Adventures of Mowgli

Adventures of Mowgli
Akela, Baloo, Mowgli and Bagheera in a scene from the movie on a Russian postage stamp.
Directed by	Roman Davydov
Written by	Leonid Belokurov Rudyard Kipling (story) Ian James Corlett and Terry Klassen (English version)
Starring	Sergei Martinson L. Lyubetskiy Lyusyena Ovchinnikova Stepan Bubnov Anatoli Papanov Lyudmila Kasatkina A. Nazarov Klara Rumyanova
Edited by	Lyubov Georgiyeva
Music by	Sofia Gubaidulina
Production company	Soyuzmultfilm
Release dates	1967–1971 (Soviet Union) July 31, 1973 (combined) (Soviet Union)
Running time	20 minutes x 5 96 min 92 minutes (United States) 98 minutes (Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, India, Thailand) 100 minutes (Poland, Italy, Spain, Germany)
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

Adventures of Mowgli (Russian: Маугли; also spelled Maugli) is an animated feature-length story originally released as five animated shorts of about 20 minutes each between 1967 and 1971 in the Soviet Union. It is based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. They were directed by Roman Davydov and made by Soyuzmultfilm studio. In 1973, the five films were combined into a single 96-minute feature film. The Russian DVD release of the restored footage, distributed by "Krupnyy Plan" and "Lizard", separates the animation into the original five parts.^[1]

An English-language version made jointly by Soyuzmultfilm (Russia) and Cyrillic Films (U.S.) was completed in 1996 and released direct-to-video on April 28, 1998 under the name Adventures of Mowgli.^[2] Charlton Heston is the narrator in the English version. Proceeds from the U.S. release were donated to The Audrey Hepburn Hollywood for Children Fund.

Style

This is the second film adaptation of

Two episodes end with images of death, and these images are Kaa's dance and Akela's song. Kaa is the embodiment of absolute power, unhurried and at the same time inevitable. Dying in the finale of the fourth episode, Akela is the embodiment of the archetype of a warrior who worthily meets death in battle and leaves for the fields of happy hunting ... In other words, the authors told us that childhood ends when you find out that death exists, and youth — when a person close to you dies. If you like — when you realize that you will die yourself.

— Sergey Kuznetsov, Iskusstvo Kino^[4]

Portrayal of characters

• In this version,
  feminine, similar to the word fox and character in the local translation of The Adventures of Pinocchio). She is also less willing to spoil Mowgli, as she spanks him after he refuses to apologize for landing on Baloo, saying "Mind your manners!". This scene has inexplicably been deleted for the English-language version made by Films by Jove, though it appears uncut in the Cyrillic Films English-language adaptation.^[5] She is voiced by the famous Tamer of Tigers star, actress Lyudmila Kasatkina
  .She also was one of the rare installations of a strong female character innthe soviet animation
• Human characters like
  Buldeo
  are not present in this film.
• Bagheera has three cubs in this film, one black and two gold. They are only mentioned in the book while Bagheera's female mate is not.
• While it is uncertain as to what bear species
  Asiatic black bear
  .
• In this film, the king's
  ankus is replaced with a dagger, the Iron Tooth. This is the same departure as in Disney's later film The Jungle Book
  .
• Unlike most adaptations that show Tabaqui, this is loyal to the story and he is a
  Jungle Book Shōnen Mowgli, The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, he is a hyena
  .
• One of Hathi's sons shows similarities to the baby elephant Junior, from the Disney adaptation.
• The ruins of the Forgotten City contain
  Buddha look-alike statues in Lotus position
  .
• White Hood, the white cobra guarding the treasures in an old cave, has also been changed into a female named Mother Cobra. She is also much more vicious than her book counterpart.
• Snake characters talk in a slow and hissy manner.
• Most instances of physical violence, brutality, and lethality are implied but not shown. The scenes of Shere Khan slaying numerous humans and animals are not portrayed, instead Bagheera is constantly accusing him of being a "Manhunter! Murderer! Baby snatcher!" and so on. Also his evil deeds are described verbally in brief by the narrator. The scene of the Kaa's hunt is ended right at the moment when Kaa is about to proceed to feast on the hypnotized Bandar-log population. Baloo is taking Mowgli away, saying that "We'd better leave now. This is something you shouldn't see".^[6] Only scenes of actual violence, which are portrayed, occur when: 1) Baloo and Bagheera are fighting the Bandar-log crowd in order to free Mowgli; 2) Mowgli, triumphant after he obtained the Iron Tooth, wields and accidentally hurts a paw of his Grey Brother wolf with the dagger, and apologizes right thereafter; 3) the Pack confronts the Red dogs; 4) the final fight.
• Shere Khan escapes the stampede and is eventually killed by the grown-up Mowgli in a bare-handed manner similar to Samson slaying the lion. The death of Shere Khan at the hands of Mowgli is implied by the next scene, which depicts Mowgli with the tiger's skin.

