The polar bear king

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Movie
German title The polar bear king
Original title Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon
Country of production Norway , Sweden , Germany
original language Norwegian , Swedish
Publishing year 1991
length 90 minutes
Age rating FSK without age restriction
Rod
Director Ola Solum
script Erik Borge
production Hilde Berg
Willi Bär
Bengt Forslund
Anders Granstöm
Axel Helgeland
music Bent Åserud
Geir Bøhren
camera Philip Øgaard
cut Yngve Refseth
occupation
synchronization

The polar bear king is an imaginative and picture-rich fairy tale film from Norway . In addition to Norway, Sweden and Germany were also involved in the production of the film . The film was first shown in Germany on November 28, 1991. The cinema premiere in Oslo was on December 12, 1991. A German dubbed video has been available since November 9, 1992 and a corresponding DVD since March 23, 2000. The fairy tale film is also known under other titles: in Spain as El reino del oso polar , in Italy as Il regno d'inverno , in France Le roi d'Ours blanc , in Sweden Isbjörnskungen and in English-speaking countries as The Polar Bear King . The story of the film is based on the Norwegian fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon and the fairy tale The White Bear, King Valemon - both from the collection of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe .

action

The princess of the winter land

In the winter land, where there is eternal snow, there is a good-natured king. Even the wolves and birds willingly follow his advice. The paths are carefully lit by torches. Trade is flourishing. The king has three beautiful daughters, but the youngest is radiant with beauty. While the two older daughters look at the beautiful youngest with slight jealousy, she dreams of a prosperous country and far away. She wonders if she, the princess, will find someone in the snow country with whom she can share her dreams of greenery and blossoms.

Valemon the polar bear

Far away in a land of summer a young king is being crowned. He sits pensively with his old mother. There is a threat in the room. His youthful reign overshadows an old connection between the empire and a beautiful witch. And at the same moment it appears in its cold splendor. Your intention is clear. She calls for the wedding to the prince. And old entanglements of power give her the opportunity to demand. But the prince refuses. When the witch understands, she curses the prince: for seven years he has to roam the world in the form of a giant polar bear, homeless and without love. The curse only has no power over him for a few hours of the day at night, but even then he is not allowed to show himself to anyone, otherwise he will fall to the witch.

Beauty and the Bear

One day, in the land of winter, a big white bear appears. People flee from the power of nature. The youngest winter princess gets close to the animal. He is kind to her in spite of all his wildness. And the bear starts to talk. When they speak, the two recognize each other and the princess now also knows that her enchanted lover is standing in front of her. The Bear Prince gives the girl a gold chain as a sign. Against the resistance of the old king to lose his dearest child, the bear and the girl decide to belong to each other. The bear Valemon takes the princess on his back and after an endless ride through snow and ice he brings her into his realm.

visit

The girl is queen in the blooming summer land. Valemon comes to her in human form at night, but she is not allowed to see his face. The princess has three children; but threatened by the witch, the magic mother of Valemon has to hide the children under her protection. The girl is lonely. One day she asks Valemon to visit her family. The wish is granted to her on condition that she does not take advice from her sisters. The Winterland King is overjoyed to see the youngest again. Everyone is amazed to see her as a queen and everyone believed that she was torn apart by the wild beast. The older sisters are curious to know more. They awaken in the princess the desire to finally see her husband after almost seven years and advise to look at him with a candle in his sleep at night.

temptation

The wish is awakened, and when she comes back to her prince, the princess can no longer resist. She looks at the sleeper in the light of a candle. She falls in love with her husband's face and is so overwhelmed by the sight that wax drips onto his shirt. He wakes up and is horrified. The seven years of his cursing were almost over. Now he falls for the witch and gets into an unreachable distance.

Recovery

The girl still wants to try the impossible - she wants to find a way: Valemon's mother gives her some wonderful things, a magic table, a deck and magic shoes. After a pathless path, climbed abysses and terrible suffering, the princess finally finds the witch's castle above the clouds. She is a poisoner and in league with the devil. The girl finally sees a way to the captured Valemon after many victims. She can free and redeem him and happily find their three little daughters with Valemon's mother. Finally, the father of the Winterland princess can embrace his freed son-in-law.

material

Illustration by Kittelsen: The girl rides the polar bear

The fairy tale film essentially follows the fairy tales The White Bear, King Valemon and East of the Sun and West of the Moon from the collection of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe . These fairy tales vary in parts the French fairy tale Beauty and the Beast , i.e. La belle et la bête or Grimm's daisies, and combine this with the motif around The False Bride . However, the Norwegian fairy tales The White Bear, King Valemon and East of the Sun and West of the Moon show a striking artistic independence - if only through the haunting image of the great white bear. This in turn is reminiscent of the bear of snow white and rose red . The human polar bear is an image that is difficult to realize in film. However, this representation is relatively well resolved in the film and is inspired by Theodor Kittelsen's impressive fairy tale pictures .

