The Cat Who Walked by Herself () is a 1988 Soviet animated feature film directed by Ideya Garanina and made at the Soyuzmultfilm studio. It is based on Rudyard Kipling's short story "The Cat that Walked by Himself". Like the earlier Soviet animated feature Adventures of Mowgli, the film retains the dark, primal tone of Kipling's work. The production includes almost all types of animation technologies.
It is not the only Soviet screen version of this fairy tale; in 1968 the director Aleksandra Snezhko-Blotskaya at the same studio released another animated film, "The Cat Who Walked by Himself", lasting only 20 minutes.
Plot The film is largely based on Kipling's short story, but expands it with several digressions.
Frame story A couple - a man and a woman - put their young child in his crib for the night and leave the room. The child starts crying, and the Cat comes into the room to keep him company. When the child grabs her tail, the Cat angrily reminds him that they agreed "a thousand years ago" that he would not do that. Upon seeing that the child doesn't remember, the Cat sighs and decides to tell him the story from the beginning. The story starts when the planet was young and life on Earth was emerging with early creatures among erupting volcanoes.
Creators English Russian Director-producer Ideya Garanina Идея Гаранина Scenario Ideya GaraninaMariya Solovyova Идея ГаранинаМария Соловьёва Art director Nina Vinogradova Нина Виноградова Animators Aleksandr GorlenkoVioletta KolesnikovaAleksandr PanovYuriy BataninVladimir ShevchenkoAnatoliy AbarenovOlga PanokinaAkop KirakosyanYelena GavrilkoTatyana MolodovaLidiya Mayatnikova Александр ГорленкоВиолетта КолесниковаАлександр ПановЮрий БатанинВладимир ШевченкоАнатолий АбареновОльга ПанокинаАкоп КиракосянЕлена ГаврилкоТатьяна МолодоваЛидия Маятникова Camera operator Aleksandr Vikhanskiy Александр Виханский Executive producer Grigoriy Khmara Григорий Хмара Composer Sofya Gubaydulina Софья Губайдулина Sound operators Vladimir VinogradovSergei Karpov Владимир ВиноградовСергей Карпов Script editor Raisa Frichinskaya Раиса Фричинская Puppets / Decorations Marina ChesnokovaNatalia GrinbergVladimir AbbakumovE. BelovaMikhail KoltunovAleksandr MaksimovO. PotaninPavel GusevVladimir AlisovAnna VetyukovaSvetlana ZnamenskayaNikolay ZaklyakovLiliana LyutinskayaV. PlatonovNina MolevaOleg MasainovNatalia Barkovskaya Марина ЧесноковаНаталия ГринбергВладимир АббакумовЭ. БеловаМихаил КолтуновАлександр МаксимовО. ПотанинПавел ГусевВладимир АлисовАнна ВетюковаСветлана ЗнаменскаяНиколай ЗакляковЛилиана ЛютинскаяВ. ПлатоновНина МолеваОлег МасаиновНаталия Барковская Sculptor S. Aseryants С. Асерьянц Voice actors Valentina PonomaryovaElena Sanayeva (Cow)Georgi Burkov (Man, Dog)Nikolai Karachentsov (Horse)Inna Churikova (Cat)Nogon ShumarovAnna Kamenkova (Woman)Ivan Burlyayev (Child) Валентина ПономарёваЕлена СанаеваГеоргий БурковНиколай КараченцовИнна ЧуриковаНогон ШумаровАнна КаменковаИван Бурляев EditorNadezhda TreshchyovaНадежда Трещёва
Home video The film is available on DVD in the collection Золотая коллекция мультфильмов 9 ("Golden Collection of Cartoons 9"), a PAL 2003 Russian release. It also includes the films Barankin, Be a Man!,Barankin, Be a Man! Inchgirl,Inchgirl The Pot of Porridge,The Pot of Porridge How the Cat Fought with Mice,How the Cat Fought with Mice and Wings, Legs and TailsWings, Legs and Tails (total running time: 142 minutes).
The film has also been released on DVD by the company Krupnyy Plan.
See also History of Russian animation List of animated feature-length films List of stop-motion films
Notes
External links The Cat Who Walked by Herself at Animator.ru
Interview with the director