The Flying Carpet (Starik Khottabych)
Directed by Gannadiy Kazanskiy
Writtten by Lazar Lagin from his novel
1957/USSR
Lenfilm Studio
First viewing/YouTube
[box] “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” ― G.K. Chesterton[/box]
Young Pioneer Volka opens an ancient bottle with a 3,000+ year old genie in it. The genie, Old Man Khottabych, is so grateful he essentially becomes the boy’s slave. It is not necessary for him to wish for anything. This creates problems as the genie is completely out of touch with modern times and messes up a lot. Volka and his friends also do some traveling courtesy of the flying carpet.
This is a moderately amusing children’s film. For me the most interesting parts were bits of relatively unobtrusive Soviet propaganda as with the boy’s distaste for owning anything. Everything is bright, shiny, and new in the USSR in this fairy tale.
