HAPPY PRINCE, THE {FROM THE STORY BY OSCAR WILDE} (TV)
Summary
This animated musical special is based on the 1888 children's short story by Oscar Wilde.
The story begins as the citizens of a small German town debate pulling down an ornate statue of their late prince, perched atop a high structure, in favor of a more practical weathervane; elsewhere in the village, a mother reminds her distraught child that "golden princes never cry." A swallow flies up to the statue and finds that he is indeed shedding tears; the prince explains that, during his lifetime, he lived a happy, affluent life in the palace of Sanssouci ("without worries"), blissfully ignorant of the plight of the common folk just outside his walls. But as a statue, he can now see the suffering of many people, including a struggling dressmaker whose ailing son is pleading for oranges. A lady-in-waiting arrives at the shop to demand her finished dress, unconcerned about the boy's illness, and the swallow somewhat grudgingly agrees to postpone his annual flight to Egypt to deliver the ruby from the prince's sword hilt to the dressmaker so that she may afford the potentially life-saving oranges.
The prince next asks the swallow to aid a frustrated playwright (a version of Wilde himself) with a gift of one of his own sapphire eyes. He then gifts his other eye to an impoverished match girl, who is dazzled by the many sumptuous foods that she can now afford. With no gems left, the prince asks the swallow to peel off the gold leaf covering his entire body and deliver it to the people; the citizens are stunned to see gold "snowing" down from the sky. The prince is then heartbroken when the swallow, having delayed his winter migration for too long, dies after delivering the last of the gold. The citizens, unhappy with the statue's now-shabby appearance, pull it down and melt it, leaving only his lead heart. Angels fly down from heaven to retrieve the city's "two most precious things," the heart and the dead swallow; God honors both the bird and the prince for their generous deeds.
Details
- NETWORK: Channel 4 (United Kingdom)
- DATE: November 30, 1999 11:15 AM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:28:21
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:51022
- GENRE: Animation
- SUBJECT HEADING: Animation; Musical; Literature - Adaptations; Germany
- SERIES RUN: Channel 4 - TV, 1996
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Patricia Williams … Producer
- Alan Platt … Director, Animator, Librettist
- Oscar Wilde … Based on the story by
- Jim Parker … Music by
- Nash Ensemble, The … Music by
- Stoke Brunswick School Choir … Choir
- Nigel Hawthorne … Narrator
- William Dazeley … Cast, The Happy Prince
- Jimmy Somerville … Cast, The Swallow
- Stephanie Benavente … Cast, Singer
- Mary Carewe … Cast, Singer
- Bruce Ogston … Cast, Singer
- Lawrence Wallington … Cast, Singer
- Rory Campbell … Cast, Singer
- Matthew Long … Cast, Singer