Music by Jiří Šust Edited by Zdenek Stehlík Editor Zdeněk Stehlík | Cinematography Pavel Hrdlička Initial release 1946 (Czechoslovakia) | |
Directed by Karel Zeman
Bořivoj Zeman Release date 1945 (1945) (Czechoslovakia)
1948 (1948) (United States) Directors Karel Zeman, Borivoj Zeman Screenplay Karel Zeman, Borivoj Zeman Awards Cannes Jury Prize - Short Film Similar The Treasure of Bird Island, Krabat – The Sorcerer, Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor, The Fabulous World of J, The Tale of John and Mary | ||
A Christmas Dream (Czech: Vánoční sen) is a 1945 Czechoslovak short film directed by the brothers Karel Zeman and Bořivoj Zeman.
Contents
A christmas dream
Plot
Under the family Christmas tree, a young girl finds she has been given a collection of new toys. Happily taking them in her arms, she tosses aside her old rag doll. That night, the girl dreams that the rag doll, abandoned on the floor, comes silently to life to entertain her. The rag doll dances across a piano and skates across a table. The new toys, also coming to life, join the antics. The rag doll, turning on an electric fan, is blown about and nearly knocks over a vase as it attempts to avoid falling off the table. The girl, getting out of bed, saves the vase and takes the doll in her arms. The girl wakes up to find her rag doll still on the floor.
Production and release
The film was Karel Zeman's first experiment in combining stop-motion animation with live-action footage, a process he continued to explore in his later feature films, beginning with Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955) and The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958). The pioneering animator Hermína Týrlová also reportedly participated in the production.
In the United States, the film was released by Universal-International in 1948. An abridgement of the American version for home projection was sold by Castle Films from 1949 through 1965. The American version replaces the wordless Czech soundtrack with new audio, including a voice for the rag doll; it also includes new footage in which Santa Claus, appearing by magic, sends the Christmas dream to the girl.
Reception
In their history of Eastern European films, Mira Liehm and Antonín J. Liehm called A Christmas Dream "a classic of its genre." Scott MacGillivray, in a review of the Castle Films version, wrote that "the Zemans' stop-motion effects are truly extraordinary." Le Parisien called the film "magical" and rated it four stars out of a possible four.
The film was screened at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix International for best short fiction film.