Byl jednou jeden král *

Byl jednou jeden král (1955)

Rating: 8.4/10 155 votes
Runtime: 107
Language: Czech (English softsubs)
Country: Czechoslovakia
Color: Color

Code: 

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Director: Borivoj Zeman


Cast:
Jan Werich ... King
Vlasta Burian ... Atakdále
Terezie Brzková ... Old woman
Marie Glázrová ... Widow
Irena Kacírková ... Drahomíra
Stella Májová ... Zpevanka
Milena Dvorská ... Maruska
Miroslav Hornícek ... Beautiful prince
Lubomír Lipský ... Brave prince
Milos Kopecký ... Smart prince
Zdenek Díte ... Gardener
Josef Pehr ... Bagpiper
Vladimír Ráz ... Fisherman
Frantisek Cerný ... Cook
Fanda Mrázek ... Revenue officer

Description:
aka Once Upon a Time There Was a King...

"Zeman's story starts as little more than a hammed up version of Shakespeare's King Lear. The conceited king (played by Jan Werich, who also contributed to the screenplay) asks his three unmarried daughters how much they love him. Zpivanka and Drahomira offer rhapsodic and materially-based comparisons of their love for him. However, Maruska - the film's Cordelia - is not nearly as snooty as her sisters. She wears simple clothes and prefers hanging around in the kitchen with the servants, getting stuck in with the cooking. She says that she loves him as much as salt. It's not so much an act of defiance against the sycophancy of her sisters, but more her genuine heart-felt belief that salt is the most important thing there is and that it is loved and needed by everyone in the world.

Enraged by his daughter's comparison of him to something so common, the king not only banishes her from the castle but also seeks to eradicate all the salt in his kingdom. The court are less than impressed at his attempts to impose salt-free cooking on them and his subjects furious at having to hand in all their salt for destruction.

Meanwhile, Maruska teams up with a kindly old woman, who, as well as being the incarnation of every Czech's grandmother, also happens to have magical powers. Maruska and the grandmother use the powers to cause manic mayhem back in the castle.

Like all good fairy-tales, the story ends happily. Maruska falls in love with a hunky Czech fisherman and her sisters reject the cynical courtship of three foreign princes to fall for two down-to-earth palace workers. The king comes to recognise his folly and accepts Maruska back and, best of all, salt is officially reinstated on the national diet. This causes a minor dilemma when it is realised that every ounce of salt in the land was tipped into the river, but fortunately the old woman is at hand to save the day. Impressed by the archetypal grandmotherly qualities she represents the king's salt-destroyer-in-chief (named Atakdale - the Czech phrase for "and so on" rolled into one word) had let her keep her supply when she came to hand it in. Moreover, despite being stored in a tiny bowl, it pours out in never-ending quantities. And so they all live happily ever after." by Andrew James Horton

Code: 

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