Tales of Beatrix Potter

Mar 1, 1971

1h 30m

★ 5.6

Overview

The Royal Ballet Company brings Squirrel Nutkin, Tom Thumb, Hunca Munca, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Jeremy Fisher, Pigling Bland, and Pigwig to the screen doing pirouettes and pas de deux in this filmed ballet production directed by Reginald Mills. The film more properly belongs, however, to choreographer Frederick Ashmore, composer John Lanchbery, and costume designer Rostislav Douboujinsky. This literal adaptation concerns the shy Beatrix Potter and how, when all of the toy animals in her room come to life, she emerges from her shell and begins to enjoy life. Sequences include a rowdy dance with Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca destroying a collection of plaster food, a midnight pas de deux between Pigling Bland and Pigwig, and a corps de ballet of dancing mice.

Genres

Fantasy

Family

Music

Production Companies

GW Films

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

EMI Films

Tales of Beatrix Potter Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle

Frederick Ashton

Pigling Bland / Peter Rabbit

Alexander Grant

Mrs. Tittlemouse

Julie Wood

Johnny Townmouse

Keith Martin

Jemina Puddleduck

Ann Howard

Fox

Bob Mead

Alexander

Garry Grant

Mrs. Pettitoes / Tabitha

Sally Ashby

To speak of that ballet is very difficult because the theme is so popular as a fairy tale, adapted by Perrault from German folklore and then recuperated from the same folklore by the Grimm brothers, and what's more turned into an unforgettable film by Walt Disney. Angelin Preljocaj was thus trying to break a mould in which that character and her story had been cast seemingly for ever. And it is a success. Because first the setting, the stage direction are very interesting and rich. Rich are the costumes. Rich are the main ideas of the setting like the enormous magic mirror coming down from the sky, or like the deep underground mine turned into a vertical surface on which the seven dwarfs are dancing like dragon-flies on their strings.

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