Starik Khottabych

Infobox Film
name = Starik Khottabych


caption = Modern DVD cover of the film
director = Gennadiy Kazansky, L. Mahtin
producer =
writer = Lazar Lagin
starring = Nikolai Volkov (Khottabych), Alexey Litvinov (Volka), Gennady Khudyakov
music = Nadya Simonyan
cinematography = M. Shurukov
editing =
distributor = Lenfilm flagicon|USSR, London ENG
released = 1956
runtime = 86 min
country = USSR
language = Russian
amg_id = 1:172013
imdb_id = 0049794

Starik Khottabych, or Old Man Khottabych ( _ru. Старик Хоттабыч), is a film produced in the USSR by Lenfilm in 1956 based on a children's book of the same name by Lazar Lagin. In the USA, the release name, "The Flying Carpet", was used.

Plot summary

Volka, a 12-year old Soviet Young Pioneer, discovers an ancient vessel on the bottom of a river. When he opens it, a genie emerges. He calls himself Hassan Abdul-rahman ibn Khattab, but Volka renames him Khottabych. The grateful Khottabych is ready to fulfill any of Volka's wishes, but it becomes clear that Volka should use the powers of the genie carefully, for they can have some unforeseen undesirable results.

History

The novel is obviously influenced by the tale of Aladdin and his magical lamp, and it was quite popular with Soviet kids.

There were two major versions of the novel - the original was published in 1938, and a revised version followed in 1955. This later version was the basis of the 1956 film. Revisions to the novel were made by Lagin himself in order to incorporate the changes taking place in the USSR and the rest of the world into the narrative. The newer version also includes some ideological anti-capitalistic elements. The original edition has been republished in the Post-Soviet era.

In 2006, a modern film remake was made. It was called "Khottabych". This remake has nothing in common with the first film, except for the central plot point of finding a genie in a clay vessel.

Awards

* 1958 Moscow International Film Festival award
* 1958 Vancouver International Film Festival award

Trivia

*The name Khottabych is derived from the Arabic Khattab with the Russian patronymic suffix -ych, yielding a Russian equivalent of ibn-Khattab (son of Khattab).
*Volka (Willie) is a diminutive form of the name Volya ( _ru. Воля or Will).
*Khottabych later claim to be 3,732 years and 5 months old.

Screenshots from the film

External links

*
*
* [http://www.lib.ru/LAGIN/hottabych_engl.txt Lazar Lagin. The Old Genie Hottabych (english translation)] at Maksim Moshkow's Library