Stop-motion this precise doesn't exist anywhere else in 1979, every frame moves like a living painting, grotesque and delicate at the same time. The Ragman's terror works because the animation makes him real in a way that haunts you, not because the plot always connects the dots. You watch this for the craft and the nightmare logic of a fever dream, not for a story that makes sense when you wake up.

Clara arrives at her aunt and uncle's house for a visit, only to hear whispered warnings about the Ragman, a sinister figure who hunts disobedient children and transforms them into mice. Before bed, her eccentric Uncle Drosselmeyer presents her with a wooden nutcracker, and Clara adores the peculiar gift. The doll is imperfect in almost every way, but its heart is flawless. That night she wakes to the sound of squeaking mice, and soon her treasured present is carried off by rats serving Mauslynx, a two-headed rat queen. To recover it, Clara passes through the family grandfather clock into a strange, dreamlike world. In the Kingdom of Dolls she meets a king mourning his daughter, Princess Mary, who lies under a curse of endless sleep and looks exactly like Clara. Joined by Franz, the guard captain who hopes to win Mary's hand, Clara slips into the rat army to bring down its tyrant. Based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's original tale rather than the ballet, the 1979 film blends fantasy, drama and romance.