Prince Bayaya

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1971

Production year

1970—1971

Premiere

17 December 1971

Runtime

80 min

Category

film

Genre

fairytale

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Princ Bajaja

Czech title

Princ Bajaja

English title

Prince Bayaya

Summary

Frantíšek Pavlíček is often cited for the screenplay behind Václav Vorlíček’s hugely popular Tři oříšky pro Popelku (Three Nuts for Cinderella, 1973), but he should also be credited for the script devised for this fairytale picture directed by Antonín Kachlík in 1971 (although the name of the then banned director was substituted in the opening credits with that of his colleague Eva Košlerová). In Kachlík’s filmography, fairytale films are not a common sight, even though his last title was a production of Josef Lada’s amusing story O zatoulané princezně (The Lost Princess, 1987). The romantic atmosphere of Prince Bayaya is drawn from the writings of nineteenth century Czech fairytale legend Božena Němcová. The title character is an orphaned prince. During his wanderings around the world, he heeds the words of his talking horse. When the young man falls in love with the beautiful Princess Slavěna, his magic horse advises him to pretend to be a mute garden worker when he arrives at the royal court. Our lofty hero sticks to this alter ego even after defeating a wild dragon that endangers the kingdom. But in doing so he enables the treacherous Black Prince to force the rescued princess into testifying that it is he who is her saviour. Our hero, however, who has earned himself the nickname Bayaya because of the sounds he gasps as a mute, triumphantly overcomes all the other difficult tests that await him… Although, quite understandably, the dragons (designed by Vladimír Brehovszký and constructed by Bohumil Bednář) have a gimmicky appearance that falls far short of today’s exacting digital standards, Kachlík and his cameraman Jiří Macák nevertheless succeed in creating a fairytale aura. It is mostly derived from magical exteriors shot around Hrubá Skála. Whereas the title character has the face of Slovak actor Ivan Palúcha and the voice of Petr Štěpánek, Magda Vášáryová remains her pure self in playing the irresistible Princess Slavěna. The Black Prince is played by František Velecký. He had previously appeared by Vášáryová’s side as Mikuláš in František Vláčil’s historical drama Marketa Lazarová (for which, as it happens, Pavlíček wrote the screenplay in 1997). The experienced Petr Čepek lent his voice to Bayaya’s villainous adversary.

Synopsis

After death of parents the young Prince leaves the stronghold and sets out to his wanderjahre. Destiny takes him to the kingdom whose King looks for the bridegroom for his daughter. In a pub the Prince meets a funny small Princeling, thievish guitarist and the Black Prince. Of the followers of the Black Prince he is saved by horse speaking with a human voice which takes him to the castle park. It is here that he sights the Princess Slavěna and he falls in love with her at once. He pretends to be dumb and has the castle gardener take him into his service. Because of the sounds he makes instead of speaking he gets the nickname Bayaya. The dubious visitors of the pub, whom Bayaya got to know, court the Princess. But when the three-headed dragon turns up none of them helps the Princess. It is Bayaya with his faithful little horse that rescues her. He is injured and the Princess binds up his wound with her scarf. Bayaya does not betray himself, only asks Slavěna for her ring, and leaves. After his departure the Black Prince, who was watching all at a safe distance, makes the Princess declare that it was he that had rescued her. She is delivered from the unwanted marriage by means of the old custom: a thrown apple rolls up to the true bridegroom, which is Bayaya. Bayaya quickly makes off and in the following jousting the Black Prince gains a victory over all others. However Bayaya is returning, this time as a knight, and in a hard clash he defeats the Black Prince and his companions. While the defeated rivals are pursuing him Bayaya escapes them and turns up at the castle once more as Bayaya. The sad Princess unbosoms him her love to the unknown knight. Bayaya places up in her room her scarf and ring. Then the Princess learns the truth.

Note

Film based on the book of fairy-tales by classic Czech authoress Božena Němcová. The conception of dragon: Vladimír Brehovszký, the construction of dragon: Bohumil Bednář. In the introductory titles there is presented Eva Košlerová as the author of the script. She covered up the authorship of the actual author František Pavlíček banned by the Communist regime for political reasons.

