The King and the Mockingbird facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The King and the Mockingbird |
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2003 DVD cover
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| Directed by | Paul Grimault |
| Produced by | Robert Dorfmann |
| Screenplay by |
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| Starring |
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| Music by | Wojciech Kilar |
| Cinematography | Gérard Soirant |
| Editing by | Paul Grimault |
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| Distributed by | Gaumont |
| Release date(s) | September 1952 (Venice) 19 March 1980 |
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| Country | France |
| Language | French |
The King and the Mockingbird (French: Le Roi et l'Oiseau, lit. "The king and the bird") is a 1980 traditionally-animated fantasy film directed by Paul Grimault. Prior to 2013, it was released in English as The King and Mister Bird.
Begun in 1948 as La Bergère et le Ramoneur (lit. " The shepherdess and the chimney sweep", loosely based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen), the film was a collaboration between Grimault and popular French poet and screenwriter, Jacques Prévert. However, the film suddenly stopped production and was released unfinished by its producer in 1952, without the approval of either Grimault or Prévert. Through the course of the 1960s and 1970s, Grimault obtained the rights to the film and was able to complete a new version as they originally intended. The film was completed over 30 years after production commenced.
The film is today regarded as a masterpiece of French animation and has been cited by the Japanese directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata as an influence. It was released in the United Kingdom dubbed into English in cinemas in 1984 and subsequently on VHS, but then had poor availability in English until 2014. After being rereleased in France in 2013, it was rereleased in cinemas in the United Kingdom, and the first English-friendly DVD release was made there in April 2014. While the completed version has not been released on home video in North America, it is available for streaming on The Criterion Channel. Previously, the film had been often shared by animation fans online. A low-budget English-language release of the 1952 version, titled The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird, is in the public domain and available free online. In that version, Peter Ustinov narrates and voices the main role of the bird.
Contents
Plot
The huge kingdom of Takicardia is ruled by a king under the unwieldy title of Charles V + III = VIII + VIII = XVI. He's a heartless ruler, hated by his people as much as he hates them. The King is fond of hunting, but is unfortunately cross-eyed – not that anyone would dare acknowledge this in front of him, as the numerous statues and paintings that adorn the palace and the land show him with regular eyes. Occasionally, the King does hit his target, though; notably, the wife of the bird, known only as l'Oiseau, the narrator of the story who takes pleasure in taunting the king at every opportunity.
In his secret apartment, the King dreams of the beautiful shepherdess whose painting he keeps on his wall, but the shepherdess is in love with the chimney sweep whose hated portrait is on the opposite wall. At night, the paintings come to life and attempt to escape from the palace, but are pursued by a non-cross-eyed painting of the king that also has come to life. He deposes the real king, takes his place, and orders the capture of the shepherdess and the sweep, but the bird is there to help when called upon.
Later, the shepherdess and the chimney sweep find themselves in the lower city, where the inhabitants have never seen the light. Meanwhile, the King summons a robot built for him, and he attacks the village. He takes the shepherdess and captures the chimney sweep, the bird, and a blind organ grinder from the village, putting the organ grinder in a pen of lions and tigers. The King forces the shepherdess to agree to marry him, threatening to kill the chimney sweep if she does not accept. When she does, the King sends the chimney sweep and the bird to paint manufactured sculptures of his head on a conveyor belt. They begin to ruin the sculptures, and are sent to jail, where the lions and tigers have been listening to the organ grinder playing. The bird convinces them to help the shepherdess, saying that her marriage to the King prevents her from tending to the sheep, which the animals eat. The animals break out of the jail and attack the interviewers and king in the chapel. The bird and his sons take control of the robot and start destroying the castle. Once the castle is in rubble, the King attacks the couple, but the robot grabs him and blows him into the distance. Sitting on the ruins of the castle the next morning, the robot sees one of the bird's sons trapped in a cage. After freeing the bird, the robot smashes the cage.
Only the early scene in the secret apartment is based on "The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep", while the rest of the movie focuses much more on the king and the bird, hence the ultimate title. In Andersen's tale, the shepherdess and the chimney sweep are china figurines, rather than paintings, and a wooden (mahogany) satyr wishes to wed the shepherdess, supported by a Chinaman, rather than a king and a classical statue. In both tales, the Chinaman/statue breaks, and the duo escape up the chimney, and delight in celestial bodies, but in Andersen's tale the shepherdess is afraid of the wide world and the duo return; this is echoed in the movie where the statue predicts that they will return.