Plot

Episode 1 - "Raksha"

The story starts with a

A moment later, Bagheera, the melanistic Indian leopard, is minding her business when Tabaqui appears to tell her the news. Bagheera scolds him for spreading malicious falsehoods, then puts up quite a display that causes Shere Khan to walk away with hatred.

The elders of the wolf pack watch a performance of the wolf cubs and Mowgli, with the protagonist matching the cubs' every step. The elders are evenly split about whether or not they should allow him to stay until they see Mowgli pinch the nose of Tabaqui, who came up to taunt him. However, at this point, Shere Khan appears and demands that he be given his prey. Akela, also known as the "Lone Wolf" and patriarch of the pack, refuses to listen, so Raksha and Baloo (the white-chested bear who instructs the young wolf cubs) come to his defence, but Shere Khan is undeterred until Bagheera also appears and offers the wolf pack a freshly killed bull in return for keeping Mowgli alive. Shere Khan is forced to admit defeat, but he vows that he will still eat Mowgli one day.

Episode 2 - "The Kidnapping"

Mowgli and Raksha's cubs are being taught to hunt by Baloo, who scolds Mowgli for running like a man, also teaches them the call of the jungle; "we be of one blood, thou and i" when they reached a watering hole infested with crocodiles. A bit earlier Bagheera appears and teaches Mowgli to climb and jump between trees. The

A short while later, they kidnap him while he is sleeping and take him to their city. Baloo and Bagheera run after him but decide that they need the help of the

Mowgli has grown and to enable him to take his rightful place in the pack, he needs to arm himself. Python Kaa helps Mowgli find an "iron tooth" - a knife, in an abandoned cave guarded by an ancient white Indian cobra. This happens just in time, because the old enemy tiger Shere Khan raises havoc in the pack, intending to kill Mowgli since Akela has missed his kill. The intervention of Mowgli saves the pack leader from Shere Khan through the use of the Red Flower along with support from Bagheera and Baloo.

Episode 4 - "The Fight"

A terrible threat looms over the wolf tribe and all those living in the jungle. A large pack of dholes descends on the jungle, destroying everything in their path. However, Mowgli decides that he and Akela should prepare the wolf pack to battle the dhole tribes, with Baloo concurring with Akela's orders.

Tabaqui, nosy as always, reports the preparations for war to his master, Shere Khan, who muses the wolves forgot the rules of the jungle. Saying that it is every beast for themselves now, the big cat suggests heading north to wait for the battle to be over with, a suggestion his nosy majordomo agrees with.

Everyone evacuates for shelter while Bagheera relocates her three cubs (two yellow as gold and one the same color as Bagheera) to a safer spot where they remain until the war is over despite their earlier misbehavior.

