The Scarlet Flower 1952 Soviet Animated Movie: Why You Should Not Talk About Important Things Where Anyone Can Hear You?

(Warning: possible spoilers for the 1952 Soviet animated film The Scarlet Flower (Аленький цветочек, Alenkiy Tsvetochek in Russian))

The Scarlet Flower’s (#ad) basic plot is a variation of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale with a number of differences. This article focuses on one particular scene that made me think and ask some questions about it.

A private conversation between Stefan and his friend

Stefan, the merchant and father of Nastenka (the ‘Beauty’ in this story), entrusts his 3 daughters to his friend as he speaks of having to return to the island where the Beast is (he has to return there as payment for the scarlet flower that he took without permission).

Should you be surprised that the main character overhears a private conversation?

The 2 talk near the staircase and Nastenka happens to overhear their conversation. When this scene happened, I wasn’t at all surprised that Nastenka overheard her father and his friend, considering how near they were to where she was. I thought her two older sisters would have surely overheard the conversation too if they hadn’t been so preoccupied with their presents.

Is this a plot hole in The Scarlet Flower movie?

I know one reason for that scene was to have Nastenka hear all about what’s going on (the other points being to show just how much Stefan loves his daughters since he won’t let any of them be the ones to go to the island to be with the Beast).

But that scene seems somewhat contrived, since, with Stefan and his friend talking about important matters that Stefan clearly didn’t want his daughters to know about, you’d think that the 2 would have enough sense not to talk about such things while they were out in the open.

What was wrong with having that discussion in some other part of the house where Stefan’s daughters wouldn’t be around to accidentally overhear their entire conversation? What do you think?


*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by CoDLia (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Flowers in the image are meant to represent The Scarlet Flower
- YouTube video features a scene from the aforementioned movie

Conflict 1945 Movie: How To Choose Between 2 Love Interests?

(*Warning for possible spoilers for Conflict, a 1945 black-and-white suspense film noir made by Warner Brothers)

Conflict (1945) (#ad) is about an engineer, named Richard Mason (played by Humphrey Bogart), who kills his own wife, named Kathryn Mason (played by Rose Hobart). Was he able to commit the perfect crime or will he eventually get caught?

Who is Evelyn Turner?

Evelyn Turner (played by Alexis Smith) is the reason why Richard kills his own wife. She’s the younger sister of Kathryn and Richard is madly in love with her. He believes that getting rid of Kathryn will give him a chance to be with Evelyn.

But there are many confusing things about Evelyn’s character that it really seems like she hasn’t been properly characterized and that she’s missing a bit more depth.

There were many questions about her that just weren’t answered. There were so many things that were so vague and that hadn’t been made clear in the least.

Love in Conflict – who is in love with whom?

For example, is she in love with Richard Mason or not? There were moments when it seems like she is such as when she turns down the marriage proposal of Doctor Norman Holdsworth (played by Charles Drake), a friend of the Masons, and yet there are also other moments when it seems like she isn’t like with how she seems so indecisive about being with Richard or when she says that Kathryn will always be between them (Richard and Evelyn).

Why Richard believes that Evelyn loves him?

Part of this confusion can stem from how Richard seems inclined to believe that Evelyn is also in love with him. He tells Evelyn that the reason she refused to marry the doctor was because she was actually in love with him.

But, while that is a plausible possibility, another possibility could be that she does like the doctor. It does seem that way at times with how the 2 talk and interact.

Maybe she is just playing hard to get. Or maybe she was just unsure about suddenly being asked to get married that she couldn’t give an answer when the doctor proposed to her.

Maybe she just needed more time to think things through since this is a life-changing event. Besides, she was probably still worrying about her sister since she doesn’t know yet exactly what happened to Kathryn; she doesn’t know if her older sister is dead or alive. It’s too bad that the Conflict movie couldn’t be clearer about Evelyn’s character. What do you think?


*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize confusion about Evelyn since the figure in said image looks confused and thoughtful
- YouTube video features the Conflict movie trailer

The Scarlet Flower 1952 Soviet Animated Movie: Why You Need To Pay Attention To Film Details?

(Warning: possible spoilers for the 1952 Soviet animated film The Scarlet Flower (Аленький цветочек, Alenkiy Tsvetochek in Russian))

While there are differences, The Scarlet Flower (#ad) movie is based on the Beauty and The Beast fairy tale.

The Scarlet Flower is very detailed

In this article, I’d like to commend this animated film for how it pays attention to detail, which really helps to add more depth to this movie as well as its characters.

Here is an example: in one scene, we see Nastenka, the main female character, singing near a body of water while the Beast watches her from afar, hiding behind and in the shadows of trees.

She’s holding a red-colored piece of cloth or scarf or handkerchief, which falls into the water below her. She leans forward to try and retrieve the item.