The 1952 film ends with the bird taking a photo of the newly-wed shepherdess and chimney sweep along with the king's dog, all of the bird's sons, and others after the king is vanquished.
Cast
- Pierre Brasseur (1952 version), Jean Martin (1980 version) as the bird, the King's worst enemy whom he constantly taunts. It is implied that the King may have killed his wife. He is the father to four baby chicks.
- Fernand Ledoux (1952 version), Pascal Mazzotti (1980 version) as King Charles V + III = VIII + VIII = XVI, the megalomaniac yet lonely tyrant who is in love with the shepherdess painting on his wall; and also plays the voice of the Portrait King, who axes off the original king and bears many of his qualities, and hunts after the shepherdess and the chimney sweep, throughout the palace.
- Anouk Aimée (1952 version), Agnes Viala (1980 version) as the shepherdess, she is in love with the chimney sweep painting at her right.
- Serge Reggiani (1952 version), Renaud Marx (1980 version) as the chimney sweep, he is in love with the shepherdess painting at his left.
- Raymond Bussieres as the Chief of Police, who is fiercely loyal to the King.
- Hubert Deschamps as the sententious, a gigantic automan built by the King to symbolise his power. It seems to have a soul of its own.
- Roger Blin as the blind barrel organ player who hopes for a better world.
- Philippe Derrez as the elevator operator and speaker
- Albert Medina as the Beastmaster and high-howler
- Claude Piéplu as Mayor of the Palace
1952 English version
(Supervisor: Pierre Rouve)
- Peter Ustinov as Mr. Wonderbird
- Claire Bloom as the Shepherdess
- Denholm Elliott as the Chimney Sweep
- Max Adrian as the King
- Alec Clunes as the Blind Man
- Cecil Trouncer as the Statue
- Philip Stainton as the Policeman
- Harcourt Williams as the Old Beggar
- Joan Heal as the Kitten
- Frank Muir as the Commentator
Editions
The King and the Mockingbird has been released in various editions, in various languages. Beyond the fundamental distinction between editions based on the incomplete 1952 version and the 1980 version, the film has been dubbed in many languages, including Japanese and Dutch.
In 1957, the 1952 version of the film was released in the United States and given an English-dubbed soundtrack under the title of The Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird. Peter Ustinov narrates and provides the voice of the bird in this version. Since then, the Mr. Wonderbird version is now in the public domain and has been released as bargain video releases. Adventures of Mr. Wonderful was another name given to this version among many of its releases. Now Mr. Wonderbird is available for free online on the Internet Archive.
The 1980 version of the film was also dubbed into English, and released in the United Kingdom in 1984, in cinemas under the title The King and Mister Bird by the Institute of Contemporary Arts and on VHS under the title Mr Bird to the Rescue by Entertainment in Video.
A Japanese-subtitled DVD version, titled Ō to Tori (王と鳥), is available through Ghibli Museum Library, and went on sale 4 April 2007, following a theatrical release in Japan starting 29 July 2006.
In 2013, the 2003 digital restoration of the film was rereleased in French cinemas in the summer, this time as a Digital Cinema Package, by Sophie Dulac Distribution. It was then released on DVD in Germany on September 5 and in France in both a standard DVD edition, a Blu-ray Disc edition, and a collector's box set on October 15.
The French deluxe version Blu-ray Disc and DVD includes a collection of Grimault's shorts and a 1988 documentary of Grimault and his work, La Table tournante, ("The turning table"), filmed by Jacques Demy, together with various shorts.
It was rereleased as a DCP in cinemas in the United Kingdom on April 11, 2014 by the Independent Cinema Office, both in French with English subtitles and in the King and Mister Bird dub, and on DVD with English subtitles and this dub, for the first time in both cases, on April 28, 2014. Previously, it was not available in the English-speaking world except by import of the French, Japanese and German editions. Although the film does not contain a lot of dialogue, fan-created English subtitles for the completed 1980 edition are available at this page at Open Subtitles. Rialto Pictures released the film in select theaters in the United States and Lionsgate made it available on Amazon Prime Video and on Vudu. Nowadays, it's no longer on those two platforms, and the only way to watch it in the US is either on The Criterion Channel or by importing the UK, French, Japanese, German or other DVD release.
See also
In Spanish: Le Roi et l'Oiseau para niños
