MovieChat Forums > Taiyô no ôji: Horusu no daibôken (1970) Discussion > 'Kay, just saw it...

'Kay, just saw it...

posted 18 years ago by Themysterioustraveller00
8 replies | jump to latest

Hoo-kay, I just saw THE LITTLE NORSE PRINCE and was totally blown away…I can’t believe that this movie was made back at the time of Vietnam! Mind you, once it was over, I was left with a few lingering questions…anybody think they might be able to help me?

1/ According to this website, http://www.danielthomas.org/, there were about 30 minutes cut from the movie back when it was made…can anyone tell me anything about these deleted scenes? Y’ know, on one website, I saw an image of Hols and Hilda enjoying a romantic boat-ride (kind of, heehee…)…though it’s nowhere to be seen on the UK DVD! Are the pair of them spending a little quality time together…or is it just Hols bringing Hilda back to the village after meeting her for the first time?? It kinda looks cute, sure do hope that it’s put back into a future special edition DVD…anyway, any insight regarding this or any other deleted scenes would be appreciated.

2/ This is something that’s been tingling in the back of my mind for a couple of days now…it’s kind of wild but here it is; could Hols and Hilda actually be brother and sister??? I know, I know, but it’s just that there was a semi-recurring theme in the story…Hilda joked about how the two of them might be twins and Grunwald wanting Hols to be his little ‘brother’ which would have made our hero and heroine both his ‘siblings’…or, I guess, this whole theme could simply be symbolic. Like, Hilda represents how Hols could’ve ended up if he hadn’t had any friends to keep him on the right path after his father’s death…and, by saving her, he saves his own soul and those of the villagers? Or, on the other hand, maybe part of Hols’ dad’s reason for commanding him to go back to their old country…was so that his son could find the daughter he was forced to leave behind all those years ago? I admit that this one is kind of out there but, still, what’ cha think???

And lastly…

3/ Does anyone know the name of Flep’s mother?? I’ve just finished the first chapter of a fanfic and kinda need to know for the second chapter…if she wasn’t given a name then I’ll just make one up.

*Whew*…that was long!! Anyway, thanks everyone.

[–] Daniel Thomas 18 years ago

Well, what better way to answer the questions then to go straight to the source? I'll do what I can.

First off, there's an excellent website called AniPages, which is a running weblog and anime database by an expert on Japanese animation. He wrote a couple posts about Horus, Prince of the Sun, and the Toei Doga era of the '50s and '60s.

The name of the movie is "Taiyo no Ouji, Horus no Daibouken," which translates to "The Great Adventures of Horus, Prince of the Sun." When the movie was released on VHS in Europe in the '80s, it was slapped with the rediculous label, "Little Norse Prince Valiant" in order to tie into the Prince Valiant comic. It has nothing whatsoever to do with that, but this was common practice when importing Japanese animation. "Warriors of the Wind" is an infamous example.

I honestly don't know if the 30 minutes cut from Horus represents sequences that were fully animated, or merely storyboarded and planned, or just scrpited. I can imagine there's a couple Lost Horus Reels buried away in the Toei vaults, but that's probably not the case. Somebody would have found something by now, and tried to cash in, considering how successful Takahata and Miyazaki have become since then. Heck, Horus is the movie responsible for creating modern anime.

Of course, if I managed to secure the North American DVD rights for Horus, the first thing I'd do is head to Toei and start looking around their vaults. If nothing else, the film seriously needs to be properly remastered (the UK disc isn't even double-layer). We'll see.

[–] Themysterioustraveller00 18 years ago

Hey, thanks man!! Are you gonna email Toei and ask 'em directly?? If so then let's keep our fingers crossed!!

Y' know, I've an odd story to tell about Horus...y' see, several years ago, (back when Ecco the Dolphin II had just been released for the Sega Mega Drive)I flicked on a Sky TV channel...and caught, like, the last eight minutes of the movie. Yup, I saw Hilda stab Hols...and then Chiro abandoning Hilda with the words "I want to live with the humans...at least humans can be kind!" I then watched the rest of the movie which is why I remembered it last year. And here's the weird thing...IT WAS ALL IN ENGLISH!! The thing is, lots of people have told me that Horus was never actually dubbed...so what do you think I saw that day?!!

Yeah, I get what you're saying about the UK DVD...did you ever see tiny white dots dancing across the screen?? At first, I wondered if there was somethin' wrong with my copy...anyway, maybe we'll get not just a remastered version but also a copy of the dubbed version in a future special-edition??

Anyway, thanks again!! Be sure to pop back and let me know about any developments about askin' Toei about the deleted thirty minutes - Horus rules!!

[–] jamiedoneill 18 years ago

I have the British DVD and there are no white dots. The sound and picture quality are really good, bearing in mind that it was made when it was. It's just a lovely, lovely film. :-)

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] MIBlackburn_d6 18 years ago

I saw no problems with my copy, might be your setup thats causing the problem.

“No matter how far a Jackass travels, it won't come back a horse” Batou - GITS 2: Innocence

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] jordan-97 18 years ago

The only glaring problem is the lack of subtitles for the songs. And apart from Spirited Away, all of Optimum's Ghibli DVDs share this problem to some extent.

[–] 18 years ago

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