A blended family lives on a farm in a village in the mountains. The man is kind and has a daughter named Nastenka, who is kind, beautiful, and hardworking. The woman is cruel and gives her Nastenka many household chores, favoring her own daughter, Marfushka, who is rude, ugly, and lazy.
Eventually, both of the daughters have grown into adult women. Meanwhile, in another village nearby, a young man named Ivan leaves his home and heads out to see the world. While traveling, Ivan is accosted by bandits, but he outsmarts them by throwing their clubs away. Later, Ivan meets Father Mushroom, who gives Ivan a bow and quiver of arrows. He asks Ivan to bow to him to show thanks, but Ivan claims that a bear may bow to Father Mushroom but Ivan will not. Ivan reaches a lake where he meets Nastenka. Lovestruck, he asks her to marry him. To prove his worth, he attempts to shoot a mother bear with her cubs. Nastenka stops him, and Father Mushroom, watching nearby, casts a spell that changes Ivan into a bear. Nastenka is startled and faints. Ivan sees his reflection, accuses Nastenka of being a witch and runs off.
Ivan meets Father Mushroom again, who scolds Ivan over his selfish nature. Thinking that all he must do to change back is a good deed, Ivan seeks out people, demanding to know how he can help them; however having a bear's head terrifies them. He comes across an old blind woman carrying sticks to her home and carries her home. Father Mushroom, pleased at Ivan's selflessness, restores him to human form.
Meanwhile, Nastenka's stepmother tries to marry off Marfushka. In the fall, she dresses Marfushka in fine clothes while putting mud on Nastenka's face to make her ugly. A wealthy suitor comes and asks Marfushka, who has never done a day's work, to prepare a meal for him. While chasing geese a pond, Marfushka falls into the pond and nearly drowns until she is rescued by Nastenka. Marfushka's makeup and the mud on Nastenka's face wash away, and the suitor chooses Nastenka for a bride instead. As winter starts, the stepmother orders her husband to leave Nastenka in the woods. On the way, the father decides to bring Nastenka back home. Believing her stepmother will punish him, Nastenka flees. While sitting under a tree, she meets Father Frost bringing winter to the woods, who rescues her from freezing and brings her to his home.
Ivan encounters Baba Yaga, whom he asks for aid to find Nastenka. She refuses to help, but Ivan tricks her and threatens to bake the witch in her own oven until she tells him how to find Nastenka. After he leaves, Baba Yaga sends her black cat to harm Nastenka before Ivan can reach her. The enchanted sled sent by Baba Yaga to show Ivan the way to Nastenka leaves him trapped in a snowbank. While Father Frost is out walking, the cat tricks Nastenka into touching his staff, which freezes her and sends her into a deep slumber. Nastenka's dog leads Ivan to her. Ivan apologizes for his rude behavior, pleading for her to return to life; she is revived. Father Frost gives Nastenka and Ivan a large dowry of jewels and a horse-driven sleigh for their impending marriage.
They return to Nastenka's village, where her father is happy to see his beloved daughter, and he welcomes Ivan as his son-in-law, but Marfushka and her mother eye their fortune and demand the same. While Nastenka and Ivan and Nastenka's dog are traveling to Ivan's village, they are attacked by the bandits Ivan encountered in the summer along with Baba Yaga. The bandits overpower them until the clubs from before come down and knock out the bandits and Baba Yaga is chased away by the dog. Meanwhile, when Marfushka tries to duplicate Nastenka's adventure in the snowbound forest, Father Frost is so horrified by her rudeness that he sends her back on a pig-driven sleigh, with a box full of crows as a dowry. The father stands up for himself and regains his place as head of the household. Nastenka and Ivan have a lovely wedding.
For the role of Marfushka, the Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Bašta gave Inna Churikova the silver medal of Masaryk.[5]
Legacy
The original Russian version was released on DVD in 2000 by Ruscico under the cover title Morozko. It has nine different subtitle options including English, as well as Russian, English and French audio tracks and special features. It was previously released on VHS by United Home Video under the title Magical Wonderland.[6]
This fairy tale is still very popular in Central and Eastern Europe. The movie has been shown on Czechoslovak (now Czech and Slovak) TV channels (under name Mrazík in Czech and Mrázik in Slovak) annually around Christmas or New Year's Day since 1965.[10] Some critics preferred the Czech dubbing to the original Russian version. Baba Yaga was dubbed in the Czech Republic by František Filipovský.
In 2009, Neil Cicierega produced "Ivanushka", a demo based on the plot of the film, which would later be adapted into the Spirit Phone track "Touch-Tone Telephone". The original version was eventually released to Neil Cicierega's Patreon in January 2018.[12]
