The Glass Harmonica
A craftsman builds a glass harmonica that enlightens him. He travels to a town where the people are obsessed with money. A bureaucrat smashes the glass harmonica which leads to chaos and eventually to social reform.
From the archive
The state comes into confrontation with director Andrei Khrjanovsky, who gives new vision to the masses and shows them a different horizon. Glass Harmonica was shelved by Soviet censors who found it ideologically disturbing and was finally released after perestroika. It was the first animated film score by the late legendary Russian composer Alfred Schnittke, who was to collaborate with Khrjanovsky on more than half of his films. The animators Yulo-llmar Sooster and Yuri Nolyev-Sobolev were among the most important artists of the Soviet underground. Before finding refuge at Soyuzmultifilm, they participated in the famous and controversial Manege exhibit of underground art, which was eventually closed down by Khruschev and condemned by the Soviet press.
Why this is free to watch
The Glass Harmonica (1968) is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. No signup, no payment and no advertising interrupts playback. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Internet Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- Andrey Khrzhanovsky
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