The Smurfs And The Magic Flute
From Smurfology
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Movie Name: The Smurfs And The Magic Flute |
"The Smurfs And The Magic Flute" was an animated feature film that was first released in Europe in 1976 and later in America in 1983, when it was dubbed into English. Because it was developed by a production company other than Hanna-Barbera and it doesn't tie in with any of the stories featured in the Smurfs cartoon show, it is considered a "non-canonical" Smurf story.
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Summary
The story starts with a jousting tournament that The King is holding, which includes his champion, Sir Johan, besting himself against the Black Knight. Though the Black Knight is fearsome, Sir Johan easily dismounts him, giving his friend the court jester and would-be minstrel Peewit something to celebrate. As he finds the mandolin that The King hid in the place that he hopes Peewit would not find, he begins his song of friendship, which slowly drives people away, and which somehow causes a storm to break out over the castle. Sir Johan bravely sees Peewit safely back home and says goodnight as the two of them go to sleep.
The next morning, a traveling merchant pays The King a visit, hoping to sell something to his intended customer Peewit. As The King and Sir Johan find out, the merchant is selling various and strange musical instruments, which he demonstrates much to the chagrin of The King and Sir Johan. Although they both couldn't permit the merchant to sell any of his wares (basically to keep Peewit from acquiring any instrument due to his rather off-key playing) and eventually send him off, the merchant accidentally leaves behind a small flute, which The King and Sir Johan keep out of Peewit's sight when they find it before Peewit did. The King attempts to burn the flute in the fireplace, but it ends up producing deadly green smoke that fills his bedchamber that requires many hands to put out the fire.
Peewit ends up finding the flute The King tried to destroy, discovering that it has six holes in it. After cleaning it out, he tries playing it to a passerby. While he was somehow able to play a beautiful tune from the flute, it also causes the passerby to uncontrollably dance. Peewit at first thinks it was a joke, but when he tries the flute on another passerby, she also dances uncontrollably. He then realizes that the flute is truly magic. Soon he starts playing the flute all throughout the castle, and anyone who was in earshot of its tune began to dance uncontrollably -- even a troop of soldiers who meticulously march around the castle. He eventually shows The King and Sir Johan the flute's power when Peewit tries it out on them. However, when Peewit again plays it before a group of soldiers that he had used it on before, the soldiers eventually pass out from the extended playing. Sir Johan begins to realize that the flute could be rather dangerous and tries to get it out of Peewit's hands, but he refuses to give it up.
Meanwhile, a passing thief named Matthew McCreep, who overhears what the flute could do from the passing merchant who lost it, decides to track it down to where it was lost. Befriending the young court jester, Matthew McCreep pretends to show interest in hearing Peewit play the magic flute, but immediately after hearing it tricks Peewit into letting him play a tune from the magic flute, leaving Peewit unconscious and tied up while he flees and begins using the magic flute to rob the townsfolk. An enraged Peewit runs throughout the castle with an ax, hoping to get his hands on Matthew, when he runs into The King and Sir Johan, telling them what happened. Realizing how dangerous the flute is, The King sends Sir Johan and Peewit to go after Matthew McCreep. For days they go searching after Matthew, asking various people they run into if they have seen a man with a flute, but they all haven't seen him -- until they come across a man in the road who had just seen him and had been robbed. The two ride off until they find him with his cart full of stolen property, ready to get their hands on him, until Matthew uses the flute on them, rendering them unconscious while he escapes.
Realizing that the flute is indeed magic, Sir Johan and Peewit seek after their friend Homnibus to see if there is any way to remove its power. Homnibus says the only ones who know about the flute are the Smurfs, and there is no known way to find their village except through a technique called "hypno-kinesis", which would enable people to travel without actually leaving where they were. Sir Johan and Peewit allow Homnibus to put them to sleep and to use "hypno-kinesis" to transport them as close to the Smurf Village as he could. Soon, waking up in the Smurf forest, they encounter a single Smurf who leads them straight to their village where they meet its leader Papa Smurf, who then introduces the two humans to the rest of the Smurfs, explaining how each of them are like their names.
While Papa Smurf tells them there is no way they could remove the magic from the flute, he does offer them the solution of making another flute -- a task that requires cutting down a giant oak tree to get to the heart of the tree for the wood needed to make another flute. While this takes two days, with Sir Johan and Peewit patiently waiting and enduring the antics of the various Smurfs, plus Peewit's failed attempt to speak in Smurf, they succeed in getting the second flute completed. As the Smurfs celebrate their accomplishment with a party, Papa Smurf is about to give the two humans the second flute when Homnibus pulls them back too soon and is unable to send them back to the village, suffering a headache that puts him to sleep. Meanwhile, Matthew meets his old friend Earl Flatbroke and offers him part of the stolen valuables in exchange for help in gathering up an army to start a war and to take over The King's kingdom.
Fortunately, the Smurfs find Homnibus' hovel and deliver the second flute straight to Sir Johan and Peewit, who then ride off to the port city of Terminac. However, by this time, Matthew McCreep has gone over to the island off the port of Terminac in order to raise up an army for his friend Earl Flatbroke. Sir Johan tricks Earl Flatbroke into going over to that island by writing a letter that supposedly came from Matthew McCreep's hand, following him on board a ship with he and Peewit disguised as sailors and some of the Smurfs secretly stowing away. Upon reaching the island, Earl Flatbroke meets up with Matthew and shows him the letter that he supposedly wrote, which raises up their suspicions. As they head back to the dock, Sir Johan and Peewit meet up with both Matthew McCreep and Earl Flatbroke. Peewit and Matthew break out with their flutes and started playing tunes toward each other, hoping that either of them would get exhausted, causing whoever listened to their tunes to dance uncontrollably. Eventually, the both of them became deadlocked in a musical duel, and getting exhausted, Peewit and Matthew stop playing in order to catch their breaths, giving Peewit the opportunity to knock Matthew unconscious with a short burst from his flute.
