Cat Prince

Country

Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic

Copyright

1978

Production year

1978

Premiere

28 September 1979

Runtime

80 min

Director

Ota Koval

Category

film

Genre

fairytale

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Kočičí princ

Czech title

Kočičí princ

English title

Cat Prince

Parallel title

Der Katzenprinz

Summary

The year of 1978 saw director Ota Koval premiere two cinema films: a psychological story about a traumatised boy, Nechci nic slyšet (Leave me alone!) and the fantasy and adventure picture Kočičí princ (Cat Prince). Based on a script by accomplished author Ota Hofman, the film was made in collaboration with the East German studio DEFA. The heroes of the story are siblings Radek and Terezka Král (meaning “King”). Moving to a new home, the children imagine travelling through a fairytale land, in keeping with their family name. They project real persons they meet along the way into fantasy characters. The fairytale land is thus inhabited by the family cat Líza, as well as the ominous-looking castle restoration expert Albert. Kočičí princ gave Pavel Hachle, who played Radek, what turned out to be his only brush with the world of cinema. But the role of little Terezka was the first of many feature film parts for successful child actress Žaneta Fuchsová.

Synopsis

The castle custodian Král is moving to a new place of work with his wife, son Radek and a five - years old daughter Terezka. Radek takes his cat Líza with him. A fully loaded truck moves through the country which is in spring blossoms, gradually changing into a snow-covered land. Children's imagination creates from real experiences magic stories - a fairy-tale grandpa takes them to a new castle, the children fear a black-horse rider who - as the grandpa and the cleaning lady assert she hates cats. The children later discover that the rider is in reality the restorer Albert. He takes them round the castle, but Líza destroys his paints and paintbrushes. Albert gets angry and chases her to do away with her. When Líza has kittens, Albert wants to drown them, but the children do their best to rescue all of them. Terezka dreams about living water, blood of three monsters and about the prince who defeated them all. Radek takes a small bottle, presses a button on the Blue Prince picture who resembles him and enters the space behind the painting. Terezka secretly follows her brother. Both appear in a fabulous country, where they meet many fairy-tale beings and face different traps. They find living water and Terezka brings a dead horse to life... On the next morning, they meet Albert, wearing a white dress and riding a white horse, and Líza with her kittens basking in the sun.

Note

The première in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) 14. 10. 1979 /Pionierpalast "Ernst Thälmann" Berlin/. Architect Vladimír Labský partly used the decorations from the movies Thi Ninth Heart, The Virgin and the Monster and Mystery of the Iron City.

Film online

Cast

Pavel Hachle

Radek Král

Žaneta Fuchsová

Terezka, Radkova sestra

Winfried Glatzeder

Voice by Petr Čepek
restaurátor Albert

Vlastimil Hašek

správce zámku Král, otec dětí

Jana Andrsová

Voice by Jaroslava Tvrzníková
maminka dětí

Bohumil Vávra

dědeček/rybář/kočí

Alena Kreuzmannová

uklízečka/kouzelná babička

Tereza Brodská

myší princezna

Valerie Kaplanová

babizna z perníkové chaloupky

Boris Hybner

Bystrozraký

Tomáš Tintěra

Dlouhý/ustaraný asistent

Zdena Sedláková

Červená Karkulka

Rüdiger Flakus

malý princ

Martin Janeček

žlutý princ

Kurt Sperling

sedlák

Jiří Petkov

ceremoniář

Eduard Kempe

dubl za Vlastimila Haška

Petra Voigt

Crew and creators

Director

Ota Koval

Second Unit Director

Karel Smyczek, Peter Bohnenstengel

Assistant Director

Tomáš Tintěra

Screenstory

Ota Hofman

Screenplay

Ota Hofman

Shooting Script

Ota Koval

Dramaturg

Marcela Pittermannová (Filmové studio Barrandov), Christel Gräf (DEFA)

Director of Photography

Andrej Barla

Second Unit Photography

Pavel Dosoudil

Camera Operator

Jiří Knotek

Assistent Production Designer

Petr Bárta

Set Designer

Miroslav Buberle, Josef Pavlík, Karel Karas, Heinz Seiffert

Costume Designer

Theodor Pištěk ml.

Film Editor

Zdeněk Stehlík

Assistant Film Editor

Miloslava Kostková

Special Effects

Jiří Rumler

Production Manager

Jan Vild, Heinz Herrmann

Unit Production Manager

Karel Prchal, Kurt Preissel, Heinz-Jürgen Schmidt, Eva Charvátová

Unit Production Manager

Viktor Schwarcz

Consultant

František Michálek (jezdectví)

Cooperation

Věra Mikolášková (klapka), Ivan Minář (fotograf), Bohuslav Beníšek, Komplexní brigáda Horst Bochow

Music

Music Composed by

Luboš Sluka

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Choreographer

Vlastimil Jílek

Songs

Tři tamboři

Singer Michal Tučný

Maličká su, husy pasu

Song Composer lidová píseň

Production info

Original Title

Kočičí princ

Czech Title

Kočičí princ

English Title

Cat Prince

Parallel Title

Der Katzenprinz

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

fairytale

Origin country

Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic

Copyright

1978

Production Year

1978

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 12 January 1978
start of filming 6 February 1978
technical Screenplay approved 21 February 1978
end of filming 14 October 1978
projection approval 19 October 1978

Premiere

premiere 28 September 1979 /suitable for youths/
premiere abroad 14 October 1979 (Pionierpalast Ernst Thälmann, Berlín, NDR)

Studio

Barrandov

Creative Group

Dramaturgická skupina Oty Hofmana, Ota Hofman (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny), Roter Kreis (DEFA), Thea Richter (vedoucí skupiny Roter Kreis DEFA)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

80 min

Original length in metres

2 234 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: 11. národní přehlídka filmů pro děti a mládež Ostrov nad Ohří

1979
Ostrov nad Ohří / Czechoslovakia
Žaneta Fuchsová

Vítěz

Festival: 17. festival českých a slovenských filmů Hradec Králové

1979
Hradec Králové / Czechoslovakia