Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Lee Eisenberg
One of Władysław Starewicz's shorts features a Santa ornament coming to life and making Christmas for various forest animals. "Rozhdestvo obitateley lesa" ("The Insects' Christmas" in English) is nothing special, but it's neat seeing the stop-motion work from animation's infancy. My favorite scene is when Santa (or Father Christmas, as the short calls him) whips up the Christmas tree. It just goes to show that animation doesn't have to be "cute". If you ask me, these shorts are more interesting that these animated features starring the celebrities of the moment.Worth seeing. Check it out.
Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Rozhdestvo obitateley lesa" or "The Insects' Christmas" is a black-and-white silent film from over 100 years ago, even if there exist tinted versions. It is a Russian 7-minute movie by Wladyslaw Starewicz who is certainly considered one of the most impactful filmmakers from that time back then, especially when it comes to animation. Unfortunately, the genre was not yet ready for Starewicz' mind at that time and the possibilities simply weren't there to make a quality animated film. The only reason I can think of why this one is worth a watch may be to see how different it is compared to American filmmaking from the 1910 and animated filmmaking in the decades afterward. I am really generous with my 4/10 rating here. It is not good at all, but you can't really blame the maker, just the time and technology.
ackstasis
Wladyslaw Starewicz was the father of Russian animation, his highly-imaginative stop-motion insect short films drawing universal acclaim, with his most popular work probably being 'Mest kinematograficheskogo operatora / The Cameraman's Revenge' of 1912. 'Rozhdestvo obitatelei lesa / The Insects' Christmas' was produced the following year, and it is a cheery seven-minute animated Christmas film, emphasising the importance of the holiday as a time to get together and enjoy oneself. The film begins when Father Christmas suddenly awakens during the night of Christmas Eve and clambers down his decorated tree, exiting into the frosty holiday snow to hold a gathering for the "forest children."Starewicz draws on all his favourite stop-motion creatures in this one, with Father Christmas inviting Miss Dragonfly, a ladybug, a grasshopper and an assortment of other beetles and insects to his gathering around the Christmas tree. Even the lanky Mr. Frog gives Father Christmas the honour of his company, though it doesn't take long before Mr. Frog gets into a feud with a beetle over the ownership of a particularly large present. Nonetheless, the general purpose of the film is to promote kindness and togetherness on Christmas, and it's certainly a worthy moral, far removed from the darkly humorous and cynical outlook of 'The Cameraman's Revenge.'Particularly interesting, I thought, was how well 'The Insects' Christmas' was able to create the atmosphere of a bitter winter's night. Aside from the windswept, snowy background that Starewicz must have created, the film takes place entirely against a blue tint. The result is that, even just watching the film, with Father Christmas' robes billowing in the wind, I was starting to feel chilly. The quality of the stop-motion animation is as good as ever, with the insects almost moving naturally (despite walking upright), though Mr. Frog did appear a bit ungainly.
Snow Leopard
This is a pleasant animated feature by the stop-action pioneer Wladyslaw Starewicz. It's not so remarkable when compared to his own finest movies, but in itself it is an agreeable and good-natured feature, and it is done with his usual skilled craftsmanship.The idea of the story is simple, with an animated Father Christmas ornament planning a Christmas celebration for some forest creatures. There isn't a lot in terms of a story line, but there is a good variety of Starewicz's detailed animal puppets, and some interesting settings. Overall, "The Insects' Christmas" is not as interesting as his best films, but it does feature the kind of carefully crafted animation that you would expect from him.
