The Wedding in the Coral Sea

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1944

Production year

1943—1944

Premiere

3 November 1944

Runtime

11 min

Category

film

Genre

slapstick

Typology

animatedtheatrical distributionshort

Original title

Svatba v korálovém moři

Czech title

Svatba v korálovém moři

English title

The Wedding in the Coral Sea

Parallel title

Hochzeit im Korallenmeer

Working title

Soupeři v hlubinách

Summary

A funny story from the submarine world about love between two little fish who are threatened by an evil octopus.

Synopsis

A little fish swims peacefully in a coral sea. It taps on seashells to wake up their inhabitants who produce little pearls. The fish gradually threads a pearl necklace. In the meantime, a little turtle traps a shining little fish in a lantern and brings it to a goldfish who just expects its groom. The groom swims over with the necklace. The two fish lovers, however, do not notice an alert octopus, which in no time releases its ink to kidnap the bride to its home - a wreck of an old argosy. Although the octopus does its best in courting the goldfish, the bride only hopes for liberation. In an instant, the infuriated groom approaches the wreck with an armed school of other little fish. They challenge the octopus to a duel, overcome it and weave it into an old helm. The engaged lovers are then driven in a brougham, accompanied by the submarine band and other inhabitants of the coral sea. As soon as the newlyweds are alone, they free the shining fish from its lantern trap and the little fish quickly swims far away.

Note

Filming the cartoon employed the colour negative Agfacolor. The premiere was held in the Prague Světozor cinema in November 1944. The film was distributed with German opening titles, which solely state its author, Horst von Möllendorff, and the author of the music, Julius Kalaš. The opening titles were modified after the war and the film was re-distributed in Czechoslovakia in 1947. The collections of the National Film Archives hold a black-and-white negative and black-and-white copy of this film whose opening title states The Adversaries in the Depths (Soupeři v hlubinách). It is a working version.

Crew and creators

Screenstory

Josef Vácha, kolektiv Oddělení pro výrobu kresleného filmu Prag-Filmu

Screenplay

kolektiv Oddělení pro výrobu kresleného filmu Prag-Filmu

Director of Photography

Vladimír Novotný

Art Director

kolektiv Oddělení pro výrobu kresleného filmu Prag-Filmu

Artistic Management

Horst von Möllendorff

Animation

kolektiv Oddělení pro výrobu kresleného filmu Prag-Filmu

Production Manager

Zdeněk Reimann

Music

Music Composed by

Julius Kalaš

Music Performed by

Orchestr Pragfilmu

Production info

Original Title

Svatba v korálovém moři

Czech Title

Svatba v korálovém moři

English Title

The Wedding in the Coral Sea

Parallel Title

Hochzeit im Korallenmeer

Working Title

Soupeři v hlubinách

Category

film

Typology

animatedtheatrical distribution

Genre

slapstick

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1944

Production Year

1943—1944

Production specifications

date of censorship 13 September 1944 (predikát „umělecky hodnotný film“)
projection approval 1 July 1947 (konec povolení k promítání 1. 7. 1952)

Premiere

premiere 3 November 1944 /suitable for youths/ (kino Světozor, Praha)
renewed premiere 12 September 1947 /suitable for youths/ (kino Lucerna, Praha)

Production

Prag-Film

Copyright Holders

Národní filmový archiv

Distribution

Ufa (původní 1944), Státní půjčovna filmů (obnovená 1947)

Technical info

Duration typology

short film

Duration in minutes

11 min

Original length in metres

303 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Animation technique

cartoon

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

Tobis – Klang

Versions

Czech, German

Dialogue languages

without dialogue

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech, German