Three Wishes for Cinderella (Tři oříšky pro Popelku) is one of Czech cinema’s best-loved pohadky, or "fairy tales".
Director Václav Vorlíček and blacklisted screenwriter František Pavlíček (credited under a pseudonym) tone down the story’s supernatural elements and accentuate the realism; this Popelka (brilliantly played by Libuše Šafránková) lives with her stepmother and stepsister in a grubby, muddy village, the residents clad in muted greys and browns. Popelka isn’t a passive Disney princess: she’s feisty and resourceful, quick to answer her bullying stepmother and stepsister back.
As such, she’s a superb female role model, a smart working-class heroine who’s more than capable of looking after herself and scoring points over her social superiors. Popelka’s goodness is apparent in the way that she treats animals (dogs, doves, horses and owls play prominent roles), and in how she treats the servants in her household, one of whom brings her three enchanted hazelnuts as a gift. Dismissed by her boorish, greedy stepmother (Carola Braunbock) as “fit for a squirrel”, each nut contains the answer to a wish. A natty hunting outfit magically appears, allowing Popelka to sneak out into the forest in disguise. Here she has her first encounter with Pavel Trávníček’s moody teenage prince, miffed at being told by his parents that he needs to grow up and find a wife.
The royal family’s essential otherness is signalled by their sartorial style, costume designer Theodor Pištěk (who later received an Oscar for his work on Miloš Forman’s Amadeus) dressing them in vibrant primary colours. German actor Rolf Hoppe gives us a rather likeable King; you suspect that he secretly admires his heir’s waywardness. Stepsister Dora (Daniela Hlaváčová) is desperate to catch the Prince’s eye at a palace ball but can’t compete with her vivacious younger sibling, a second nut giving her the means to enter the castle.
Vorlíček is terrific at crowd scenes, the camera panning across muddy village streets or eyeing up party guests. Ignore the doves which help Popelka with seemingly impossible cleaning tasks and a mysterious owl, and this is an affecting tale of an unfairly mistreated child succeeding against the odds. It’s frequently very witty, as when Popelka enters the palace, heads turning as she strides towards the ballroom, and Karel Svoboda’s catchy score is full of earworms. Listen out for the discordant squelch when the Prince learns that he’s to be married.
Three Wishes for Cinderella was a Czech/East German co-production, cast, crew and locations drawn from both countries, the film released in two dubbed versions. Cinematographer Josef Illík makes a snowy Bohemia look like a Bruegel painting, and this 4K restoration from the Czech National Film Archive looks splendid. Bonus features are enticing, especially a brief 1937 animated retelling of the Cinderella story doubling as an advertisement for a Prague shoe shop. Michael Brooke’s appreciation piece is well worth a look, stressing the popularity of pohadky in Czech film history and explaining how Three Wishes became a Christmas viewing tradition across mainland Europe. It’s especially popular in Norway, so much so that the National Library of Norway helped fund the film’s restoration. There’s even a 2021 Norwegian remake, though a cursory glance online at the trailer suggest that it can’t hold a candle to the original version.
