Winnie the Pooh Goes Visting

Hello again fellow animation lovers, today we are going to look at a film from a Russian studio that hopefully some of you are familiar with. The studio is Soyuzultfilm and the film is Winnie the Pooh Goes Visiting (also known as Winnie-the-Pooh Pays a Visit). While I am sure many of you like me first associate Winnie the Pooh with Disney, but since the character came from a series of books by A.A. Milne, more than one studio would end up using the character.

This film was directed by Fyodor Khitruck. Some animation buffs would even go so far as to say he is one of the greatest directors in the history of animation. He started his career with Soyuzultfilm in 1924 as an animator. However he did not direct a film there until 1961's Story of One Crime which is declared by many fans of art-house animation as one of the best animated shorts and with its razor sharp commentary even caused some controversy when it was released. Though many of Khitruck's films were definitely more artsy and experimental, he did make some more mainstream films as well. Such examples are his short Winnie the Pooh films, which started with 1968's Winnie the Pooh.

Our short today is Pooh Pays a Visit from 1971. This film is based off an A.A. Milne story of the same name. The cartoon is extremely charming. The characters are just as likable and well thought out as in the Disney version. This film also has very charming look to it. The backgrounds seem to be colored in crayon to emphasize that this is a world in a child's imagination, and it is extremely effective giving the cartoon a unique feel. Also adding to this are the simple but very expressive designs of the characters. There is also some great humor here. I particularly love the ditty that Pooh makes up. For fans of these classic characters this film is a must watch. 


-Michael J. Ruhland


Resources UsedAnimation Art edited by Jerry Beck