A Legend about Love

Country

Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria

Copyright

1956

Production year

1956

Premiere

9 August 1957

Runtime

92 min

Category

film

Genre

fairytale

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Legenda o lásce

Czech title

Legenda o lásce

English title

A Legend about Love

Co-production title

Legenda za ljubovta

Synopsis

A spring is hidden in the Iron Mountain but the people of Arzen cannot get to it and they are suffering from thirst. Caravans bring water to the palace of princess Mekhmene Banu. Shirin, the princess's sister, falls ill and no-one can help her. The Mysterious Unknown promises that he will cure Shirin if the princess forsakes her beauty and has a palace built for her. Mekhmene Banu agrees without hesitation. Her face grows old that very minute and Shirin recovers. The artist Ferkhad is part of the work team building the palace. Both sisters fall in love with him but Ferkhad has eyes only for the beautiful Shirin. The princess is jealous but promises Ferkhad that he can have Shirin if he brings Arzen water from the Iron Mountain. Ferkhad agrees even though he knows that this task will take years and he will not see his Shirin for a long time. Ten years pass and Shirin is permitted to bring Ferkhad back. Both know, however, that they cannot be happy if the people continue to suffer from thirst so Ferkhad continues his search. Finally, water starts gushing out of the Iron Mountain. Ferkhad returns to the city and Mekhmene Banu is still hoping that she will win his love since Shirin has aged during his absence. On the advice of the Unknown, she washes her face in the water from the mountain and she grows beautiful once more, but Ferkhad does not succumb to her charms. He still loves his faithful Shirin.

Note

This was the first Czech-Bulgarian coproduction. A Bulgarian version was made with the same crew and same cast in lesser roles. The main parts were replaced by Emiliya Radeva (Shirin), Zheni Bozhinova (Mekhmene Banu) and Andrei Chaprazov (vizier). The fairytale Labakan was made at the same time using identical sets.

Cast

Vlasta Fialová

princezna Mechmene Banu

Jana Rybářová

Širín, sestra Mechmene Banu

Apostol Karamitev

Voice by Václav Voska
malíř Ferchad

Otylie Beníšková

chůva, matka malíře Ešrefa

František Kovářík

Bechzad, Ferchadův otec

Josef Kotapiš

nejvyšší lékař

Gustav Nezval

hvězdopravec

Stefan Petrov

hlavní mistr

Miloš Kopecký

obchodník s koberci

Veličko Bonev

hlasatel

Dagmar Kofroňová

krásná dívka

Hermína Vojtová

žena se synem

Zdeněk Kampf

malíř Ešref

Kiril Ilinčev

B. Borisova

P. Ivančev

Alexandr Milkovski

Ljubomir Dimitrov

Dosju Dosev

A. Lazarova

Commentary

Dubbing

Zdeněk Štěpánek

hlas Železné hory

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Jaroslav Beránek, Kiril Ilinčev

Assistant Director

Vladimíra Čečetková, Michail Lazarov

Based on

Nazim Hikmet (Legenda o lásce – divadelní hra)

Director of Photography

Ferdinand Pečenka

Camera Operator

Rudolf Jokl, Josef Novotný

Assistent Production Designer

Věra Líznerová

Set Designer

Josef Pavlík

Film Editor

Jan Kohout

Sound Designer

Adolf Nacházel

Production Manager

Antonín Bedřich, Nikola Vlčev

Unit Production Manager

Jaroslav Vlk, Petr Tomov

Consultant

Georgi Popov (výtvarno), Nevena Baltova (výtvarno)

Cooperation

Jindřich Panáček (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Veselin Stojanov, Jarmil Burghauser

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Production info

Original Title

Legenda o lásce

Czech Title

Legenda o lásce

English Title

A Legend about Love

Co-production Title

Legenda za ljubovta

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

fairytale

Origin country

Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria

Copyright

1956

Production Year

1956

Production specifications

projection approval 9 April 1957
withdrawal from distribution 31 July 1976

Premiere

preview 2 August 1957 (kino Sevastopol /1 týden/, Praha)
premiere 9 August 1957 /suitable for youths/ (kina Lucerna /5 týdnů/, Bystrica /1 týden/, Arbes /1 týden od 16. 8./, Radost /1 týden od 23. 8./, Svornost /1 týden od 30. 8./, Oko /1 týden od 6. 9./ a Revoluce /1 týden od 13. 9./, Praha)

Copyright Holders

Národní filmový archiv

Studio

Barrandov

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Feix – Daniel, František Daniel (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Karel Feix (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

92 min

Original length in metres

2 608 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech