Only two films in this entry, whereas the first 5 Merry-Go-Rounds had had at least 3. Galina Barinova (married to series co-founder Anatoliy Petrov) again played it extremely safe artistically (after being criticized for being too bold in "Mosaic", in Merry-Go-Round #1). The project was likely chosen for her by the script editor (the Party's man at the studio). It's kind of charming but rather average, like most of her films during this period. I think she only became an excellent and artistically bold director about 10 years later in her career. I do wonder who the female voice in the song is, as it's not credited. Is it Barinova herself?

Next is Eduard Nazarov's film, adapting a children's story about a little hippo. It's only his second film, and probably my least favourite film of his career. It spends quite a long time being mopey and sad... which, to be fair, is in the original story, but when one is reading the original story, it goes by much quicker. Maybe the original voice actor (removed by management for his "sighs being too erotic") was better. I don't much like the design of the hippo, either (though Nazarov was quite pleased with how symmetrical he was). Nazarov's films after this would be much, much better, especially his final five. They're all on the site right now, except for his contribution to Merry-Go-Round #9.

I tried to translate the song to rhyme in the first film, but it wasn't always possible. For the second film, I did most of it myself but got stuck on translating the "mayhem" passage ("представляете себе, что бы это был за грохот и топот! И гул и гам! И бам и тарарам! И ужас что такое!"), and ended up using Microsoft Copilot to help (final result: "just imagine what sort of crash and clatter it would be! And roaring and racket! And wham and ker-whallop! And a terrible to-do!").

Overall, this entry (and the one before) were kind of low points in the Merry-Go-Round series up to this point. From its start as artistically-bold mini-films for children by enthusiastic artists at the beginning of their careers, it had become safe and anodyne, with uninspired direction, and scripts and art style made to appeal to management. In the following years, though, I think they began to get more interesting again.