Adventures of Mowgli
Adventures of Mowgli (; also spelled "Maugli") is an animated feature-length story originally released as five animated shorts of about 20 minutes each between 1967 and 1971 in the Soviet Union. It is based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. They were directed by Roman Davydov and made by Soyuzmultfilm studio. In 1973, the five films were combined into a single 96-minute feature film. The Russian DVD release of the restored footage, distributed by "Krupnyy Plan" and "Lizard", separates the animation into the original five parts. An English-language version made jointly by Soyuzmultfilm (Russia ) and Cyrillic Films (U.S.) was completed in 1996 and released direct-to-video on April 28, 1998 under the name "Adventures of Mowgli". Charlton Heston is the narrator in the English version. Proceeds from the U.S. release were donated to The Audrey Hepburn Hollywood for Children Fund. Style. This is the second film adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's work released in 1967. Even though the movie was not conceived as a reaction to the Disney adaptation, it proves an interesting contrast, being more faithful to the epic and primal content of Kipling's original work. The Soyuzmultfilm's adaptation appeared  more adult and in spirit is closer to Kipling's book. There are scenes of mass fights and duels, blood and death are shown, there is charged atmosphere, suspense. Subjects of life and death, debt and feelings, heroism of the soldier and human essence arise. Plot. Episode 1 - "Raksha". The story starts with a golden jackal named Tabaqui walking towards his master, the dreaded tiger known as Shere Khan, who stretches himself and then walks to the spot of a camp with Tabaqui guiding him. Out of cruelty and hatred, Shere Khan leaps towards the campsite. Whilst doing so, he  accidentally burns his right forepaw, forcing a young child, Mowgli, to wander into a wolf cave in the jungle. At that point, Shere Khan (accompanied by his servant Tabaqui) appears at the entrance and, unable to pass through the cave's aperture with his massive body, demands that the wolves give him his prey, but the wolf mother, Raksha refuses and drives him away. He taunts them and says that the wolf pack will decide as he skulks away, angered by her defiance. Meanwhile, Tabaqui runs around the whole jungle and tells all the animals that a wolf pack has  adopted a human. A moment later, Bagheera, the melanistic Indian leopard, is minding her business when Tabaqui appears to tell her the news. Bagheera scolds him for spreading malicious falsehoods, then puts up quite a display that causes Shere Khan to walk away with hatred. The elders of the wolf pack watch a performance of the wolf cubs and Mowgli, with the protagonist matching the cubs' every step. The elders are evenly split about whether or not they should allow him to stay until they see Mowgli pinch the nose of Tabaqui, who came up to taunt him. However, at  this point, Shere Khan appears and demands that he be given his prey. Akela, also known as the "Lone Wolf" and patriarch of the pack, refuses to listen, so Raksha and Baloo (the white-chested bear who instructs the young wolf cubs) come to his defence, but Shere Khan is undeterred until Bagheera also appears and offers the wolf pack a freshly killed bull in return for keeping Mowgli alive. Shere Khan is forced to admit defeat, but he vows that he will still eat Mowgli one day. Episode 2 - "The Kidnapping". Mowgli and Raksha's cubs are being taught  to hunt by Baloo, who scolds Mowgli for running like a man, also teaches them the call of the jungle; "we be of one blood, thou and i" when they reached a watering hole infested with crocodiles. A bit earlier Bagheera appears and teaches Mowgli to climb and jump between trees. The Bandar-logs in the trees watch Mowgli free an elephant from a pit trap set by the villagers and decide that he is just like them but without a tail and that he could be useful. A short while later, they kidnap him while he is sleeping and  take him to their city. Baloo and Bagheera run after him but decide that they need the help of the Indian rock python Kaa. They don't know where to look until Chil the brahminy kite, flying above them, tells them that he saw him being taken to the abandoned city; Mowgli had used the call of the jungle as he was being carried away and asked him to help. Baloo and Bagheera arrive first and are both overwhelmed by the monkeys. Once Kaa arrives, the monkeys go still and sit quietly on the city ruins around him. Kaa begins  a hypnotizing dance, and every so often tells the monkeys to come one step closer. Bagheera and Baloo are nearly caught in the trap as well until they are pulled away by Mowgli, after which they leave the scene. Episode 