Once Upon a Time

Carl Th. Dreyer, 1922, 75 min
FRAGMENT | The Princess of Illyria has spurned every suitor, when a gypsy loitering around the castle catches her eye. In actuality, he is the Prince of Denmark, there with his friend Kasper Røghat. The prince captivates her with magic devices, a noisemaker and a copper kettle, in return for kisses and a night in her bedchamber. When Kasper Røghat tells the king about the “affair,” the princess is thrown out of the castle, forcing her to settle in Denmark with the prince and work as a poor potter. Will the fairytale have a happy ending?

The missing parts of the film have been reconstructed by the means of photographs and intertitles.

English intertitles. Music: Neil Brand.