I watched this last night and enjoyed it very much, I am not very familiar with this era of European animation (not for lack of interest, it just evaded me so far) but something about this film seemed so familiar to me, I was racking my brain trying to remember if I had somehow seen it and forgotten. Eventually it came to me that while I hadn’t seen it, I HAD seen, as a child, the James Earl Jones-hosted PBS show
Long Ago and Far Away, which featured a different animated story each week. At the time I had no concept of this, but these animated stories weren’t made for the show, instead they were imported from elsewhere (one episode I recall vividly was
The Talking Parcel starring Freddie Jones) and at least two of the episodes were “Hungarian Folk Tales,” little shorts, many of which were directed by Marcell Jankovics!
I’ve found the
original episode of the show on YouTube and an entire
Hungarian Folk Tales YouTube Channel.. Doubtless many here are already familiar with these, but I think they’re wonderful and, in these days when PBS is being targeted, thought it was a great reminder of its potential, since it introduced me to Marcell Jankovics at 6 years old, even if I didn’t realize it for decades!
I’d also love any more information anyone might have about all this, I know there are some experts around here.