At the river, Kaa suggests the aid of a huge horde of

. Mowgli delays the enemy horde for some time, and then, waiting for sunset, lures the dogs into the gorge by jumping from the cliff into the river. The dogs also end up in the river and are immediately attacked by bees. Some dogs are carried away by the fast current to the island, where they receive slaps from Bagheera. The main pack of dogs ends up on the river bank, where they enter into a terrible night battle with a wolf pack led by Akela. The bear Baloo and Mowgli, who climbed out onto the shore with the dogs, also take part in the battle. As a result, the young man and his friends, at the cost of huge losses, defeat the dholes, driving away the remnants of the dog pack. On the morning after the battle, Akela, who was seriously wounded in battle, dies, declaring Mowgli his successor before his death.

Episode 5 - "Return to Mankind"

Mowgli is the head of the wolf pack. He sees people by the village, gathering some water, but he is confused about why he feels so different than the jungle folk. Finally it is time to pay Mowgli's arch-enemy, tiger Shere Khan, who broke the peace truce during a drought, but to slay him, Mowgli must devise a plan to trap him and his bumbling majordomo Tabaqui in the ravine using the buffalo herds. The plan fails when Shere Khan leaps to a high platform, with Mowgli hot on his tail. After a short brawl, Mowgli is able to finally put Shere Khan's law-breaking habits to an end by dislocating his skull. In the jungle, the time comes to upgrade and the flowering of love. Mowgli says goodbye to all his friends who say they would be happy to aid him. It is time to leave the pack and go back to the people.

Crew

Note: Crew information for episodes 4 and 5 is incomplete.

	Romanized	Russian
Director	Roman Davydov	Роман Давыдов
Scenario	Leonid Belokurov	Леонид Белокуров
Art Directors	Pyotr Repkin Aleksandr Vinokurov	Пётр Репкин Александр Винокуров
Animators	Pyotr Korobayev (1, 2, 3) Boris Butakov (1) Aleksandr Davydov (1) Vladimir Zarubin (1, 2) Viktor Lihachyov (1, 2, 3) Viktor Arsentyev (1, 2) S. Zhutovskaya (1) Vladimir Krumin (1, 2) Valeriy Ugarov (1) Oleg Komarov (1, 2) Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin (2) Roman Davydov (2, 3) Oleg Safronov (3) Lyudmila Kasatkina (3) Vitaliy Bobrov (3) Nikolay Fyodorov (3)	Пётр Коробаев Борис Бутаков Александр Давыдов Владимир Зарубин Виктор Лихачёв Виктор Арсентьев С. Жутовская Владимир Крумин Валерий Угаров Олег Комаров Вячеслав Котёночкин Роман Давыдов Олег Сафронов Людмила Касаткина Виталий Бобров Николай Фёдоров
Camera Operator	Yelena Petrova	Елена Петрова
Executive Producer	A. Zorina (1, 2) Lyubov Butyrina (3)	А. Зорина Любовь Бутырина
Composer	Sofia Gubaidulina	Софья Губайдулина
Sound Operator	Georgy Martynyuk	Георгий Мартынюк
Script Editor	Arkadiy Snesarev Ian James Corlett English version Terry Klassen English version	Аркадий Снесарев
Editor	Lyubov Georgiyeva	Любовь Георгиева
Voice Actors	Maria Vinogradova (2, 3) V. Bubnov (2, 3) Yuriy Khrzhanovskiy (2, 3) T. Dmitriyeva (2, 3) Klara Rumyanova (2, 3) A. Shabarin (3)	Сергей Мартинсон Л. Любецкий Люсьена Овчинникова Степан Бубнов Анатолий Папанов Людмила Касаткина А. Назаров В. Ушаков Мария Виноградова В. Бубнов Юрий Хржановский Т. Дмитриева Клара Румянова А. Шабарин
English Voice Actors	Cathy Weseluck (Young Mowgli) Ian James Corlett (Mowgli) Sam Elliott (Kaa) Dana Delany (Bagheera) Charlton Heston (Narrator) Campbell Lane (Baloo) David Kaye (Akela) Scott McNeil (Shere Khan) Alec Willows (Tabaqui) Don Brown (Chil) Pauline Newstone (White Cobra) Venus Terzo (Mother Wolf) Jim Byrnes (Father Wolf) Lalainia Lindbjerg (Gita) Harry Kalensky (Wolves) Christopher Gaze (Red Dog)

