The Scarlet Flower
"Аленький цветочек" - written by Sergey Akskakov in 1858
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The Scarlet Flower is the Russian language variation of Beauty and the Beast, following a young girl named Nastenka, who wished for the most beautiful scarlet flower her father could get.
It follows the same basic structure as Beauty and the Beast, but is significantly shorter--it ends once the beast is transformed to a prince, much like more familiar modern adaptations than the original. Additionally, rather than Nastenka knowing that the man who is keeping her at the palace is a beast, he first only communicates with her through words written on a marble wall, then through speaking to her from the shadows in the palace garden, and then finally reveals himself to her.
Illustration by Nikolay Bogatov
Most notably, Nastenka falls in love with the Beast without ever seeing him or realizing his true form--she falls in love with him just through talking to him, and the beast is afraid to show her his true form for fear that she will be afraid of him, or judge him.
Rather than wishing for a handsome prince, she simply loved the Beast for who he was, and proclaimed that she loved him more than she loved herself, immediately transporting her to a throne, sitting next to a prince--who explains that he was the Beast, and his curse has been broken.
The Scarlet Flower (1952, animated)
Directed by Lev Atamanov, known for The Snow Queen (1957) and The Golden Antelope (1954), among others, it closely follows the original tale of The Scarlet Flower.
The art style, most notably the backgrounds, draw heavily from traditional Russian art and craft, with ornate floral patterns and complex, glittering architecture. Additionally, it utilizes rotoscoping, very similarly to Disney's adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (Chan).
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