A Movie Fit For A Prince…or Not
Anyone who has taken a French class or two in high school is bound to have read Le Petit Prince or The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. For those who aren’t familiar with the book, The Little Prince is a whimsical novella about growing up and navigating the adult world from a child’s perspective. Saint-Exupéry was a poet, journalist, and an expat from France. He came to America to become a pilot and served in World War II until his plane crashed in 1944. He published a number of writings, but he is most remembered for The Little Prince.
In 1974, the live action film adaptation of the book premiered. Directed by Stanley Donen, Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince was turned into a Hollywood musical. At the time, Donen was a prominent figure in the movie industry. He debuted on Broadway when he was seventeen years old and his acquaintance with stars like Gene Kelley helped him launch his directing career in the 1950s. He made musicals such as Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) American film classics. Unfortunately, The Little Prince didn’t meet the expectations that Donen set, even with film legends such as Gene Wilder and Bob Fosse.
Gene Wilder is no stranger to playing weird and whimsical roles. Known for his iconic appearances in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein, and Blazing Saddles, Wilder established himself as a versatile and talented actor. In The Little Prince, he was cast as the Fox that the Little Prince learns to tame. Sly and sage, the Fox is an integral, but minor, character to the story and Wilder just seems too tall and awkward to play the part. He consistently speaks calmly and carefully throughout the scene and has this look in his eyes that borders the look of insanity in some regards. Also, seeing a grown man sitting in the middle of a wheat field or chasing a little boy around the forest seems out of place given that his character is supposed to be a literal fox.
Another animal character that was represented by a human was the Snake, who was played by Bob Fosse. While the film interchangeably used an actual reptile and Fosse, it was a strange choice to do so and it seemed as if the snake had shape-shifting powers since Fosse adopted the walk and talk of a snake. Although, I guess a real snake would not be able to pull off the six minute musical number that had Fosse climbing up and sliding down random sand dunes and showing off moves that would later inspire none other than Michael Jackson himself.
Not only was the acting disjointed and weird, but so was the way the movie was filmed. For example, there are random scenes that were shot with a fish-eye lens that didn’t quite translate; was it to enhance the scene somehow or add to the whimsical theme of the movie? I will never know. The film likes to toy with the viewers perspective a lot and has scenes that magnify the subject or use an Ames room effect among other techniques. Also, the animation at the time was still in its early stages so the coexistence of real actors holding on to an animated string with animated birds flying away looked kind of ridiculous.
Overall, while I loved the book and had high expectations for the movie, the fact that it was a cliché musical made the film seems too far drawn out and distracted from the overarching themes in the book about love, life, and death. The acting was also simply atrocious, staged, and downright cringe-y. Nonetheless, “Snake in the Grass” is my favorite scene from the whole movie because what’s better than watching a grown man in a fedora flail around the dessert and sing? Probably anything else.
