Metamorphoses (film)

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Metamorphoses
Produced by	Terry Ogisu Takashi Hiro Tsugawa
Written by	Ovid Takashi
Starring	Peter Ustinov - Narrator (US Version)
Music by	Billy Goldberg Robert Randles
Distributed by	Sanrio (Japan) Sony (US)
Release date(s)	May 3, 1978 (US)
Running time	80 min.
Language	Japanese
IMDb profile

Metamorphoses (星のオルフェウス, Hoshi no Orufeusu^?, "Orpheus of the Stars") is a Japanese animated film, originally released by Sanrio in the United States on May 3, 1978. The film is a retelling of stories from Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid, set to rock music by Joan Baez, the Rolling Stones and the Pointer Sisters. In all of its five parts, the protagonists are portrayed in the form of a recurring boy and girl.

The movie was Sanrio's second animated release in the States (following their adaptation of The Mouse and His Child the previous year). Over 170 animators, all employed in Hollywood, worked on it for three years.

Metamorphoses tried to be the rock era's answer to Fantasia, but its original run was critically reviled and closed as soon as it opened: according to many of its crew, a lot of problems with the production, music and plotting were to blame.

A year later, it was reissued under a new title, Winds of Change, with seven minutes trimmed away from the first cut of 89 minutes. This time, the music was composed by Alec R. Costandinos, and narration provided by Peter Ustinov was added.

The five parts—"Actaeon", "Orpheus and Eurydice", "The House of Envy", "Perseus" and "Phaëton", in the original order—were re-arranged and slightly renamed for the new version; only the third and last parts remained unmoved. In the Winds cut, the first two were now "Perseus" and "Actaeon", and the fourth "Orpheus".

In addition, the boy was now called Wondermaker, and the girl played different characters in every segment. Greek gods Hades and Apollo were given their Roman names (Pluto and Helios respectively).