THE NEW GULLIVER is, as the title would suggest, a Russian fantasy based on the world created by Jonathan Swift in his GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. After a slightly laborious prologue, the story is about a young Russian boy who falls asleep to dream that he's in Lilliput and engaging with its miniature citizens.What's amazing about this film is that for most of the running time it's packed to the brim with stop motion effects to animate the citizens of the city. The stop motion is a little rugged and rough around the edges - as you'd expect from a production made in the 1930s - but otherwise solid and thoroughly engaging. A lot of attention to detail has been made in crafting the faces and features of these little guys, and they even have teeth showing in their mouths every now and then.The humour is quite surreal as is the situation, but you only have to stop and imagination the effort having gone into the film to enjoy it. At times the story reminds you of the old British kid's show TRUMPTON while towards the end shades of Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS hang over the production in the depiction of the industrial complex. Inevitably as it's a communist production we see the put-upon workers rise up against their oppressors in a barely-disguised allegory. THE NEW GULLIVER is definitely a worthwhile watch.

That is not saying that The New Gulliver is bad, it isn't, far from it. Just that after seeing the likes of The Tale of Tsar Sultan, Stone Flower, Sadko, Ruslan and Ludmilla- all quintessential Russian fantasies- I was expecting a little more. But it actually is very interesting and also very impressive, and of historical importance for animation and stop-motion. The visuals are amazing, so much detail, breadth and nuances went into them and it showed. They exude a great atmosphere as well, it does have a beauty and charm at times but there is more of an emphasis on the weirdness and eeriness to match the politics and it didn't feel misplaced at all. The photography doesn't undermine how the characters and settings look either, and I can only echo what Ray Harryhousen said of his experience of The New Gulliver as a child that while the politics went over his head, he found the visuals totally absorbing. The music is haunting and atmosphere yet rousing and sumptuous. I simply love the sung anthems, very stirring indeed. There are a fair number of scenes that leave you transfixed and in awe, and the two that really stand out are I agree the performer for Gulliver and the underground factory. Ptushko's direction is fine, early on in his career there is ambition and an eye for detail that would bloom even more later on. The acting is good, some may find it on the mannered and broad side, maybe so but those and also the nobility the actors had were part of the charm. For all those good points, The New Gulliver is not without its weak points. The political aspects can feel heavy-handed and bogs the film down to the extent that the pacing is affected. And the pacing can get tedious at times, while the comedy also falls flat, not just coming across as not very funny but in some scenes rather out of place. Jonathan Swift's satire may have helped things if it hadn't been dulled down in favour of the visuals and politics. In conclusion, problematic and not among Ptushko's best but interesting and impressive. 7/10 Bethany Cox

If you've been searching for a Soviet version of "Gulliver's Travels" populated with a cast of animated puppets, scored with rousing musical numbers saluting the heroic proletariat, look no further -- this is the film for you! Novyy Gullier (a.k.a. "The New Gulliver") which was the first major work by director Alexsandr Ptushko, is also one of the first feature-length films to showcase puppet animation. Once we get past the live-action prologue, which lasts about 10 minutes or so, the bulk of the film is set in an animated Lilliput, populated by 'pixilated' puppets and clay figures who often share the frame with the human actor playing Gulliver. This is not the first feature-length film to offer animation of this kind -- Ladislaus Starewicz' Tale of the Fox (1930) predates it -- but it's a milestone nonetheless, not only in scale but in audacity.Audacious it certainly is, but for me the film turned out to be a disappointment. The animation technique displayed by Starewicz is more accomplished than Ptushko's in every way: the movement of his characters in Tale of the Fox was smoother, his pacing was tighter, and his sense of humor more robust. To be fair, however, Starewicz was working in France, unencumbered by censorship, while Ptushko labored under the severe disadvantage of having to function and survive as an artist in Stalin's USSR. Consequently, his version of Swift had to be adapted for Soviet consumption, and the propaganda is duly ladled on with a heavy hand. Lilliput's king is a drooling moron who giggles and scratches himself, while his ministers are all decadent sadists and cowards; meanwhile, the underground labor movement is made up of earnest, muscular, and interchangeable workers who eventually overthrow the corrupt royalists with Gulliver's help. Stirring anthems to labor are sung at key moments.But the biggest problem, in my opinion, is the draggy pacing. Despite the fact that Ptushko often has an impressive amount of action going on in the frame, nothing much happens plot-wise for long stretches, and when action does occur it occurs slowly. Worse, the comedy is poorly handled; most of it involves the king's evil minions, but it's all very clunky and obvious. Opportunities for gags are botched, one after another. (Perhaps Ptushko found it difficult to be funny with the apparatchiks of Stalin's Ministry of Culture breathing down his neck. Of course, he would have had similar problems in Germany or Italy at the time.) The most memorable and amusing sequence is the performance given for Gulliver's pleasure by the king's dancers and singers, whose solemnity is considerably more laugh-provoking than the forced antics of the corrupt courtiers. Also impressive is the sequence in the underground factory, where a spider-like machine and the robotic movements of the workers are suggestive of Fritz Lang's Metropolis.Novyy Gulliver is no masterpiece, but it is an unusual and significant achievement, quite unlike anything else ever produced, and a must for animation buffs. Viewers with an interest in the role of the artist in a totalitarian state will likely find this a fascinating document, albeit one with disturbing undertones.