“I know an old garden where the grass is silky. She has a gateway to the five wests and I think she’s…” are the words of the first song from the film, which took advantage of the popularity of Helena Vondráčková (75), Václav Neckár (79) and other stars and premiered on June 7, 1968. It still evokes laughter, enthusiasm and emotion in the audience. The Insanely Sad Princess was filmed by director Bořivoj Zeman (†79), an expert in fairy tales who also created The Proud Princess (1952) or the story Once Upon a King (1954).
Thanks to the fairy tale, Helena Vondráčková shone in the film for the first time and consolidated her status as a star. | Etiquette film, NFA
The story of Princess Helena and Prince Václav, descendants of Kings Dobromysl (Bohuš Záhorský, †74) and Jindřich (Jaroslav Marvan, †72), who don’t want each other for a while and then fall in love, became a hit rightfully so. The only 17-year-old musician Jan Hammer (75) was largely responsible for this when he composed the music for the songs from the film – A tear falls from my face, I love and paint and others. “However, I only got my first real recording contract in 1974 in America,” said the author, thanks to whom we still like to take notes after more than half a century: “Let’s make a mess, let’s make a mess, the usual and the unusual…”
Play one of the film’s memorable songs:
King’s death and clothes for Kemr
From the beginning, the film was accompanied by many interesting things, but also sadness when Rudolf Deyl Jr. died. (†55), originally cast in the role of King Dobromysl. Everything had to be reshot, he remained in a single shot from a distance in the courtyard of the castle, where the suitors of the princess had arrived. Among the unique items is the black dress of Helena, i.e. Iks’ mentor (Josef Kemr, †72). He did not wear Vondráčková’s costume, one by one the seamstresses sewed his own, which are still a rarity in the Barrandov Studio fund.
You know that… – …did the film editors overwork? For example, when Neckář is standing on a branch above a lake, the shot is from Bojnice, Slovakia. He fell into the water in the Czech Blatná, but got out of the water again in Bojnice.