Swift-12

The heroine is a Princess whose widowed father (the Blue King) is forced to remarry and realizes no one but she can surpass the beauty of his beloved dead Queen. The girl is horrified by his proposal, but advised by her Fairy Godmother she concocts impossible conditions for the King to meet -- which incredibly he performs. The last sacrifice is to skin his prized donkey, which has yielded daily treasures of gems and gold in place of manure. Gradually she sympathizes with him and readies herself to the idea of matrimony, but the Fairy devises her escape and the Princess leaves incognito, wrapped in the filthy donkey skin. Hiding in a distant village in another realm, the regal girl is now treated as the lowliest servant. Enter the young Prince of the Red Kingdom as he passes through. He is feeling the melancholy of loneliness and ready for True Love which eludes him. He wanders through the wood and is led magically to the Princess and sees through her disguise. They do not actually meet, but the rest of the story involves the delicate steps towards restoring her to nobility, acceptability, and betrothal.

It's a very charming musical fairy-tale, teeming with metaphors as children's stories often do. Jacques Demy was very influenced by and pays homage to Jean Cocteau, utilizing many of his simple camera techniques (elegant and mysterious if done artfully .. or if performed clumsily will look like hack work): slow-motion, reverse motion, on-set trickery (like actors dressed and built into the set as living magical statues). Like Cocteau's fantasies, Demy has achieved a poetic level here. His use of color is glorious -- the strong Blues that dominate *everything* in the Blue Kingdom (or the Red color scheme for the Red Kingdom) -- and the shift to All-White in the finale -- dresses that illuminate their own light or have moving clouds projected upon them -- the fairy god-mother whose dress changes color on a whim -- the great contrast of all-red horses and riders traveling through a vibrant green wood -- a hovel which magically flickers, dressed by dozens of strobe lights.

And this is an excellent cast. The young Catherine Deneuve is of course perfect for a fairy-tale princess. Delphine Seyrig steals all her scenes as the Fairy Godmother. Jean Marais is a natural for the King (and as an old favorite of Cocteau's, adds another link to that fantastic universe). Jacques Perrin is an ideal Prince Charming. The music and songs by Michel Legrand is very good and has a bittersweet tinge to it.

I love the musical sequence of the princess directing herself on how to bake a cake. Split in two she both reads the recipe (filthy and dressed in her loathsome donkey skin) and also performs the task (dressed beautifully with a crown). It theatrically represents how the Mind itself works, showing intention and will. There are other moments like this which SHOULD be iconic. Like the burial of the beloved queen who is placed in a large crystal sphere and left in an open field, presumably to never decay. Like the cranky old hag who expectorates live toads. Like the boat ride at the end of the couple's duet, drifting down a stream and fading away ephemerally.

This episode highlights two great supporting players, ALLEN JENKINS & FRANK NELSON (plus a small part for a very strong actor, Lawrence Dobkin). Jenkins is a beat cop who mistakenly arrests Lucy & Ethel; Nelson the desk sergeant who insists he recognizes them as known criminals. When Nelson finally realizes his mistake, he shifts all the blame on Jenkins -- I just think it's fun that he also uses the actor's real name: "Jenkins! You IDIOT!" Meanwhile, Ricky and Fred are oblivious to everything around them, caught up with Friday Night Fights on TV. Watch it & you'll instantly recognize these very familiar performers. By this time viewers would already have known Allen Jenkins from the movies. Nelson had come up in radio, so they would know his voice, but in the advent of TV he'd become one of those famous faces whose names nobody knows (You know, the store clerk whose first line is always: "Yesssss?")

This is great sci-fi/fantasy, with terrific stop-motion effects by Ray Harryhausen, & they kept the Victorian feel of the original book. The characters are perfectly cast. Lionel Jeffries steals every scene as the moon-eyed Cavor, & Edward Judd -- who preferred playing the villain over leading man -- nailed the charming but deceitful Bedford. Initially Bedford seems a voice of practicality and reason, opposed to Cavor's fanciful idealism. But he's cretinous, loathsome and selfish. Cavor might be eccentric (even bipolar), but he remains creative and always growing.

Bedford: Sells a house that isn't his. Takes Cavor's own money to leverage himself as a partner in Cavor's endeavor. Drags his fiancé into this real estate swindle. Tries to unload those damn boots for the Boer War onto Cavor. And how's this for crassness: Cavor exclaims "Look at that Prism assembly!" when they discover a vast and advanced technology. But Bedford grumbles "The only thing I want to see is that blasted diving helmet"

Bedford assumes the Sellenites are evil, attacks them without provocation and has no patience with Cavor's desire to communicate with them. He invades their territory, then fears, hates and loathes them simply because they're alien. His voice registers disgust towards Cavor for trying to dialog with them. Even later in his old age, he cynically relishes in their demise.

The playful humor in the fist half changes once they enter the underground complex. It's a kiddie-movie until they turn this dark corner. The change in tone isn't the dreadful Sellenites, so much as the falling out between Bedford and Cavor. As soon as Bedford begins throwing insects into the boiling abyss, Cavor is struck with remorse. "I should have come alone. I should have come alone"

Cavor wants to dialog; Bedford just wants to get the hell outta there -- he has no use for the place since nuggets of gold aren't lying around. We could sympathize with Bedford's paranoia if the Sellenites were malicious, but they never express an evil intent. They won't invade Earth, but they're worried that MORE of these dangerous humans will pop up to spread war, pestilence and mortgage crises. Maybe Cavor's desire to stay with the Sellenites isn't so lunatic.

"Don't flatter yourself. I didn't stick my neck out just to save you." Evidently Bedford would have abandoned Cavor, but he needed his skill to fix the sphere. With this final letdown, Cavor realizes he is truly alone. He probably always was a loner, shunned by classmates and a committed bachelor. His only companions were bungling lab assistants, then along comes a charming Bedford. For the first time he lets down his guard and opens up all his secrets. So Cavor's major weakness was a poor judge of character. In these earlier scenes, its almost heart-wrenching to watch Cavor chortle and giggle as he demonstrates the sphere and reveals his great dreams. Then all his work is destroyed by this opportunist.