Film online

Cast

Ivan Palúch

Voice by Petr Štěpánek
princ Bajaja

Magda Vášáryová

princezna Slavěna

František Velecký

Voice by Petr Čepek
Černý princ

Karel Augusta

potulný rytíř

František Kubíček

sluha princátka

Miroslav Vlček

hostinský

V. Křístek

dvořan

Jana Možíšová

dvorní dáma

Jarmila Orlová

dvorní dáma

Johana Saudková

dvorní dáma

Hana Vítková

dvorní dáma

J. Grdeva

dvorní dáma

Jiří Kryšpín

dvořan

Jan Krafka

poddaný

J. Černíková

páže

A. Marešová

páže

D. Weinfurterová

páže

B. Cenková

dívka

H. Gruntová

dívka

D. Heindlová

dívka

Ivan Anthon

loutkoherec

Jaroslav Holeček (2)

loutkoherec

Jaroslav Vidlař

loutkoherec

skupina ČŠK Riegl

skupina historického šermu

Karel Anderle

šermíř

Zdeněk Houška

šermíř

Ivan Chrz

šermíř

R. Kahofer

šermíř

Petr Lebeda

šermíř

M. Lhotský

šermíř

František Plecháček

šermíř

J. Plecháčková

šermířka

Ivo Prokop

šermíř

Miloslav Průša

šermíř

Robert Ritschel

šermíř

Svatopluk Skýva

šermíř

Tomáš Svoboda (2)

šermíř

Josef Šolc

šermíř

D. Kroupa

dvořan

Václav Mařík

dvořan

L. Bálek

jezdec

Jan Bozáň

jezdec

mjr. Hynek Býček

jezdec

V. Čechura

jezdec

Jan Minář

jezdec

Jar. Pecháček

jezdec

Jiří Pecháček

jezdec

Jan Touška

jezdec

Vít Buček

jezdec/dubl za Ivana Palúcha

Stanislav Malý

dubl za Ivana Palúcha

Petr Maceček

dubl za Ivana Palúcha

Z. Šupka

dubl za Ivana Palúcha

Milan Komín

dubl za Františka Veleckého

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Miroslav Kubišta

Assistant Director

Zdenek Zaoral, Josef Sandr

Based on

Božena Němcová (Princ Bajaja – pohádka)

Screenplay

František Pavlíček (pod jménem Evy Košlerové), Antonín Kachlík

Dramaturg

Josef Träger

Director of Photography

Jiří Macák

Second Unit Photography

Eduard Kadeřábek

Camera Operator

Oldřich Kovář

Production Designer

Milan Nejedlý

Assistent Production Designer

Jan Sedláček

Art Director

Vladimír Brehovszký, Bohumil Bednář (konstrukce draka)

Set Designer

Vladimír Ježek, Ladislav Winkelhöfer, Jiří Žebrakovský

Costume Designer

Vladimír Brehovszký

Assistant Film Editor

Ladislava Klusáčková

Sound Designer

Ladislav Hausdorf, Antonín Jedlička (zvukové efekty)

Titles Designed by

Vladimír Brehovszký

Production Manager

Eliška Nejedlá

Unit Production Manager

Jiří Zika, Vladislav Špidra

Unit Production Manager

Josef Ocman, Antonín Suchánek

Consultant

mjr. Hynek Býček , Ctibor Turba, Ivan Chrz

Cooperation

Hana Macháčková (klapka), Vladimír Souček (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Vladimír Sommer

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Choreographer

Jiřina Kottová

Production info

Original Title

Princ Bajaja

Czech Title

Princ Bajaja

English Title

Prince Bayaya

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

fairytale

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1971

Production Year

1970—1971

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 8 June 1970
technical Screenplay approved 17 August 1970
start of filming 1 September 1970
end of filming 20 January 1971
the first film copy approved 9 April 1971
projection approval 14 June 1971

Premiere

premiere 17 December 1971 /suitable for youths/ (celostátní)
premiere 6 January 1972 /suitable for youths/ (kino Paříž, Praha)

Studio

Barrandov

Creative Group

Dramaturgická skupina Oty Hofmana, Ota Hofman (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny), Výrobní skupina Ericha Švabíka, Erich Švabík (vedoucí výrobní skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

80 min

Original length in metres

2 244 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,66

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Exhibition: 23. mezinárodní přehlídka filmů pro děti Benátky

1972
Benátky / Italy