Gena the Crocodile (film)

Gena the Crocodile (Крокодил Гена) is a 1969 Soviet stop motion animated film directed by Roman Kachanov in Studio Ekran studio. This film introduces the characters Gena the Crocodile, Cheburashka, and the old lady Shapoklyak. The film was based on Eduard Uspensky's stories about the characters.

This film was popular in the Soviet Union and spawned three sequels: Cheburashka (1972), Shapoklyak (1974) and Cheburashka Goes to School (1983).

Plot summary
Gena the Crocodile works as a zoo animal at an urban zoo. Every evening, he returns home to his lonely apartment. Gena gets very tired of playing chess against himself and decides to find some friends to play with. Animals and people respond to advertisements that he posts all around the city. First, a girl named Galya comes with a homeless puppy, who is then followed by Cheburashka. They decide to build a house for all the lonely citizens of the city, but a mischievous old lady, Shapoklyak, tries to stop them in different ways.

Creators

 * Scriptwriters: Eduard Uspensky, Roman Kachanov
 * Film director: Roman Kachanov
 * Art director: Leonid Shvartsman
 * Operator: Iosif Golomb
 * Composer: Mikhail Ziv
 * Sound technician: Georgy Martynyuk
 * Dolls and scenery: Semyon Etlis, Marina Chesnokova, Pavel Lesin, Gennady Lyutinsky, Svetlana Znamenskaya, Oleg Masainov, Valentin Ladygin, Liliana Luetinskaja, V. Kalashnikova, E. Darikovich
 * Installation: Lidiya Kyaksht

Cast

 * Vasily Livanov as Gena the Crocodile (voice)
 * Klara Rumyanova as Cheburashka (voice)
 * Vladimir Rautbart as Shapoklyak (voice)
 * Vladimir Kenigson as Salesman (voice)
 * Tamara Dmitrieva as Galya (voice)