The automatic translation was made using a Yandex translator.
Is this an urban legend?
I have already written that as a child I was very scared of the movie "Dwarf Nose". When I first saw this TV show, I was about 5 years old and I was alone at home. The movie started, it was light outside the window... I started watching a movie, it got dark outside the window. I should have turned on the light, but I was numb with horror and literally crawled away from the TV into the next room. And only there could I turn on the light. I watched the film until the moment when Jacob returned home and his parents did not accept him. I no longer saw how he worked in the court kitchen and how he met the goose, but only continued to listen in a daze. I remember this movie. I remembered it for the rest of my life. I remember exactly the faces of the Dwarf Nose, Jacob's parents, the witch in both guises.
In 2016, I decided to watch "Dwarf Nose" and immediately found it on YouTube. This is a 1978 Eastern German film that I watched twice in the eighties. I had no doubt that this was the same movie, I just marveled at my childish perception. Later, when I accidentally found out that "a group of enthusiasts has been looking for a film for 10 years," my surprise knew no bounds. By the way, most of the comments on the 1978 film on YouTube say that this is the same movie. So, the quote:
For more than 10 years, a group of enthusiasts from post-Soviet countries has been looking for a film that many Soviet children will remember for a lifetime. The film made a terrible impression on the audience. Many people note its gloomy, oppressive and depressive atmosphere.
But in 10 years of searching, no mention of the film has surfaced, as if it never existed.
Archives have been ransacked, Soviet television programs have been studied, tons of letters have been written to film studios – all in vain.
The key features of that movie that many people remember:
- In that movie, the witch took out human heads instead of cabbages (as in Hauff's fairy tale). In the 1978 film, instead of cabbages, the witch took out coconuts.
- There is an opinion that the film was not called "Dwarf Nose", but something like "The Tale of Poor Jacob", or something like that;
- "Instead of cabbages in the basket that Jacob was carrying when he went to the witch, then there were human heads and Jacob's nose was so scary that even now adult aunts and uncles tremble in their knees."
- The squirrels riding on the shells seemed to be real, not people in masks and costumes.
- "I don't remember a handsome tall teenager, or heads instead of cabbage. But I remember that it was some kind of numbing horror. Not because of the special effects, but... I don't know how to explain it... because of some general atmosphere of hopelessness. It seemed that the Dwarf Nose would never get out of this terrible story. And he himself was very tragic, depressed. Well, that's how I remember it."
How am I watching the movie now:
How I watched a movie in my Soviet childhood:
Why did the film scare Soviet children so much?
So, this is a 1978 GDR film, 100%. Why was it scarier then than it is now?
- There is this movie on YouTube, but with a different unprofessional, "not scary" voice acting. The voice acting is really lost, unfortunately (Update: The Soviet voice acting is not lost! See the video on this page). The Soviet professionals from the Main Editorial Office of the film Programs of the Central Television Station knew their business. And now imagine: you are alone at home, you are 5 years old, it is getting dark outside the window. A black and white screen with a hazy picture... Gdrovsky, "Visiting a fairy tale," everything fits together.
- You can make up a lot of things, for example, I have a theory that during dubbing, Soviet specialists could have been too creative about the process:
- Some, I think, watched two films (the second with "heads of heads" in 1953), but since 40 years have passed, these two films have combined into one in memory. This is a property of human memory.
- This is the 1970s and 1980s, not the 1920s. Everything can be found — the names of the actors and the film crew, the program of the programs, the archives, photos, in the case of feature films — posters, as well as the memories of the participants and those related to this performance. Yes, some films of the specified period were demagnetized/washed away, but data has been preserved about any of them. There's nothing here at all.
- People need esotericism, mysticism, numerology, astrology and other nonsense. There's nothing you can do — that's human nature! Because life is about communication and emotions. The child received an emotion while watching the film, albeit a negative one, and remembered it for the rest of his life. As an adult, he watches the very movie that causes nothing but a smile. And he makes the wrong conclusion that the film is not the one. Some people like to whip up fear — that with Dyatlov Pass, that with a Dwarf Nose. The number of impressions and readings is growing, advertising budgets are being mastered, banners are spinning, everyone is happy. And people just tend to exaggerate their childhood fears and not trust their own memory. This is exactly the movie and it scared me a lot. Scared me for months and years.
- Here's another thought. Children are generally more impressionable + some have so-called "emotional lability". Soviet children, who had never encountered horror films, watched this film, barely fell asleep at night, slept badly - they were tormented by nightmares... And so on for several days/weeks in a row. It could have been a dream there — Mom, don't grieve! After 40 years, these grown-up children do not remember the film, but their dreams. Moreover, everyone has their own dream, so they cannot come to common memories, but only remember the "brilliant staging" and the "depressing impression". They are looking for something that exists only in their childhood dreams.
The film "Dwarf Nose" with the same Soviet voiceover:
By the way, the program "Visiting a fairy tale" had a screensaver when a golden feather flies in a circle. I read that 200 million people regularly saw the screensaver, and now they can't find it anywhere either. It has not been preserved on any cassette, even at home. It's a mystery, it's a mystery.
- They could have darkened the picture.
- Slow down the shooting speed somewhere.
- To put on another, depressing, music in the order of a creative experiment.
I remember the film as something "black" or something... I am sure that none of this happened, this is just my "wisdom".
There are various experimental videos on YouTube, including those with a darkened picture, although they write that the film is not the same, I repeat, the film is 100% the same. It is partially possible to convey the depressing hopelessness characteristic of children's perception.
Comments from a visitor with the nickname "Abillikarlik" on this site:
In my opinion, absolutely correct arguments that you cannot argue with:
I'm also leaning towards the author's version. To listen to the "eyewitnesses" of the so-called "unknown film adaptation", the sought-after Dwarf nose was some kind of superfood. Well, like "Star Wars", no other way. Yeah, a thriller film shot in the manner of a blockbuster and unknown to anyone. And they showed it to Soviet children. And they also say that the 1978 film is like heaven and earth compared to the one you are looking for. And even the same old woman, whom even Freddy Krueger envies, does not compare with what was in the desired film adaptation. And again, the "eyewitnesses" of this film are foaming at the mouth saying that they have seen the film, that they know better, that they say, believe it or not, but we have seen it. You ask them to remember the details, they immediately merge. Or they refuse, they say, my memory is not so good, many years have passed and all that. And at the same time, they will not confuse this film with anything.
There was no "unknown" Dwarf. The maximum that could be is the Bulgarian "Giugeto Dlgonosko". But he was hardly really scary, if there was such a reaction, it was only a child's perception, as with the non-scary adult "Klokman" or the old Gdr "Singing Ringing Tree", which terrified British children in the mid-60s when it was shown on the BBC, which is now the current British people of pre-retirement age remember how they put their pants on when watching a completely unafraid GDR film. Children's perception is unpredictable in many ways.
As for the 1978 film, I don't understand, have people who consider it nonsense forgotten what kind of children's films are? I personally believe that children's films and fairy tales can be watched and re-read in adulthood. And by the way, "Dwarf Nose" 1978, in my opinion, was shot at a very high level, many Western adaptations of fairy tales are inferior to it.
Thanks for your attention!