The Wedding in the Coral Sea
Country
CzechoslovakiaCopyright
1944Production year
1943—1944Premiere
3 November 1944Runtime
11 minDirector
Horst von MöllendorffCategory
filmGenre
slapstickTypology
animatedtheatrical distributionshortOriginal title
Svatba v korálovém mořiCzech title
Svatba v korálovém mořiEnglish title
The Wedding in the Coral SeaProtectorate parallel title
Hochzeit im KorallenmeerWorking title
Soupeři v hlubináchSummary
A funny story from the submarine world about love between two little fish who are threatened by an evil octopus.
Synopsis
A little fish swims peacefully in a coral sea. It taps on seashells to wake up their inhabitants who produce little pearls. The fish gradually threads a pearl necklace. In the meantime, a little turtle traps a shining little fish in a lantern and brings it to a goldfish who just expects its groom. The groom swims over with the necklace. The two fish lovers, however, do not notice an alert octopus, which in no time releases its ink to kidnap the bride to its home - a wreck of an old argosy. Although the octopus does its best in courting the goldfish, the bride only hopes for liberation. In an instant, the infuriated groom approaches the wreck with an armed school of other little fish. They challenge the octopus to a duel, overcome it and weave it into an old helm. The engaged lovers are then driven in a brougham, accompanied by the submarine band and other inhabitants of the coral sea. As soon as the newlyweds are alone, they free the shining fish from its lantern trap and the little fish quickly swims far away.
Note
Filming the cartoon employed the colour negative Agfacolor. The premiere was held in the Prague Světozor cinema in November 1944. The film was distributed with German opening titles, which solely state its author, Horst von Möllendorff, and the author of the music, Julius Kalaš. The opening titles were modified after the war and the film was re-distributed in Czechoslovakia in 1947. The collections of the National Film Archive Prague hold a black-and-white negative and black-and-white copy of this film whose opening title states The Adversaries in the Depths (Soupeři v hlubinách). It is a working version.
Photos
Crew and creators
Director
Screenstory
Josef Vácha, kolektiv Oddělení pro výrobu kresleného filmu Prag-Filmu
Screenplay
kolektiv Oddělení pro výrobu kresleného filmu Prag-Filmu
Director of Photography
Art Director
kolektiv Oddělení pro výrobu kresleného filmu Prag-Filmu
Artistic Management
Animation
kolektiv Oddělení pro výrobu kresleného filmu Prag-Filmu
Production Manager
Cooperation
kolektiv Oddělení pro výrobu kresleného filmu Prag-Filmu, Václav Bedřich, Jiří Brdečka, Jaroslav Doubrava, Čeněk Duba, Eduard Hofman, Jaroslav Kándl, Josef Kluge, Stanislav Látal, Břetislav Pojar, Bohumil Šejda, Josef Vácha, Miloslav Říha, Richard Bláha, Jan Hejl, Rudolf Holan, Jaroslav Jílovec, Ota Kudrnáč, Karel Mann, Věra Marešová, Vojen Masník, Jaroslav Možíš, Božena Možíšová, Bořivoj Novák, František Paták, Marie Polívková, Zdena Skřípková, Jiří Šebestík, Anna Šimáčková, Bohuslav Šrámek, Karel Štrebl, Jiří Vokoun
Music
Music Composed by
Music Performed by
Production info
Original Title
Svatba v korálovém moři
Czech Title
Svatba v korálovém moři
English Title
The Wedding in the Coral Sea
Protectorate Parallel Title
Hochzeit im Korallenmeer
Working Title
Soupeři v hlubinách
Category
film
Typology
animatedtheatrical distribution
Genre
slapstick
Origin country
Czechoslovakia
Copyright
1944
Production Year
1943—1944
Production specifications
date of censorship 13 September 1944 (predikát „umělecky hodnotný film“)
withdrawal from distribution 18 May 1945
date of censorship 1 July 1947 (konec povolení k promítání 1. 7. 1952)
withdrawal from distribution 17 February 1950
withdrawal from distribution 30 June 1995
Premiere
premiere 3 November 1944 /suitable for youths/ (kino Světozor, Praha)
renewed premiere 12 September 1947 /suitable for youths/ (kino Lucerna, Praha)
renewed premiere 1 December 1987 /suitable for youths/
Production
Copyright Holders
Laboratories
Distribution
Ufa (původní 1944), Státní půjčovna filmů (obnovená 1947)
Technical info
Duration typology
short film
Duration in minutes
11 min
Original length in metres
303 meters
Distribution carrier
16mm, 35mm
Animation technique
cartoon
Aspect ratio
1:1,37
Colour
colour
Sound
sound
Sound system/format
Tobis – Klang
Versions
Czech, German
Dialogue languages
without dialogue
Subtitles languages
without subtitles
Opening/End credits languages
Czech, German