Other companies

Country	Company	Title	Music
Japan	Sunrise (company), Toei Animation	ハーロック	Morning Musume [citation needed]
Spain	Clan TVE	Aventuras de Mowgli	Enrice Igesilas [citation needed]
Thailand	Channel 3 (Thailand)	การผจญภัยของ Mowgli	N/A [citation needed]
Italy	Rai Uno	Maugli	Giorgia (singer) [citation needed]
Philippines	ABS-CBN	Pakikipagsapalaran ng Mowgli	Makisig Morales [citation needed]
Republic of China	YOYO TV	冒險無忌	N/A [citation needed]
India	Imagine TV	मोगली की साहसिक	Kareena Kapoor [citation needed ]
Poland	TV4 (Poland)	Księga Dżungli	Edyta Górniak [citation needed]
Germany	RTL Television	Abenteuer von Mowgli	No Angels [citation needed]
Sweden	SVT	Berättelser om djungler	Carola [citation needed ]
Denmark	DR1	Moungli - Dreng fra junglen	Emmelie de Forest [citation needed]
France	France 3, TF1, M6	Manlene	Mylene Farmer [citation needed ]
Finland	YLE TV1	Mowgli - Viidakkokirja	Saara Aalto [citation needed]
Bulgaria	BNT	Маугли - Момче от джунглата	Lili Ivanova [citation needed]
Serbia	Happy TV	Мовгли	Milan Stankovic [citation needed ]
United Kingdom	BBC One, CITV	Mowgli	Victoria Adams [citation needed]

Other voice actors

Country	Actors
Philippines	Makisig Morales (Young Mowgli) (1, 2) [citation needed]
Japan	Ono Daisuke (Adult Mowgli) (3, 4, 5) [citation needed ]
Italy	Adriano Celentano (Kaa) (old dub) (2, 3, 4, 5) [citation needed]

Technical details

During the 1980s the animated film was released in the USSR on VHS by Videoprogramma Goskino. In the early nineties it was released on VHS by "Krupnyy Plan". In the mid-nineties the cartoon series was also released on VHS by "Studio PRO Video" with Hi-Fi Stereo sound in PAL format. Also, the Lizard Company released the cartoon on Video CD disks.

In 2002 the film was restored and re-released on DVD by "Krupnyy Plan".

American/Canadian version

The dubbed English version was completed in 1996 and released in the US on VHS on April 28, 1998, renamed as "Adventures of Mowgli".[3] The American/Canadian adaptation made numerous changes for which it was subjected to severe criticism by those familiar with the original. Some music was completely replaced or added, and the narrator and some of the characters were dubbed to have many new lines which were not in the original film. Moreover, the film was subjected to some censorship: the scene in which Maugli chops off a tail of a wild dog was removed; during the battle with wild dogs shots in which Maugli stabs dogs were removed; during the final fight of Maugli versus Shere Khan, the blood-red final shots were cut.

Legacy

According to

The notorious use of Kaa's phrase by Vladimir Putin, then Russian prime-minister, considering his opposition, "Come closer to me, Bandar-logs!" (Russian: Идите ко мне, бандерлоги, romanized: Idite ko mne, banderlogi) while adding, "I'm Kipling fan since childhood" (Russian: С детства люблю Киплинга, romanized: S detstva lyublyu Kiplinga), is unmistakenly associated with the adaptation because Kipling's book doesn't have the exact quote.^[9][10]

See also

• History of Russian animation
• List of animated feature-length films
• List of Russian films
• The Cat Who Walked by Herself, a later Soviet feature film based on a Kipling story

References