''Stories from a Flying Trunk'' is a 1979 film based on three stories by
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fai ...
John Brabourne
John Ulick Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, (9 November 1924 – 23 September 2005), professionally known as John Brabourne, was a British peer, television producer and Oscar-nominated film producer. Married to the elder daughter of 1st Earl ...
Frederick Ashton
Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue.
Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositio ...
. The film stars
Murray Melvin
Murray Melvin (10 August 1932 – 14 April 2023) was an English actor. A member of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop company, he originated the part of Geoffrey in Shelagh Delaney's play '' A Taste of Honey'', reprising the role in Tony Richa ...
as H. C. Andersen, and
Ann Firbank
Ann Firbank (born 9 January 1933) is a British actress. One of Firbank's more notable roles is her 1971 portrayal of Anne Elliot in the serial ''Persuasion'', an adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name.
Career
Firbank starred as An ...
,
John Tordoff
John Tordoff (born 1938) is a retired English actor, a founding member of The Actors Company and an artist.
Theatre
At the age of eighteen, Tordoff won the Viscountess Northcliffe Scholarship to RADA, graduating in 1957. This was followed by s ...
, John Dalby, Patricia Napier and dancers of the
Royal Ballet
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...
.
The stories the film is based on are ''The Kitchen'', in which household objects come to life, ''
The Little Match Girl
"The Little Match Girl" (, meaning "The little girl with the matchsticks") is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story, about a dying child's dreams and hope, was first published in 1845. It has been ...
'', which updates Andersen's tale to the East End of London in the late 1970s, and '' Little Ida'', with dance featuring members of the
Royal Ballet
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...
.
Production
''Stories from a Flying Trunk'' was made as three short films when Edzard and Goodwin moved into two disused warehouses in Rotherhithe and equipped them with a small film studio. Dramatised in the "same expressive vein as '' Tales of Beatrix Potter'' (1971), for which Edzard was a co-writer of the screenplay as well as the production and costume designer, the film is an example of the "flourishing of British fantasy cinema" which was supported by EMI Films in the mid- to late-1970s.
It was the second collaboration between Goodwin and Edzard, who is known for her meticulous filmmaking, often based on Victorian English sources, following their entry into film in 1971 with the screenplay of ''
The Tales of Beatrix Potter
''The Tales of Beatrix Potter'' (US title: ''Peter Rabbit and Tales of Beatrix Potter'') is a 1971 ballet film based on the children's stories of English author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. The film was directed by Reginald Mills, choreograph ...
''. Their other productions include '' The Nightingale'' (1981), '' Biddy'' (1983), ''
Little Dorrit
''Little Dorrit'' is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, originally published in Serial (literature), serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea pris ...
As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wil ...
'' (1991), ''
Amahl and the Night Visitors
''Amahl and the Night Visitors'' is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer.Menotti, Gian-Carlo: ''Amahl and the Night Visitors (piano-vocal score)'', G. Schirmer, Inc., 1997. It was commiss ...
An ''AllMovie.com'' reviewer described the film's ''Little Match Girl'' as suffering "an impecunious existence in London's East End", and in the ''Little Ida'' story, in which "a love of dancing is embodied in the performances of the two dancers from the Royal Ballet", "dancers take on the roles of garden variety vegetables in undoubtedly one of their more unusually costumed performances."
Karen Woodham wrote, in ''Blazing Minds'', that the movie "captures the charm" of Hans Christian Anderson's stories with a "spellbinding blend of choreography, stop-motion and live action".
Writing for ''Blueprint Review'', Loki Dawson thought that, although the film is "random" and sometimes "disjointed", it is enjoyable to watch and a "wonderful amalgamation of both live action and stop motion".