Il principe azzurro

..at the TLA movie theatre..now the Theatre of Living Arts in Philly.. I remember it as a good fairytale..a search for the apple of gold..and "the apple of gold is not what you hold"..and it turning to rags..

... and the memories are dim, believe you me. I remember some gigantic fellow reclining on the hills with a spinning wheel, calling himself Father Time, whom we meet twice; I remember our hero capturing some fellow who protests, "You can't do this to me! I am the prince of liars! My father is the king of liars!!" to no avail. I remember someone climbing into a tower to rescue a princess, and something about a flower that changes color (shades of Korda's "Thief of Baghdad," as well as innumerable fairy tales worldwide, even the Tepozton cycle). That's about it. As best I recall, I saw it with my mother in either 1971 or 1972, and it didn't play in terribly many theaters. I never knew it was Romanian (!).

i saw this movie dubbed in French as La Clé d'or... Elisabeta Bostan got friends with Quebec film maker and distributor Rock Demers. Faroun films is a Rock Demers distribution company he created in 1965 and wich distributed La Clé d'or in Quebec TV at the time. Rock Demers created then films La Fête, and together with other european film makers produced quite a big series of 'contes pour tous', still classics in Quebec (La guerre des Tuques, Opération beurre de pinottes, Aventuriers timbre perdu, etc....

But this here movie was made in 68 in romania... and has the european coloration of fairy-tales produced at the time by Alexander Rou, and other russian and czech producers... It's is a great tale about the Truth and the PureHeart always winning over the King of Liars, and all that is against us in life : Time, Nature, etc... The sets are just artificial enough for a fantasy...that's what so good about these movies, no big fuss about special effects and all...

the overall impression is just a litte 60's-kitsch tone with a very good scenario and great casting and makeup : ahhh the witch is so....a witch!!!

...or lovely, great, fascinat, adorable. Or strange for contemporary taste. But, for us, not so young Romanian public, it represents a seductive slice of our childhood. For the flavor of old fairy tales. For performances and, especially, Ion Tugearu and Mircea Breazu, the eyes of Ana Szeles and the good job of Nicolae Secareanu. Sure, many critics. But the film, like many from same period , is axis of good memories, fascinating for exposure of national tradition and for the image of classic popular Romanian fairy tale. So, magic.

I watched this movie as a kid and it stuck with me for 20 years. I didn't know the name of it but the scenes kept replaying in my mind and I was always humming the theme music. The music really hit a cord. The show is Romanian and lacks all the razzle dazzle we'd see in a similar movie today. Having said that, my kids really liked it. I recently tracked it down and identified it - a lot of work but worth it.

There are several libraries in the US that have it and one copy found it's way to me (thank you again Jenny - you rock).