Desideria e L'Anello Del Drago
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| Desideria e L'Anello Del Drago | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Lamberto Bava |
| Produced by | Lamberto Bava Andrea Piazzesi |
| Written by | Gianni Romoli |
| Starring | Anna Falchi Franco Nero |
| Music by | Amedeo Minghi |
| Cinematography | Romano Albani |
| Editing by | Piero Bozza |
| Release date(s) | 1994 |
| Running time | 186 min |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
| IMDb profile | |
Desideria e L'Anello Del Drago (also known as Desideria and The Dragon Ring) is an Italian fantasy mini-series directed by Lamberto Bava and starring Anna Falchi. The story is similar in style and direction as Lamberto Bava's more successful Fantaghiro series.
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[edit] Plot
Desideria is the eldest daughter of the Dragon King and Queen, rulers of a powerful conquering kingdom. Selvaggia is the magical adopted daughter of the Dragon King and Queen, and although she is constantly playing tricks to get her elder sister in trouble, she is frequently praised as being the smarter and better daughter.
As the eldest birth daughter of the Dragon King, Desideria is due to inherit the Dragon Ring, the highest symbol of power in the kingdom, but she can only do so once she has chosen a husband. Unfortunately, the prince that finally catches her attention is Prince Victor, a rebel prince who has fought against her father and is to be sentenced to death for his treachery.
Desideria helps Victor escape from the castle prisons, but her father catches her in the act and she is punished. The Dragon King decides to let all the princes in his conquered kingdoms fight in a tournament for her hand in marriage, but when Desideria sees that all the princes are selfish, cruel men, she runs away. When the Dragon King discovers that she has fled, he declares that Desideria has forfeited her right to the throne and Selvaggia will become the new prize. But unknown to him, the jealous Selvaggia wants to beat her elder sister completely.
Desideria eventually ends up in the desert, where she is saved from the Witches of the Sand by none other than Prince Victor himself. She learns from him and other rebels in his camp that her beloved father is actually a cruel and vicious ruler. Just as she agrees to fight at Victor's side, Selvaggia casts a spell from the castle, causing Victor to fall in love with her and rush to join the tournament to win Selvaggia's hand.
[edit] Cast
- Anna Falchi as Desideria
- Franco Nero as Dragon King
- Sophie von Kessel as Princess Selvaggia (Wild in English-dubbed version)
- Joel Beeson as Prince Victor
- Billie Zöckler as Nurse
- Ute Christensen as Dragon Queen
- Karel Roden as Prince Lisandro
- Stefania Sandrelli as The Fairy of Crystal Sword Lake
- Marek Vasut as King Karl
- Oldrich Bartik as Old Man
- Nikol Stíbrová as Princess Desideria at age 5
- Zuzana Rybárová as Princess Desideria at age 10
- Katarina Litomericka as Princess Selvaggia at age 8
- Jan Kolinsky as Prince Victor at age 6
- Vladimir 'Furdo' Furdik as Prince Sigismondo
- Stanislav Satko as Prince Merlik
- Lubomir Misak as Prince Parsel
[edit] Similarity to the Fantaghiro movies
| Desideria e L'Anello Del Drago | Fantaghiro |
|---|---|
| Victor falls in love with Desideria without ever seeing her face. He can only recognise her by her voice. | Romualdo falls in love with Fantaghiro without properly seeing her face. He can only recognise her by her eyes. |
| The wicked Selvaggia casts a spell to make Victor fall in love with her, so to hurt Desideria. | The wicked Black Witch casts a spell to make Romualdo fall in love with her, so to hurt Fantaghiro. |
| Desideria dresses up as a man to fight in a tournament. | Fantaghiro dresses up as man to fight in a duel. |
