The Twelve Months

The Twelve Months is a 1973 Soviet Lenfilm fantasy film directed by Anatoliy Granik based on the play by Samuil Marshak adapted from the fairy tale with the same name. Cast Natalya Popova — Stepdaughter Marina Maltseva — Stepsister Olga Wiklandt — Stepmother Liana Zhvaniya — The Queen Nikolay Volkov — Professor Tatiyana Pelttser — Gofmejsterina Leonid Kuravlyov — Soldier Konstantin Adashevskiy — The Head of the Royal Guard Alexander Sokolov — The Chancellors your Georgy Teikh — Royal Prosecutor Lev Lemke — The Eastern Ambassador Alexey Kozhevnikov — The Western Ambassador Arkady Trusov — December Boris Ryzhukhin —January Alexander Afanasiev — February Alexander Gavrilov — March Andrey Bosov — April Victor Perevalov — May Victor Semyonovsky — June Sergey Dvoretsky — July Valentin Zhilyaev — August Anatoly Stepanov — September Nikolay Kuzmin — November Lev Usachev — The Moon Plot A young beautiful orphan Girl lives with her uncaring Stepmother, who treats her like a servant, and her spoiled foolish Stepsister. The two of them send her to gather firewood on New Year's Eve. While in the forest, the Girl discovers that odd things are happening: animals begin to talk and play like humans. An elderly Soldier, whom she befriends, tells her that on that day miracles always happen. He mentions that an ancestor of his was lucky enough to meet the Twelve Months in person on New Year's Day. Meanwhile, the Queen of that land, a selfish teenager, has one of her wild ideas: she wants a whole basket of fresh snowdrops as a New Year present. The person who brings it is promised an equal basket filled with gold.