Did you know that there's a Soviet-era movie based on "Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn?" I find this film fascinating because it manages to do such a remarkably decent job portraying Mark Twain's Southern US. There are even real black people in it -- though clearly African by origin (thankfully, we're spared the pain of watching Russians doing blackface). Understandably, the producers couldn't find any real métis, so the role of Injun Joe is played by a Tatar actor.
All the written bits are in English.
Though with understandable mistakes every now and again.
Here, Tom is supposed to be writing "I have some more," but he writes "I have come more" -- probably because in Russian the Cyrillic "c" is pronounced like "s" and the actor makes an error. (In the book, it's actually "Please take it -- I got more.") The funniest bit that I found about the English, though, is that they clearly didn't have very good consultants, as is evidenced by what is scrawled on the fence before Tom whitewashes it:
That's pretty hardcore! :)
Now, I know you'll probably want English subs to this, but unfortunately I don't have nearly enough time these days to work on that (I have a 2-year-old and 5-month-old baby). So, this post is purely for those of you who are studying Russian and would not mind watching this without subs.
This film is in 3 parts, each over an hour long. You can get it/watch it via Arjlover:
"Formula of Love" is what they call a "cult classic" among Russians who grew up in the 70s-80s. I guess it can be best described as a "campy romantic comedy" -- it's funny, has a great cast who show superb acting, and the whole film is teeming with quotable one-liners.
I've been wanting to do the subs for it for a while now, but couldn't find time -- the film is pretty long and required careful translation as there are lots of subtle jokes. Many of them, unfortunately, don't survive even the most creative attempts at translation, so some of the charm is inevitably lost, as is always the case. I think the film is still very enjoyable, though! :)
The action is set in Russia in late 1700s, during a visit by a famous Italian mystic Alessandro Cagliostro. The fact that Cagliostro did visit Russia is about the only historically accurate part of the film, though. The screenwriters concentrated on making it a comedy and didn't spend too much time researching the time period, so there are quite a few historical inaccuracies in the film -- such as the fact that there was actually no war with Turkey in the 1780, even though the characters allude to it all the time. Heck, even the fact that they refer to him as "Giuseppe Cagliostro" is pretty inaccurate, as he used "Alessandro Cagliostro" as him nom-de-guerre -- Giuseppe Balsamo was his birth name.
Still, I think you'll enjoy the film! I had real fun translating it. :) Here's the excerpt:
I usually link to arjlover for movies, but unfortunately the version they have on their website has chunks missing, which is why I didn't use it. The only place I know where you can get the film via Torrent is a Russian tracker, and you have to register -- useless if you don't read Russian. :) I'll link to it anyway, since many of my readers are Russians or Russophiles and should be able to figure out the site. If you really want to watch the film and can't navigate RuTracker.org, just email me and I'll help you out.
Original title: "Формула любви" English title: "The Formula of Love" Studio: Mosfilm Duration: 90 minutes Download media:rutracker.org Download subtitles:mricon.com
(There's a 1080p version of the film on the same site. You should be able to use the same .srt file -- just rename it to match the filename of the movie.)
P.Bazhov was one of my favourite writers when I was a kid -- partly because my house was not too far from where he lived (now a museum). I love the artwork in this cartoon, though I'm less sure about the space music.
Enjoy!
Original title: "Серебрянное копытце" English title: "Silver Hoof" Studio: Soyuzmultfilm Duration: 9 minutes Download media:arjlover.net Download subtitles:mricon.com
Long time no sub! I've been busy with family life, but I'd like to pick up the subbing again, since I do miss doing it. :)
Here's another quick one from "38 parrots." This episode is choke full of puns -- I had to rename "Python" into "Boa" just so I could do one of them. I did this fully knowing that Boas don't usually hang out with Elephants, seeing as they are New World. :) Not that it's supposed to be a geographically correct cartoon or anything.
Original title: "А вдруг получится?" English title: "What if it works?" Studio: Soyuzmultfilm Duration: 7 minutes Download media:arjlover.net Download subtitles:mricon.com
Original title: "Великое закрытие" English title: "The Great Cover-up" Studio: Soyuzmultfilm Duration: 9 minutes Download media:arjlover.net Download subtitles:mricon.com
I'm keeping busy with a few work-related projects, plus doing some subtitles for my brother's nature documentaries. Here is a quickie cartoon that I subbed while enjoying the spacious new train cars on the Vaudreuil commuter line. It's one my son's favourites (though subs will be lost on him for at least another 3-4 years :)).
Enjoy!
Original title: "38 попугаев" English title: "38 parrots" Studio: Soyuzmultfilm Duration: 8 minutes Download media:arjlover.net Download subtitles:mricon.com
This one was upon my wife's request. There were a few difficulties in the translation. The narrative builds on various folk-tale characters, such as Baba Yaga and the House on Chicken Legs, Leshy, and Domovoi. I had a choice to either be true to the narrative and call them by their Russian folk names, or to find close alternatives in English. In my translations I usually pick what would be most understandable for a Western/North American viewer, so I decided to go with closest approximations.
I left Baba Yaga untranslated, because she's fairly clearly an "old witch" and doesn't require explanation. For a "Leshy" I used "tree demon" -- largely because the cartoon itself departs fairly far from their traditional forms (there's an allusion to this fact in the cartoon itself). Lastly, for "Domovoi" I had a choice to either use "Brownie" or, thanks to the popularity of Harry Potter books, "House Elf." I picked the latter, though neither of the choices was completely satisfactory. Please read the Wikipedia articles linked above if you're interested in the actual Russian folk characters of Baba Yaga, Leshy, and Domovoi.
The characters also talk in a whimsical folksy language, which is very hard to express using subtitles. All I have to work with are two lines of 40 characters each and a couple of seconds of screen time. :) If I tried to use folksy "old-timey" English, it would have been too hard to read and looked weird coming from Russian folk characters.
Oh, and I should mention that "Kuzya," "Kuzka," "Kuzenka," etc, are all diminutives of the name "Kuzma" (which, I believe, stems from the Greek name "Kosmas"). In Russian, diminutives are formed by piling on suffixes onto the root of the name so a "diminutive" routinely ends up longer than the original name itself. The longer the diminutive, the more endearing it is. :)
Here's the full version, in two parts (stupid YouTube):
Part 1:
Part 2:
Original title: "Приключения Домовёнка" English title: "Adventures of a House Elf" Studio: Ekran Duration: 17 minutes Download media:arjlover.net Download subtitles:mricon.com
