Frog Prince (1988)

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Movie
Original title Frog prince
Country of production German Democratic Republic
original language German
Publishing year 1988
length 65 minutes
Rod
Director Walter Beck
script Walter Beck,
Brigitte Bernert
production Siegfried Kabitzke
music Günther Fischer
camera Wolfgang Braumann
cut Rita Hiller
occupation

Froschkönig is a DEFA fairy tale film from 1988, directed by Walter Beck . The film, made in the DEFA studios of the GDR , is a free adaptation of Grimm's fairy tale The Frog King or the Iron Heinrich . Jana Mattukat is cast as the king's daughter Henriette, Jens-Uwe Bogadtke as the frog prince to be redeemed , Peter Sodann as the king and Franziska Glöss-Ebermann and Susanne Lüning as the sisters of Henriette.

action

While playing, King's daughter Henriette accidentally drops her gold ball into the fountain. A frog appears and promises to help if the princess agrees that he can play, eat and sleep with her in her bed. Henriette promises the frog the fulfillment of his wishes, but when she has got her gold ball back, leaves him standing without caring about him.

The frog follows the king's daughter to the castle, where Henriette, at her father's insistence, has to fulfill his wishes because a promise has to be kept. But when the frog wants to sleep in her bed, the angry Henriette throws him against the wall, whereupon the frog turns into a prince. Henriette would now like to be with the prince forever, but he is, as he sadly confesses to her, not redeemed because Henriette has not kept her promise; despite their protest, he leaves the castle.

Since Henriette's father's search for the frog prince is in vain, the king's daughter decides to go looking for the prince herself. On her way she meets fire and water. They cannot help her, but only allow her passage through her kingdom. The wind can finally carry them to the citadel where the frog prince was banished. She sneaks into the citadel by pretending to be Heinrich.

Henriette gives the cellar master of the Frog King a gold chain so that she can serve him wine, and in this way fulfills her promise to drink with him from a cup. Through the gold chain, the frog prince suspects that Heinrich might be a woman and, as a test, spreads peas on which Henriette slips.

The princess gave the cook a headband so that he could serve the food, thus fulfilling her promise to eat from a plate with the frog prince. The headband once again stirs up the suspicion in the king that Heinrich might be a woman. The cook suggests testing whether Heinrich is a man or a woman in the wine chamber. There she drives the king out with the weapons stored in the wine cellar.

Henriette gives the chamberlain her gold ball and in this way gains entry into the bedroom of the frog king; thereby fulfilling her promise to sleep in the king's bed. When the king sees the gold ball, he tests it again by giving it the post of coachman. Reluctantly and with tears she fulfills his wish to drive him to his bride. Once at the destination, the frog prince declares Henriette to be his bride.

Production background, publication

The film was produced by the DEFA studio for feature films (Potsdam-Babelsberg; artistic working group “Johannisthal”), production management Siegfried Kabitzke, production management Holger Bohm and Egon Schlarmann. Part of the exterior filming around the fountain of the frog prince took place on the Wasenberg , the former place of execution of the cathedral chapter of Brandenburg Cathedral , northeast of Brandenburg an der Havel .

The film was first released by Progress Film-Verleih (Berlin-Ost). Froschkönig came to the GDR cinemas on June 26, 1988. In Poland it was published in August 1989 under the title Zabi król , in Hungary under the title A békakirály . The video title in the US is The Frog Prince .

Icestorm Distribution GmbH released the film on DVD several times, most recently on October 8, 2012.

criticism

The lexicon of international films wrote: “A princess has to pass several tests before the enchanted prince is finally redeemed. The well-known folk tale repackaged, but sometimes too slow and didactic ”.

The editor of the page SofaHelden said that the film offers exciting entertainment through its "interesting interpretation or variation of the well-known story of the Brothers Grimm" and that it communicates "its value statement in many ways". A given promise is to be kept and "better late than never".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frog King Fig. DVD case from Icestorm
  2. ↑ Frog King. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Frog King see page sofahelden.com. Accessed February 16, 2020.