In contrast to the film adaptation and the Valemon fairy tale, in East of the Sun and West of the Moon the bear's chosen one is not a princess, but a poor girl from a large family. The awakening of curiosity and the transgression of the ban on viewing begins in the east of the sun and west of the moon, as in the film, with a visit to the old family. However, the girl's mother gives bad advice here and not the sisters as in the film and in the Valemon tale. The taboo is broken in the sun fairy tale as in the film with a wax dripping candle. As in the film, the misfortune of curiosity takes the prince into an unreachable distance. In the sun fairy tale, the girl asks questions about the sun, the moon, the west wind, the east wind, the south wind and the north wind , similar to the one in The Seven Ravens . Only the north wind knows something, and with all his might he can help the girl and blow her to the prince. In the film, this search is more like the Valemon fairy tale: Here magic things from the little table deck dich - fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm are integrated into the girl's desperate search and wonderful shoes - comparable to the seven-mile boots, for example. B. in Wilhelm Hauff's The Cold Heart . In contrast to the film, the witch in the sun fairy tale is a troll woman - in Norwegian fairy tales , trolls or orcs have the fortunate quality of bursting when they are overcome. So it succeeds in East of the Sun West of the Moon , when the prince and the girl recognize each other. The fairy tale's utopian sun , moon, and space time information moves the girl's search to an ideal place, an aspect that is also hinted at in the unreal witch's castle in the film. The well-known fairy tale illustrations by Kay Nielsen and Theodor Kittelsen on East of the Sun and West of the Moon and The White Bear, King Valemon were an important source for the aesthetic implementation of the film . Edmund Dulac and John Bauer have also created highly impressive fairy tale pictures on the subject of girls and bears , which are also part of the picture horizon of The Polar Bear King .

Reviews

“A child-friendly film adaptation of a Norwegian folk tale embedded in fascinating landscape shots, which is also capable of captivating younger viewers; technically soundly staged entertainment, ”said the lexicon of international films .

Remarks

The film is a Northern Lights film in a co-production with ConnexionFilm, Moviemakers, Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond. Karl Jùliusson created the costumes for the film .

synchronization

The German dubbing is staffed as follows:

role actor Voice actor
teller Aspens Skjønberg Joachim Nottke
princess Maria Bonnevie Claudia Lehmann
Prince Valemon Tobias Hoesl Tobias Hoesl
witch Anna-Lotta Larsson Marianne Gross
King of the winter land Jack Fjeldstad Heinz-Theo branding
Mother of Valemons Monica Nordquist Bettina Schön
Second oldest sister Kristin Mack Julia Bredermann
Oldest sister Marika Enstad Daniela Hoffmann
devil Helge Jordal Rüdiger Joswig

literature

  • Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe in The Fairy Tales of World Literature , ed. by Friedrich von der Leyen and Paul Zaunert: Nordic folk tales, part II, Norway, translated by Klara Stroebe, in it The White Bear, King Valemon , pp. 159–166; Eugen Diederichs-Verlag, Jena 1919.
  • Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe: East of the sun and west of the moon in Norwegian fairy tales translated by Friedrich Bresemann; Pp. 217-226; Franz Greno-Verlag, Nördlingen, 1985.
  • Trolls, elves, royal children - John Bauer's Nordic fairy tale world; Urachhaus publishing house; ISBN 978-3-8251-7460-6 .
  • Trolls, animals, good-for-nothing - Theodor Kittelsen's Nordic fairy tale world; Urachhaus publishing house; ISBN 978-3-8251-7632-7 .
  • Nielsen, Kay: East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Old Tales from the North. illustrated by Kay Nielsen based on the fairy tale by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe, K Hodder and Stoughton publishing house 1914.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For example, this false bride motif can be found in the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm, Der Liebste Roland
  2. ↑ The attempt of a person to portray a bear is deliciously parodied in the Czech fairy tale film How to Wake Up the Sleeping Beauty in the performance of the servant Mattei in Prince George's bear fight
  3. ↑ Kay Nielsen's illustrations for West of the Sun and East of the Moon on SurLaLuneFairyTales.com
  4. ↑ This fairy tale picture of a girl with a polar bear was created as an illustration for the fairy tale The Dreamer of Dreams by Marie von Edinburgh , Queen of Romania: Edmund Dulac: Die Schöne und die Eisbären
  5. ↑ John Bauer: She kisses the bear
  6. ↑ The polar bear king. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used