to his hole. He uses his candy cane to hook the cheese off the mousetrap. Instead of snapping like a usual mousetrap does, the spring slowly comes down, ringing the tune of "Jingle Bells" as Jerry smiles in admiration to the "musical mousetrap".

Review: Wonderfully funny fantasy.
In the best tradition of Soviet fantasy, Dikanka is entertaining from start to finish.
There isn't much a plot (hijinks during the night), but the practical effects are charming, and I laughed harder than I had in a long time.The best element is the Devil himself.
Rather than a figure of fear and evil, the Devil is a hairy, silly fellow who keeps busy by tormenting a blacksmith who drew a religious picture that the Devil found particularly offensive.
In addition, there are a horde of lusty and/or drunken townsmen, and a cameo by the Tsarina herself.
Also, a "Three's Company"-esquire set piece where character after character must hide out in the local witch's hut..
Your typical soviet film with a catch.
This film can be considered a time capsule.
It's based on a short novel written by Gogol and I believe that this is a great adaptation.
Everything is well though out: the mixture of Ukrainian and Russian, the costumes, the characters, everything.
The practical effects are clumsy at times, but that's exactly why they are so memorable and enjoyable.
It's a little bit predictable and typical, but it does have a catch: compared to other soviet films, it doesn't have a political influence.
The action takes place during the time of Tsars, which is understandable if we remember that Gogol lived in the first half of the 19th century.
The fact that this - soviet - film doesn't force a particular political view on you makes it even more enjoyable.There are indeed other films that are not politically driven, but besides this, "The Night Before Christmas" has the...
devil.
A clumsy devil.
He's actually not that evil, but rather helpful and charismatic.
As a whole, the film, in my opinion, is good.
Not perfect, but good.
You should definitely give it a try if soviet films are your cup of tea or if you don't have time to read the original short story..
Russian fairy tale for children.
I have seen a few Russian fairy tales and adventure movies from the same time which I enjoyed watching.
This one about a blacksmith/painter and the devil and their struggle with each other I did find quite lackluster though.The movie has nice color pictures for this sort of story.
But the story feels like it moves in slow motion.
The movie is only just over an hour long but I was bored before it ended.
Things like special effects were handled by showing the movie backwards all the time.
10th time you see the movie going backwards it is not cute anymore.You can find much better Russian movies and fairy tales from the same time period.
I would suggest watching Mariya-iskusnitsa (1960) instead that I found more entertaining..
A Charming Love Story.
The film 'Night before Christmas' is based on a short story from Nikolai Gogol's work 'Evenings on a farm near Dikanka'.
The story opens with a stunning winter scenery of Dikanka, Ukraine with a witch flying across the night sky and the devil roaming around and tormenting people.
Meanwhile, the simple village blacksmith, Vakula is pining away for a dazzlingly beautiful village lass, Oksana.
With a caprice that matches her beauty, she teases the blacksmith to bring her the Tsaritsa's slippers.
In his love for Oksana, the blacksmith really sets out to St. Petersburg to ask Queen Catherine the Great for her slippers.
'Night before Christmas' is a love story that is charming in its simplicity..
The Night Of Christmas.
Preparing on Christmas Day to watch Christian-Jaque's magnificent The Killing of Santa Claus (1941) again, I searched for a title to double bill it with.
Finding The Scarlet Flower (1978) an alluring Fantasy film from the Soviet Union that I viewed earlier this year,I was very happy to stumble on a X-Mas themed Soviet Fantasy title, which led to me going back to the night before.View on the film:Continuing a run of Fantasy titles, auteur writer/director Aleksandr Rou enchants with an utterly delight Christmas atmosphere, spun by Rou & cinematographer Dmitri Surensky weaving the camera down the streets of the snow-covered village.
Gliding by on a 66 minute runtime, Rou rolls into the surreal with sparks of primary colours shimmering on the screen from lush dissolves, and Rou skilfully blending rustic Comedy into the tale, such as the cute, mischievous Devil being used as a mode of transport.
Sending Vakula out to find the Tsaritsa's slippers for his love Oksana, the screenplay by Rou's adaptation of Nikolay Gogol is strung with whimsical flourishes which thread Vakula and the Devil into the bustling small-town dramas, as the locals prepare on the night before Christmas.