The year of 1978 saw director Ota Koval premiere two cinema films: a psychological story about a traumatised boy, Nechci nic slyšet (Leave me alone!) and the fantasy and adventure picture Kočičí princ (Cat Prince). Based on a script by accomplished author Ota Hofman, the film was made in collaboration with the East German studio DEFA. The heroes of the story are siblings Radek and Terezka Král (meaning “King”). Moving to a new home, the children imagine travelling through a fairytale land, in keeping with their family name. They project real persons they meet along the way into fantasy characters. The fairytale land is thus inhabited by the family cat Líza, as well as the ominous-looking castle restoration expert Albert. Kočičí princ gave Pavel Hachle, who played Radek, what turned out to be his only brush with the world of cinema. But the role of little Terezka was the first of many feature film parts for successful child actress Žaneta Fuchsová.
The castle custodian Král is moving to a new place of work with his wife, son Radek and a five - years old daughter Terezka. Radek takes his cat Líza with him. A fully loaded truck moves through the country which is in spring blossoms, gradually changing into a snow-covered land. Children's imagination creates from real experiences magic stories - a fairy-tale grandpa takes them to a new castle, the children fear a black-horse rider who - as the grandpa and the cleaning lady assert she hates cats. The children later discover that the rider is in reality the restorer Albert. He takes them round the castle, but Líza destroys his paints and paintbrushes. Albert gets angry and chases her to do away with her. When Líza has kittens, Albert wants to drown them, but the children do their best to rescue all of them. Terezka dreams about living water, blood of three monsters and about the prince who defeated them all. Radek takes a small bottle, presses a button on the Blue Prince picture who resembles him and enters the space behind the painting. Terezka secretly follows her brother. Both appear in a fabulous country, where they meet many fairy-tale beings and face different traps. They find living water and Terezka brings a dead horse to life... On the next morning, they meet Albert, wearing a white dress and riding a white horse, and Líza with her kittens basking in the sun.
The première in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) 14. 10. 1979 /Pionierpalast "Ernst Thälmann" Berlin/. Architect Vladimír Labský partly used the decorations from the movies Thi Ninth Heart, The Virgin and the Monster and Mystery of the Iron City.
Radek Král
Terezka, Radkova sestra
Voice by Petr Čepek
restaurátor Albert
správce zámku Král, otec dětí
Voice by Jaroslava Tvrzníková
maminka dětí
dědeček/rybář/kočí
uklízečka/kouzelná babička
Míša
myší princezna
babizna z perníkové chaloupky
Bystrozraký
Široký
Dlouhý/ustaraný asistent
Červená Karkulka
učitelka
malý princ
žlutý princ
sedlák
ceremoniář
Sněhurka
dubl za Vlastimila Haška
Karel Smyczek, Peter Bohnenstengel
Marcela Pittermannová (Filmové studio Barrandov), Christel Gräf (DEFA)
Pavel Dosoudil
Miroslav Buberle, Josef Pavlík, Karel Karas, Heinz Seiffert
Karel Prchal, Kurt Preissel, Heinz-Jürgen Schmidt, Eva Charvátová
František Michálek (jezdectví)
Věra Mikolášková (klapka), Ivan Minář (fotograf), Bohuslav Beníšek, Komplexní brigáda Horst Bochow
Singer Michal Tučný
Song Composer lidová píseň
Kočičí princ
Kočičí princ
Cat Prince
Der Katzenprinz
film
featuretheatrical distribution
fairytale
Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic
1978
1978
literary Screenplay approved 12 January 1978
start of filming 6 February 1978
technical Screenplay approved 21 February 1978
end of filming 14 October 1978
projection approval 19 October 1978
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1986
premiere 28 September 1979 /suitable for youths/
premiere abroad 14 October 1979 (Pionierpalast Ernst Thälmann, Berlín, NDR)
Dramaturgická skupina Oty Hofmana, Ota Hofman (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny), Roter Kreis (DEFA), Thea Richter (vedoucí skupiny Roter Kreis DEFA)
feature film
80 min
2 234 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,66
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Exhibition: 11. národní přehlídka filmů pro děti a mládež Ostrov nad Ohří
1979
Ostrov nad Ohří / Czechoslovakia
Žaneta Fuchsová
Festival: 17. festival českých a slovenských filmů Hradec Králové
1979
Hradec Králové / Czechoslovakia