What you’ll miss if you blink or if you’re not paying attention

If you blink or if you’re not paying too much attention, you might miss this next part because, the next thing you know, Nastenka has apparently noticed the hideous-looking Beast and turns her head away in fright.

But then, that would make you wonder how that could happen if she wasn’t looking at where the Beast was and if the Beast was actually hiding from afar and behind the shelter of the trees.

If you go back to the part where Nastenka tries to get the red item back from the water, you can see exactly what happened.

The Beast’s ugly form is reflected in the surface of the water and Nastenka happens to see it, which is exactly why she turns her head away in fright.

Even if you miss that though, it doesn’t really take away from the story of The Scarlet Flower since some would probably think that Nastenka wouldn’t have a problem seeing the Beast hiding behind the trees because, after all, the audience themselves can easily see him so it might be the same for our female protagonist. What do you think about this?


*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by CoDLia (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Red flowers in the image is meant to represent the scarlet flower while the entirety of the pic is meant to symbolize paying attention to details
- YouTube video features a scene from the aforementioned movie

Conflict 1945 Movie: How To Make People Think That Your Marriage Is Perfect?

(*Warning for possible spoilers for Conflict, a 1945 black-and-white suspense film noir made by Warner Brothers)

Conflict (1945) (#ad) is a murder mystery that tells the story of an engineer, named Richard Mason (played by Humphrey Bogart), who kills his own wife, Kathryn Mason (played by Rose Hobart). Will he be apprehended for this evil deed or has he actually managed to commit the perfect crime?

A loveless marriage

Considering how Richard plots to and actually succeeds in killing his wife, it should be obvious to anyone that he doesn’t love his wife and that he couldn’t care less about her.

To the audience, this is very much true. We are shown how the couple acts around each other, how Kathryn nags Richard and accuses him of falling in love with her little sister, Evelyn Turner (played by Alexis Smith), and how Richard doesn’t bother to correct her or deny her accusation.

Only the audience knows the truth about the Mason marriage

But, while the imperfections and the problems in the Mason marriage is very much visible and known to the Conflict movie viewers, the other characters in the film are absolutely clueless regarding this matter.

The other characters, like Evelyn and Doctor Mark Hamilton (played by Sydney Greenstreet), a very good friend of the Masons, are not privy to the details that we see and know.

They don’t get to see the Masons when it’s just the two of them, so they only have their public appearances and how they act and interact with each other in the presence of other people to base their assumption or presupposition on what the Masons’ married life is like.

The contrast between what these characters think is going on and what is really going on is striking, to say the east.

Everyone believes that the Masons are so in love with each other and that their married life is perfect. We even hear Evelyn saying that she admires the married couple and would also like to meet a guy like Richard.

Is the Mason marriage believable in Conflict?

It makes you wonder how Richard and Kathryn were able to fool everyone. How did they manage this? Is it because they’re such good actors?

If you really look at it though, it didn’t seem like the 2 were really exerting all that much effort in keeping up the façade that their marriage was nothing less than perfect. So how were they able to keep everyone from guessing the real truth about their marriage and just how much of a failure it was? What do you think about this?


*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by CoDLia (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Figures in the image are meant to represent Richard and Kathryn Mason since the 2 look like they may or may not be a couple
- YouTube video features the trailer for the Conflict movie

The Scarlet Flower 1952 Soviet Animated Movie: What You Should Do If You’re Feeling Homesick?

(Warning: possible spoilers for the 1952 Soviet animated film The Scarlet Flower (Аленький цветочек, Alenkiy Tsvetochek in Russian) though if you know the basic plot of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale or the Disney version, then this might not even be considered a spoiler as you probably already know this)

In The Scarlet Flower (#ad), the female main character, whose name is Nastenka, has to stay in an island with the Beast.

Naturally, she gets homesick since she had to be apart from her father, Stefan, and her two older sisters. Eventually, the Beast does allow Nastenka to visit her family.

However, while the scenes showing Nastenka feeling homesick and wanting to see her dad and sisters were happening, I found myself wondering exactly why her family couldn’t just live with her and the Beast on that island.

Reason why Nastenka’s family couldn’t come live with her and the Beast?

The island was obviously big enough for all of them and then some. So why couldn’t they all just stay there and live together? That way, Nastenka wouldn’t have to feel homesick and her family wouldn’t have to miss her either.

Unfortunately, the question isn’t answered in The Scarlet Flower, so I guess we’ll never know. Even in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, the same thing happens.

Belle misses her father and wants to see him, but one has to wonder why her dad couldn’t just stay with her in the Beast’s castle. This is likely due to the plot demanding it to be that way though it would still be nice to get a believable reason, right? But then again, this is a fairytale. What do you think about this?


*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Red flowers in the image are meant to represent the scarlet flower in the film
- YouTube video features a scene from said movie