In Germany, the Saxon castle Moritzburg inevitably belongs to the film fairy tale Three Nuts for Cinderella by director Václav Vorlíček, which commemorates 50 years since its premiere. The baroque mansion in which the prince lived, played by Pavel Trávníček, is now closed, as preparations for the regular winter exhibition about the creation of the popular film are at its peak.
However, this does not prevent tourists from visiting, because in addition to a walk in the beautiful surroundings, they can look for the slipper on the castle steps, which Cinderella, played by Libuša Šafránková, lost here while running away from the ball.
“I haven’t been here for 12 years,” said Karin Jahnová, whom her husband photographed on the stairs next to the slipper. “When we still lived in Dresden, we often went here. We came to reminisce,” she remarked. The fact that the castle is now closed did not bother Jahn. “It’s a beautiful autumn day,” she added.
While the Jahns from Frankfurt am Main enjoyed a walk in the quiet park, behind the walls of the castle, the staff of the local museum were busy preparing the exhibition, which will open to visitors on November 22 and last until February 25. The organization is led by curator Margitta Henselová, who has been working on the exhibition since the summer.
“While others are going on summer vacation, I’m already starting to think about the winter film and Christmas. It’s a lot of work, just like other exhibitions. We have to make contracts, ask for exhibits, contract costumes and props from the film studio in Potsdam. Part we also have to rebuild the space into a fairy-tale castle,” Henselová explained what the preparation of the Cinderella exhibition entails.
The exhibition takes place every year in Moritzburg, where, as well as in the Czech water castle Švihov, the fairy tale was filmed, but the interest in the tour certainly does not decrease. “Last year, 120,000 people came to Cinderella,” said Steffi Schuchová, who is in charge of visitor and media services at the Saxon state castles.
A Christmas staple even in Germany
She noted that many tourists come to see Cinderella from the Czech Republic, where, just like in Germany, the movie fairy tale is a Christmas staple. It is not known how many Czechs come to Moritzburg. “We don’t keep track of where the tourists come from, but in any case there are a lot of them,” she said. “If I said 10,000, it would not be enough, maybe a quarter of them,” added Henselová.
“They are very well informed. They know exactly what they want to see,” said one of the museum workers, who was preparing the castle for the opening, about the Czech tourists. Otherwise, according to her, the Czechs do not deviate from the visitor ranks in any way. Henselová stated that many Czechs associate a visit to Moritzburg with the Christmas markets in Dresden and that even school classes regularly visit the castle.
Advent is the time when crowds of people head to Moritzburg. However, not everyone can get to the castle, because it is not an exception, especially on weekends, that tickets for the whole day are already sold out in the morning. “However, we offer the possibility to buy tickets in advance via the Internet,” said Schuchová. It is not even necessary to print such a ticket, it is enough to show it on your mobile phone.
Interest starts already in the summer
The castle started pre-sale of tickets from November 1. “Many people have already secured their tickets. We have a huge number of phone calls and e-mails in which people ask us about tickets every day,” said Schuchová. She noted that interest in Cinderella starts already in the summer. For those who want to buy a ticket only at the castle ticket office in Moritzburg, Schuchová recommends a visit during the working week in the afternoon. “A good time is from two in the afternoon,” she said.
Visitors to the exhibition can find detailed information about the film, filming, music or dubbing. Original costumes and props are the pride of Moritzburg. Henselová personally considers original objects and the remarkable history behind the film to be the highlight of the exhibition. “One learns what the director, make-up artists, cameramen, actors and everyone else have to do to create a piece of film. And then also the tricks that are done digitally today. Back then templates were used, models were built. Many people today he doesn’t know what kind of equipment the film was shot with at the time,” she said.
People can easily spend several hours at the exhibition if they read the filming diaries. These are digitally processed and detail each of the 40 shooting days. Czechs don’t have to worry about German, because the exhibition is bilingual, just like the film, which was a Czechoslovak-East German co-production. The fact that the exhibition is also very well prepared for Czech visitors is evidenced by the posters in front of the castle, which are in Czech and German.
The “stepmother” understood the Czechs well
Various interesting facts about the film are also sought after by visitors. For example, the shot of the pigeons taking the peas for Cinderella is backwards in the film, so as not to show that the birds are actually picking up the pea balls. Visitors will also learn that the German actress Carola Braunbocková playing the stepmother knew Czech because she was born in Czechoslovakia and had to leave for Germany after the Second World War. Braunbock surprised the crew with her Czech, which Vorlíček did not know, on the last day of filming. The director was then worried whether the Czechoslovak crew treated her politely and whether the make-up artists did not gossip about her.
Libuše Šafránková in Three Nuts for Cinderella. | Photo: ČTK / imago stock&people / imago stock&people
Schuchová and Henselová agree that, despite its age, the film still works very well today. “The film is very topical. Cinderella is a young and emancipated woman who believes in herself,” said Schuchová about why the film is still extremely popular not only in the Czech Republic and Germany, but also in Norway, for example. Henselová pointed out the great scenes in the magical landscape as well as the wit, joy and humanity, which she identified as Vorlíček’s art. “People still like the movie after 50 years. It can be seen in how many people go to the castle for the movie,” she said.
Henselová considers film music to be another key to success. It plays as a sound backdrop at the exhibition. “We’ve been listening to movie music here at the castle every day for several months. Most of us don’t mind because it’s nice music,” she said. He won’t miss the fairy tale itself, which German television will broadcast in roughly 20 reruns at Christmas. “I will definitely be watching again this year,” she added.
Along with the regular exhibition about Cinderella, Moritzburg has decided to repeat the exhibition about the life of Libuša Šafránková, who died in 2021. On Saturday, November 25, film prince Pavel Trávníček will come to the castle, who will organize an author’s reading to his acting memoir Three Nuts for a Prince. Commentary will also be held regularly walks castle park, which are focused on the creation of the film.
You can see how it looked in Moritzburg during last season in the gallery.
2023-11-15 14:04:10
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