The Bride with the Loveliest Eyes

Country

Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria

Copyright

1975

Production year

1975

Premiere

9 July 1976

Runtime

82 min

Director

Jan Schmidt

Category

film

Genre

fairytale

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Nevěsta s nejkrásnějšíma očima

Czech title

Nevěsta s nejkrásnějšíma očima

English title

The Bride with the Loveliest Eyes

Co-production title

Godenicata s najkrasivite oči

Summary

Exotic Bulgarian locales play an important role in this 1975 co-production directed by Jan Schmidt. Based on a retelling of a Bulgarian fairytale by writer Marie Voříšková, it tells the story of Pišta, a young Roma who is supposed to get married, but refuses to wed any of the girls in his home village. He sets out to find the girl Orina (Bulgarian actress Elena Dimitrova), known to him from stories told by his grandfather. He finds out that Orina has been placed under a spell, and turned into a black hen. To free her, he has to marry her... The director’s other films include the post-apocalyptic drama Konec srpna v hotelu Ozon (The End of August at the Ozone Hotel, 1966), the famous 1977 “prehistoric trilogy” (Volání rodu – Indivisible Clan, Na Veliké řece – On the Big River, Osada havranů – The Ravens' Stronghold), as well as another children’s story, Jak si zasloužit princeznu (How to Earn a Princess, 1994).

Synopsis

An old man to whom young Pišta gives a ride in his buggy talks about a beautiful girl by the name of Orina. The old man then disappears and Pišta returns to his village. Here the mayor announces to Pišta that it is now his turn to get married. Pišta doesn't want any of the cantankerous village girls and, since he cannot get the old man's tale out of his mind, he sets off to look for Orina. He meets several beautiful women on his journey, but none of them is Orina. One day, a journey through an inhospitable desert leads him to a small cottage with a thatched roof, with a black hen sitting on the bench in the front yard. The old couple livingin the hut inhabitants of the hut, invite Pišta to join them at their table and offer him a bed for the night. In the morning, they leave and Pišta begins repairing the roof. At noon, he catches glimpse of a beautiful girl cooking lunch inside the main room, but at one o'clock the girl changes into a black hen. Pišta manages to talk to the girl and he discovers that this is the Orina he has been looking for. The old man reveals to Pišta how to break the unlucky spell: he must marry the girl while she has the form of a hen. Back at the village, everybody pokes fun at Pišta because of his "bride". But Pišta remains determined and when he says yes to his marriage during the wedding ceremony, the hen changes for good into the beautiful Orina. Then the newlyweds leave on Pišta's horse decorated with ribbons.

Cast

Elena Dimitrova

Voice by Libuše Šafránková
Orina

Bohumil Vávra

dědeček Joži

Naďa Hejná

Voice by Marie Brožová
babička Aranka

Jana Břežková

pekařka Zuzka

Anton Karastojanov

Voice by Jan Faltýnek
primáš

Violeta Pavlova

Voice by Jana Březinová
uhlířka Marka

Pavel Wuršer

starosta /vajda/

Vanja Apostolova

Voice by Jana Andresíková
Elena

Reni Kitanova

Voice by Inka Šecová
Margita

Ivan Jordanov

Voice by Mirko Musil
uhlíř

Dimitr Bočev

Voice by Zdeněk Kutil
handlíř

Ilja Iljev

uhlířův syn

Plamen Petkov

uhlířův syn

Ivan Petrušinov

Voice by Bedřich Šetena
Jano

Maria Gančeva

Voice by Helena Růžičková
matrona

Ivan Grigorov

Voice by Bedřich Šetena
poberta

Vladimír Bonev

Voice by Karel Meister ml.
poberta

Kiril Vodeničarov

Voice by Jan Kraus
poberta

Dimitr Jordanov

Voice by Karel Hovorka
stařík

Kosta Karageorgiev

mim

Crew and creators

Director

Jan Schmidt

Second Unit Director

Milan Kadlec, Margarita Stamboljeva

Assistant Director

Jiří Ostrý

Based on

Marie Voříšková (O krásné Tindir Sibilloně – pohádka ze sbírky Zpívající housle)

Screenplay

Jiří Cirkl, Ladislav Dvorský, Jan Schmidt (spolupráce na scénáři)

Shooting Script

Jan Schmidt, Jiří Macák

Director of Photography

Jiří Macák

Second Unit Photography

Jan Kváča

Camera Operator

Hanuš Bečvář

Production Designer

Jindřich Goetz

Assistent Production Designer

Jaromír Švarc

Set Designer

Bedřich Čermák (vedoucí výpravy), Jaromír Bieber (rekvizitář), Emil Velčev

Costume Designer

Theodor Pištěk ml.

Costumes

Ondrej Brezovský (vedoucí kostymér), Růžena Bulíčková

Film Editor

Miroslav Hájek

Assistant Film Editor

Eva Bobková

Sound Designer

František Fabián

Assistant Sound Designer

Aleš Zimmermann

Production Manager

Jiří Beránek, Trajko Ivanov

Unit Production Manager

Alena Lípová, Vlasta Synkulová, Vasil Radoev, Ivo Draganov

Unit Production Manager

Tomáš Baloun

Cooperation

Alexandra Tompichová (klapka), Jiří Kučera (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Zdeněk Liška

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Production info

Original Title

Nevěsta s nejkrásnějšíma očima

Czech Title

Nevěsta s nejkrásnějšíma očima

English Title

The Bride with the Loveliest Eyes

Co-production Title

Godenicata s najkrasivite oči

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

fairytale

Origin country

Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria

Copyright

1975

Production Year

1975

Production specifications

withdrawal from distribution 30 June 1991

Premiere

premiere 1 July 1976 /suitable for youths/ (kino Paříž, Praha)
premiere 9 July 1976 /suitable for youths/ (celostátní)

Studio

Hostivař

Creative Group

Dramaturgická skupina Oty Hofmana, Ota Hofman (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny), Tvůrčí kolektiv Sredec (Studija za igralni filmi Sofija)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

82 min

Original length in metres

2 400 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,66

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 16. festival filmů pro děti Gottwaldov

1976
Zlín / Czechoslovakia