With both flutes now in his possession, as well as Matthew McCreep and Earl Flatbroke bound and ready to be turned over to the law, Peewit was thinking of keeping both flutes when Sir Johan tells him that they should both be returned to the Smurfs so that they won't cause anymore trouble. This inspires Peewit to carve out a fake flute which he intends to hand over to the Smurfs as one of the real flutes. Upon returning to the kingdom, Sir Johan and Peewit hand over the two flutes to the Smurfs, who then take them back to their village. But then, behind everyone's back, Peewit begins to play a flute which he thought was a real flute...only to realize to his dismay (and everyone else's curiosity and relief) that it was the fake one that he carved out.
Songs Featured In The Movie
NOTE: These are NOT per se the actual titles to the songs.
- "Movie Intro Theme"
- "Peewit's Song Of Friendship"
- "Magic Flute Song" (instrumental)
- "Just Like Their Names"
- "We're The Smurfs"
- "Peewit Wants A Smurf"
- "Dueling Magic Flutes" (instrumental)
- "Movie Intro Theme (Reprise)"
Quotes
"Once upon a time... wait a minute! This isn't just another once upon a time story. This story doesn't follow the book at all. It all began in a kingdom a long time ago in the middle ages. By decree of the good king, the kingdom was having a great celebration."
- - The Narrator at the beginning of the movie
"Wait! This is wine!" [Drinks it] "It's good wine." [Hiccups]
- - Peewit as he was handed a jug to put out the fire producing green smoke in The King's bedroom
"I'll cut him up! The scoundrel! The thief! Where are you hiding you sneak? You filthy robber! Think you can make me dance? I'll teach you to dance! I'll give you dance lessons!" [Chops a stool in half] "Half price! Ohhhhhhh!"
- - Peewit as he angrily seeks after Matthew McCreep with an axe in his hand after McCreep has stolen the flute
"Those other smurfs are all a hundred years old and they think they are all grown up now."
"A hundred?"
"Well then how old are you?"
"On my last birthday, I turned 542."
"Oh boy! You sure don't look it!"
- - Papa Smurf, Sir Johan, and Peewit
"I don't act like my name!"
- - Grouchy, when Papa Smurf references him in "Just Like Their Names"
"To speak in Smurf most properly,
The verb and noun should both agree;
If you learn the perfect clamor,
You can speak and never stammer.
Adjectives are necessary;
They can make the meaning vary.
Punctuation is the key..."
[Gets bonked in the head]
"He's quieter now, we will agree."
- - Brainy and Grouchy as they sing their parts to "Peewit Wants A Smurf"
"Just smurf me and I'll smurf you to the village"
"What did he say?"
"I think he wants us to follow him"
- - A Smurf, Peewit, and Johan
"I'm so sick!"
"Peewit, be brave. You'll soon feel better."
"Hopefully you weren't foolish enough to eat bad food. Like strawberries with onions and tuna."
- - Peewit, Papa Smurf, and Brainy on board the sailing ship.
Background Information
- This animated movie is based on the original comic book story by the same name, which at the time of its creation had a very primitive appearance of the Smurfs, since this would be their first introduction. Like all Smurf stories Peyo had created up until "The Smurfette" and "Romeo And Smurfette" and eventually up into the 1980s, this movie and the story it was based on did not feature Smurfette
- Though none of the voice actors from the cartoon show did any of the voices for this movie, soundalike versions of Frank Welker's Hefty and Bill Callaway's Clumsy do appear on other Smurf characters featured in it.
- In syndicated televised versions of the movie, the Smurfs' party sequence, which originally took place after the completion of the flute and just before Sir Johan and Peewit return back to Homnibus, was shifted to the beginning of the movie, right after the jousting tournament and Peewit's song of friendship, with some narration added.
- The character of Sir Johan is referred to as "Sir John" throughout the entire movie. In some English versions of the movie, Peewit is referred to as "William", though in most others he is called "Pee-Wee" in deference to the cartoon show.
- Jokey Smurf does not appear anywhere in the movie, despite promotional literature and advertisements that say otherwise. Also, the Greedy Smurf that appears in the movie is based on the original comic book version instead of the cartoon show version that wears a chef's hat (which is actually an analog of the original comic book's Baker Smurf character), and is named Sweety. Finally, despite what is illustrated in the movie poster, all the young Smurfs are rather identical in appearance with each other.
- Peyo, the creator of the Smurfs, oversaw the production of this movie in its original non-English version at Brussels' Belvision Studios in 1975.
- It was not until the success of Hanna-Barbera's Smurfs cartoon that The Smurfs And The Magic Flute began to gain widespread attention: in the early 1980s, Stuart R. Ross, head of First Performance Pictures Corporation, acquired the American rights to the film for US $1,000,000. In doing so, he sold those rights to Tribune Entertainment (television), Vestron Video (VHS), and Atlantic Releasing (theatrical).
- The music score was written by Michel Legrand, then an Oscar winner for Summer of '42 and the original Thomas Crown Affair.
- This movie grossed over US $11 million out of a maximum 432 venues, the highest on record for a non-Disney production until The Care Bears Movie in 1985.
Video Releases
- Vestron Video released the film on VHS in America in the 1980s, while Goodtimes Entertainment re-released it in the 1990s
- Televista did a limited release of the film on DVD in 2008, with Papa Smurf's voice re-recorded by a different voice actor.
External Links
- The Smurfs And The Magic Flute at Wikipedia.com