3 - "Akela's Last Hunt". Mowgli has grown and to enable him to take his rightful place in the pack, he needs to arm himself. Python Kaa helps Mowgli find an "iron tooth", - a knife, in an abandoned cave guarded by an ancient white Indian cobra. This happens just in time, because the old enemy tiger Shere Khan raises havoc  in the pack, intending to kill Mowgli since Akela has missed his kill. The intervention of Mowgli saves the pack leader from Shere Khan through the use of the Red Flower along with support from Bagheera and Baloo. Episode 4 - "The Fight". A terrible threat looms over the wolf tribe and all those living in the jungle. A large pack of dholes descends on the jungle, destroying everything in their path. However, Mowgli decides that he and Akela should prepare the wolf pack to battle the dhole tribes, with Baloo concurring with Akela's orders. Tabaqui, nosy as always, reports  the preparations for war to his master, Shere Khan; who muses the wolves forgot the rules of the jungle. Saying that it is every beast for themselves now, the big cat suggests heading north to wait for the battle to be over with, a suggestion his nosy majordomo agrees with. Everyone evacuates for shelter while Bagheera relocates her three cubs (two yellow as gold and one the same color as Bagheera) to a safer spot where they remain until the war is over despite their earlier misbehavior. At the river, Kaa suggests the aid of a huge horde of bees  minding their business at the start of the waterfall. Despite getting stung, Mowgli finally convinces the bee queen and her clans to stop the dhole tribes. The big battle comes and after many times with some dhole clansmen losing their tails to Mowgli's kukri, the dhole tribes flee thanks to the bee horde and the Seeonee Jungles are safe once more. Akela then lets forth his last triumphant warcry. Episode 5 - "Return to Mankind". Mowgli is the head of the wolf pack. He sees people by the village, gathering some water, but he is confused about why he feels  so different than the jungle folk. Finally it is time to pay Mowgli's arch-enemy, tiger Shere Khan, who broke the peace truce during a drought, but to slay him, Mowgli must devise a plan to trap him and his bumbling majordomo Tabaqui in the ravine using the buffalo herds. The plan fails when Shere Khan leaps to a high platform, with Mowgli hot on his tail. After a short brawl, Mowgli is able to finally put Shere Khan's law-breaking habits to an end by dislocating his skull. In the jungle, the time comes to upgrade and  the flowering of love. Mowgli says goodbye to all his friends who say they would be happy to aid him. It is time to leave the pack and go back to the people. Crew. Note: Crew information for episodes 4 and 5 is incomplete. Technical details. During the 1980s the animated film was released in the USSR on VHS by Videoprogramma Goskino. In the early nineties it was released on VHS by "Krupnyy Plan". In the mid-nineties the cartoon series was also released on VHS by "Studio PRO Video" with Hi-Fi Stereo sound in PAL format. Also, the  Lizard Company released the cartoon on Video CD disks. In 2002 the movie was restored and re-released on DVD by "Krupnyy Plan". American/Canadian version. The dubbed English version was completed in 1996 and released in the US on VHS on April 28, 1998, renamed as "Adventures of Mowgli". The American/Canadian adaptation made numerous changes for which it was subjected to severe criticism by those familiar with the original. Some music was completely replaced or added, and the narrator and some of the characters were dubbed to have many new lines which were not in the original film . Moreover, the film was subjected to some censorship: the scene in which Maugli chops off a tail of a wild dog was removed; during the battle with wild dogs shots in which Maugli stabs dogs were removed; during the final fight of Maugli versus Shere Khan, the blood-red final shots were cut. Legacy. According to TV Center, the old animation story is still popular in Russian-speaking countries thanks to the distinctive voice of Bagheera, voiced by Lyudmila Kasatkina. In 2016, Patrick Smith from "The Telegraph" also specifically praised the panther character from the "golden age of Russian animation . Smith noted: While her voice might not fit Kipling's description of being 'as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree', she is bold and severe: in one instance, she scares off the terrifying tiger Shere Khan". The notorious use of Kaa's phrase by Vladimir Putin, then Russian prime-minister, considering his opposition, "Come closer to me, Bandar-logs!" () while adding, "I'm Kipling fan since childhood" (), is unmistakenly associated with the adaptation because Kipling's book doesn't have the exact quote.