The prince behind the seven seas

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Movie
Original title The prince behind the seven seas
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1982
length 87 minutes
Rod
Director Walter Beck
script Walter Beck
production DEFA , "Johannisthal" group
music Günther Fischer
camera Wolfgang Braumann
cut Use Peters
occupation

The Prince behind the Seven Seas is a DEFA fairy tale film by Walter Beck from 1982.

action

The merchant returns home and is greeted with delight by his daughter Constanze. She had asked him for a singing, jumping lion corner and her father caught the bird for her. The price for this is high, as the Löweneckerchen belonged to a lion who, in turn, stipulated that the merchant should give him the creature he first met at home - Constanze. The father wants to break his promise and so Constanze secretly goes to see the lion that night. At noon, he turns into the young Prince Leonhard and asks Constanze to stay with him. She agrees, but fears the prince in the form of the lion, which he always takes from midnight to noon. Only when the prince proposes marriage and she accepts it does he explain the curse that lies on him. His mother was granted a wish by a fairy when he was born. Leonhard doesn't know which one, but from the age of 16 he turned into a lion. The only clue is a multi-leaf medallion that seems to lose a leaf with a spell on it whenever a condition for the curse to be lifted is met.

By marrying Constanze one condition was fulfilled: they both have a son whom they call Leonidas. The next sheet says that Leonhard is not allowed to look in a mirror, otherwise he will not touch the earth for seven years. Constanze persuades him to go to her sister's wedding. He reluctantly agrees and she drapes all the mirrors in her parents' house. The Comtessa Annunziata, however, looks into a hand mirror and Leonhard turns into a pigeon and flies away. A new sheet of his medallion says that Constanze is to follow the dove for seven years. Feathers with blood serve as a characteristic, but Constanze and Leonidas soon lose track.

After seven years their search ends at the sea. In her desperation, Constanze asks Mond and Sonne for help and each receives a gift that she should open in hours of greatest desperation. The north wind called for help finally brings Constanze on a raft to an island where a giant snake is guarding Leonhard, who has been transformed into a human. Constanze succeeds in slaying the snake. Leonhard, however, who can no longer remember his past, is discovered by the seafaring Comtessa Annunziata, brought to her ship and brought to her castle. Constanze and Leonidas both follow to the palace, but they are not allowed in because of their shabby clothes. Constanze desperately opens the gift of the sun and finds a splendid dress in it. Now she is admitted to the Comtessa, who buys her dress for a seat at her evening table. At dinner Leonhard does not recognize Constanze and shortly before his transformation into a lion she hands him one of the leaves that she always carried with her. He asks her to come back, as his last paper said that only his true love can completely free him from the curse. With the gift of the moon, a valuable diadem, Constanze can buy a place in the evening party the next day. Here now Leonhard recognizes Constanze and they both embrace. It strikes midnight, but Leonhard does not turn into a lion. The medallion is destroyed and forms a tree from which the fairy announces the mother's wish to the couple: She wanted to know her son with a true love. Leonhard and Constanze happily leave the castle and take Leonidas into their midst.

production

The Prince behind the Seven Seas combines motifs from the fairy tale The Singing Leaping Little Lion with other fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm . The film was shot entirely in the studio and had its world premiere on November 28, 1982 in Berlin's Colosseum . On October 14, 1986 the film was shown in German cinemas and was first broadcast on TV on May 1, 1987 by ZDF .

The animal shots were shot with the support of the Probst Circus (lion group) and the Leipzig Zoo (Königsboa).

criticism

The contemporary criticism found, on the one hand, that the film was “slowly flowing”, “without any particular highlights”, and thus resembled the literary model.

Other critics praised the “optical realization of the fairy tale. Different styles from Romanticism to Art Nouveau are quoted in order to create a magical fairytale atmosphere without kitsch and pomp. "The film is" by no means normal cinema and television fare. Rather, it is an artificially made masterpiece that does not pretend reality, but always allows the fairy-tale to become clear in buildings and effects. He tells a good, true story. "

The lexicon of international films called the film “a carefully told story in good DEFA style, which can be based on sympathetic and convincing main actors and whose carefully used tricks can inspire the audience's imagination. Atmospheric music and careful equipment also contribute to a successful production. "

Awards

The Prince behind the Seven Seas was awarded the Silver Griffin as best feature film at the Giffoni Valle Piana International Children and Youth Film Festival in Italy in 1983.

literature

  • F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 462-463 .
  • The prince behind the seven seas . In: DEFA Foundation (ed.): The DEFA fairy tale films . Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-032589-2 , pp. 200-205.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Wiggenhausen in: Neues Deutschland , December 23, 1982.
  2. ↑ Julia Michaelis in: Für dich , June 23, 1983.
  3. ↑ Reinhold Elschot in: Frankfurter Rundschau , September 1, 1983.
  4. ↑ The prince behind the seven seas. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used