Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Maria d'Oro und Bello Blue" or "Maria d'oro" or "Once Upon a Time" or "Der Zauberstein" is a West German movie from 1973, so this one is already very old, will have its 45th anniversary next year. The title already suggests that it is an Italian co-production as well, but the main language is of course German. The voice acting cast does not really include any names that sound familiar to me I must admit, even for a huge German film buff like myself with the exception of Tilly Lauenstein who I have come across in other projects I think. Animated films from Germany are still a rarity these days and certainly things weren't looking much different back half a century ago. This is probably also true globally as the Golden Age of Animation ended a while ago and the material just wasn't there anymore, neither in terms of quantity nor quality. This film here does not break the streak. It is the only effort as writer and director by Rolf Kauka and for a rookie effort, it is really not that bad, but honestly the good moments were mostly thanks to the quality fairy tales this film is based. That is also why it is not really a convincingly creative achievement in my opinion. Also I am not big on the animation style, which only looked in its very best moments a bit like the Asterix films. The perception of this component is entirely subjective though. The voice acting was still one of the better aspects I guess, but also not on a superb level. I cannot say I am sad Kauka's filmmaking career turned out this short. Instead I am glad this movie turned out pretty short. Not a failure, but an underwhelming watch. I give it a thumbs-down.
Magdalena
This movie was such a bit part of my childhood. I saw it for the first time when I was 4 or 5, when I didn't quite understand English. Fortunatley there were Swedish subtitles! Watched it on a recorded VHS at least once a day for several years and was devastated when our VHS-player broke down. LUCKILY I recently found it to have been released on DVD so I bought two copies via Amazon. One for me and one for my sis, cause I know she loves this movie as much as I do.It's kind of a Cinderella tale. A girl, Maria, lives with her widowed father. He re-marries and get's a nasty bonus daughter. Maria receives a present from the prince and he wants to marry her. the nasty step daughter does everything in her power to stop that from happening and to marry the prince herself.
jnmarkley-1
Hi. I am absolutely in love with this movie. It was a huge part of my childhood, and I spent most of my time growing up watching it. I probably still have it all memorized! We'll make it snow! We'll make it snow! I have been desperately seeking a copy for over 5 years. Until recently I haven't been able to find anything on it. Unfortunately I don't understand enough German even to go through the Amazon German site to purchase the copy that they have. I was hoping that someone could make a copy of theirs and let me purchase it. I am planning to have a child soon, and I would love for this movie to be a part of his childhood too.
Inga-5
I last saw this movie on video when I was no older than 6. That was 13 years ago, but I still remember much of it very clearly. I hope I can see it again soon, it will bring back a lot of memories. I'm sure it was not the most well-made movie-at 6 I was pretty easy to please-but at least it was fun.
AD
