MovieChat Forums > Tri orísky pro Popelku (1973) Discussion > How come the Czechs are so good at fairy...

How come the Czechs are so good at fairy-tales

posted 18 years ago by BerlinGuy
17 replies | jump to latest

Growing up in East-Germany, I had the privilege to get to know so many Czech fairy-tale films and they still stand out as some of the best children´s films I have ever seen:

I can only roughly translate the German titles of those films.

Pan Tau, Arabella, the Fairy-Tale princess, The flying Ferdinand, The girl on the broomstick, The last aquarius of Bohemia, The blacksmith, How to wake up princesses, Lucy. They all have this special touch of irony in them. OMG, I didn´t realise there were so many. I can think of so many more. Most of them were also broadcast on West-German television as the quality of Czech children´s TV is recognised anywhere in the world.

[–] rmixtaj 18 years ago

Well, the list could be much longer. Czechs have become famous mainly for their cartoons which they started to make in the 40's and were the only real competitor to Walt Disney studios. Just recently some of them were broadcast in one of the famous London studios - Riverside studios - and even people in UK know them...I think Czechs are skilled in this partly because of the strong tradition of fairy tales telling in that country which has been there for centuries and partly because of the excellent Prague film studios. Many of the recent blockbusters were also made there - Hellboy, Underworld, Brothers Grimm, Van Helsing, Oliver Twist and many others....Prague is just like a real Disneyland and as a small boy I remember reading books of fairy tales related to this city and also to Bohemia, which has higher concentration of castles than any other country in Europe....also Prague Jews were great storytellers, the story of Golem is just one of them....as for the movies I especially like those made in the 50's and 60's by Karel Zeman and based on Jules Verne's stories (socialim amplified all this mentioned above) - Vynalez zkazy, Baron Prasil, Na komete, Dva roky prazdnin - are absolute gems which are taught at film schools...also movies by Svankmajer and Trnka are great....I see lots of their influence on younger filmmakers like Terry Gilliam...

P.S. funny thing - the guy who played a servant in Tri orisky pro Popelku - the one who brought the three nuts home for Popelka - became the minister of culture of the Czech Republic just a few months ago...:))))

[–] LemonPeel 18 years ago

"P.S. funny thing - the guy who played a servant in Tri orisky pro Popelku - the one who brought the three nuts home for Popelka - became the minister of culture of the Czech Republic just a few months ago...:))))"

He was in more than just the Popelku movie, wasn't he? I grew up in West Germany and I remember those films and TV shows fondly. I don't think they're still showing them on TV.

[–] rmixtaj 18 years ago

They are still on Czech TV, some of them I found on edonkey.com or bearshare.com. This guy, Vitezslav Jandak was later in some Vlacil's movies and certainly in Arabella and Navstevnici (die Besucher), which I think were quite known in Germany in 70's, 80's as well along with Mr Tau.....Just saw the latest Harry Potter yesterday....I think that e.g. Arabela is more enjoyable for children than these latest blockbusters...Popelka, Arabella, Pan Tau, Navstevnici are simply better than latest (mainly US) stuff because they were made during socialism where the commercial success was just irrelevant and not interfering with the work itself....

[–] Lovely-Rita 18 years ago

:) actually, Vitezslav Jandak played one of the prince's friends (the blond one). the guy who played the servant that brought the nuts for Popelka (Vladimir Mensik) died a while ago. but otherwise, the information is correct, Mr. Jandak is currently the czech minister of culture.

[–] rmixtaj 18 years ago

Yes, that is right...just downloaded this movie from the Internet and realised my mistake...also downloaded "Tri veterani" which another great classic tale movie from former Czechoslovakia, absolute joy to watch...

[–] j-boruvkova 18 years ago

Hi, super fun, the best of the best, is fairytale "S certy nejsou zerty"(1984).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087731/

Must see!!! Exist czech IMDB -> http://www.csfd.cz Fairytale "S certy nejsou zerty"(1984) is in first 100 films worldwide at this server.

http://www.csfd.cz/film.php?text=6234&id=821&rec=&top=1&kom=1

You can buy it at www.vltava.cz, it is with english subtitles. Enjoy.

http://www1.vltava.cz/store/GoodsDetail.asp?sCGoodsID=SE00797609

[–] sierra08 17 years ago

If you are interested in Czech fairy-tales or other movies I reccommend you plays of "The Jara Cimrman Thetre" - although it is difficult to say whether the translation into English or German would not do any harm to the HIGH quality of them - if you don´t know what type of comedies these plays are, try to put the names Sverak or Smoljak into imdb.com and download any play or movie of these artists.

[–] slovakgirl 17 years ago

I strongly agree with that...Czech fairy tales are the BEST. (Now when Christmas time is coming, TV will be full of them, i cannot wait:)))

I'm sure that thanks to these fairy tales young Slovaks are still able to understand and maybe speak Czech without any problems (while many young Czechs don't understand Slovak any more).

Tri orisky pro Popelku, Princezna se zlatou hvezdou, Pysna princezna, Princ a Vecernice, Byl jednou jeden kral - those are my favourite.

I have always liked Czech fairy tales more than Slovak, I can remember only 1 Slovak fairy tale that i really really like, and that's Kral Drozdia Brada. (Anyone knows it?)

[–] tarulka 17 years ago

Yes, I love old Czechoslovakian movies.
I do love Kral Drozdia Brada. That princess was beautiful.
Let us not forget, that those fairy tales were made in Czechoslovakia, and although they are made in Czech language, many Slovaks played in them (and spoke Czech or were dubbed), or in other way participated on the production of those movies.

I remember and enjoy Perinbaba. It had one of the most beautiful music.

And I think most young Slovaks understand Czech, because a lot of internet sites are in Czech and TV stations do not generally bother with redubbing movies, that are already dubbed in Czech.

[–] RoppongiQueen 16 years ago

Hi,

I just found the Kukla site and have also bought the DVD. Well, I also remember that there was a version where the step-sisters cut off their heel and toe, and a little bird told the Prince as they were leaving the compound.
Another thing that was different was the focus on the dead mother. Cinderella found the nuts near her mothers grave or the dresses came from her mother's grave.
Does anyone out there have any info on this version, or was I dreaming?

thanks!!

[–] marmota-b 16 years ago

I only know there's an older b&w version, but I don't think any of the things you mentioned was there... maybe there's yet another one?

"There is Robinson, alone on lone island - but they will marry."

[–] marmota-b 16 years ago

I suppose one of the reasons was also the fact during communism many good directors and script-writers couldn't make films they would love to, so instead they put all their talent into fairy-tales, which were "harmless".
Just a guess.

"There is Robinson, alone on lone island - but they will marry."

[–] pagras 15 years ago

And now they can finally make what they want...and they make loads of sh*t.

[–] marmota-b 15 years ago

Yeah. A bit of repression is sometimes good. Not that I'd defend communism, by no means.

"There is Robinson, alone on lone island - but they will marry."

[–] IndaChood 15 years ago

here in norway they broadcast 3 nuts for cinderella with a norwegian guy doing all the voices talking over all the czech WE LOVE IT

[–] ailig68 15 years ago

Well, this voice over must have destroyed the movie i think...I mean for sure you're loosing part of the film..but anyway..good to know that even in Norway they know 'our' Cinderella :)

[–] Eumenides_0 14 years ago

I discovered this new world of cinema through Jan Svankmajer and have asked myself this same question. Whatever the asnwer be, I love this type of Czech cinema and have become a fan of Svankmajer, Jiri Barta, Jiri Trnka and Karel Zeman. Their animation is especially brilliant.

This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.