How come the Czechs are so good at fairy-tales
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rmixtaj — 20 years ago(January 21, 2006 03:56 PM)
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 themI 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 schoolsalso 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 — 20 years ago(January 27, 2006 07:44 AM)
"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 — 20 years ago(January 30, 2006 07:07 AM)
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 blockbustersPopelka, 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.
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Lovely-Rita — 20 years ago(January 31, 2006 02:45 PM)
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. -
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j-boruvkova — 20 years ago(March 12, 2006 10:01 AM)
Hi, super fun, the best of the best, is fairytale "S certy nejsou zerty"(1984).
http://www.imdb.com/board/10087731/
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 — 19 years ago(November 06, 2006 08:19 AM)
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 dont 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.
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slovakgirl — 19 years ago(December 10, 2006 01:29 AM)
I strongly agree with thatCzech 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 — 19 years ago(December 20, 2006 07:48 PM)
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 — 18 years ago(March 07, 2008 12:13 AM)
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 — 18 years ago(February 02, 2008 03:20 AM)
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." -
Eumenides_0 — 16 years ago(November 12, 2009 05:55 AM)
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.