This planet has a special atmosphere. The adaptation of the legendary fairy tale by Antoine De Saint Exupery, led by British director Stanley Donen, is a special delicacy. When watching the film, we plunge into a time when cinema was created solely for the sake of the audience and, thanks to its special magic, often fell into the rank of high art, and special effects did not come to the fore, being only a help on the way to understanding a particular story. There was not all this computer delight, or frantic editing, or confusing retelling. It was a slow but measured, clear, structured narrative, and its production was the standard of quality. One thing remains invaluable: respect for the original. Here it is elevated to the limit, and claims to some trifles seem so insignificant that then you rather blame yourself for them - for adult cynicism and inability to accept skill as it is. After all, this is a true fairy tale for children and adults, as the work of Exupery itself.
Magical atmosphere, wonderful music, memorable images. Everything is perfect here. Yes, at first I was slightly misled by the images of Prince and Rose (the boy was not as pretty as he seemed in the book, and Rosa generally brought a flair of light eroticism instead of a bastion of pure romance), but then I came to believe that these were just my personal nitpicking, inappropriate and powerless in the face of the advantages of film adaptation. And suddenly, as the session went on, the little nitpicks finally disappeared. It's just the pluses.
It's amazing. The year of the film’s release is one thousand nine hundred and seventy-four. How old it was, maybe in many ways naive, but so sincere film in general and fairy tales in particular! In addition, the “Little Prince” itself, it turns out, is great for staging in the form of a musical. Heroes sing songs, dance with unrestrained energy, or just respond to each other with replicas of poems - and this fascinates, envelops, makes you forget about reality outside the film. Regarding the characters themselves, it is very rare to find such pictures, where everyone, absolutely everyone, will be in his place. I really liked all the actors, without exception, who with such a progressive attitude got used to the images that showed how heartfelt it is possible to play, making the viewer experience emotions that the heart feels first of all. It's a valuable sight.
The director's work is also on top. The story progresses very clearly and logically, and the finale even opens up new meanings and references to the beginning of the work, in view of which the Little Prince suddenly finds a new face. The composition of the plot turns out to be closed, completed, even more metaphorical than in the book version. And the scenes themselves - what with musical accompaniment, what without - amaze the quality of performance and perfectly flow into one another.
At some point, it became very sad that as a child this film passed by. That a little true purity didn't touch me when I was a kid.
Summing up, with steadfastness I put this adaptation on the shelf of my favorite paintings. Even if only for an hour or so, she managed to regain that long-lost feeling that Exupery probably achieved himself ... when you stop being an adult.
10 out of 10
