Once Upon a Time (1976 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Once Upon a Time
The original one-sheet poster
Directed by	Rolf Kauka
Produced by	Rolf Kauka
Music by	Peter Thomas
Release date(s)	1976
Running time	83 min.
Country	Germany
Language	English
IMDb profile

Once Upon a Time is the English title of the 1976 animated musical film Mario d'Oro und Bello Blue directed by Rolf Kauka. Other titles used for the film include Der Zauberstein (The Garnet Stone) and Cinderella's Wonderland. The film was originally released in German, but has been dubbed in various other languages, including English.

It tells the Cinderella like story of Maria, a girl whose widower father marries an evil old lady. One day Maria encounters her country's prince. He may be her savior, but her evil new stepsister stands in her way.

The English-dubbed version of the film was released on DVD on November 7, 2006.

[edit] Plot

A girl named Mary-Lou and her old mother arrive in town. The mother pretends to be a street fortune-teller. She goes house by house and people pay her a copper penny or two to read their fortunes. However, the protagonist Maria's father, Mr. Bottle, pays her a gold coin. The old mother therefore realises he's rich and tells him that she sees many horrible things in his future (such as disease and even death). She then tells him he can only avoid it by getting remarried...as quickly as possible! Mary-Lou offers herself and Mr. Bottle happily agrees. However, her mother pushes her away from who she calls her "future stepfather". The mother proceeds to immdiatelly put wedding rings around both Mr. Bottle's and her own fingers. In no time, Mr. Bottle finds himself married to her.

The rest of the story revolves around the kind and beautiful Maria, who is tormented and bullied by her stepmother and even more so by her new stepsister, Mary-Lou. With her father being bullied himself by his new wife, Maria's only friend is her dog Bello Blue. One day Maria by chance encounters her country's prince in the woods. He falls for her and gives her a garnet stone as a keepsake.

Unfortunately for Maria, the jealous Mary-Lou steals the garnet stone and drops it into a well. Mary-Lou soon realizes her mistake when the prince proclaims to the kingdom that he will marry the woman who has the special garnet stone. Mary-Lou promptly wants the garnet for herself. In order to do so, she pretends to change her ways by offering help for Maria in entering the well. However, both girls end up falling inside and realize the well leads into a magical kingdom beneath the water. Once there, they are told a certain Mrs. Holle has possession of the garnet. The girls decide to travel into this realm, where they each try their best to find Mrs. Holle and get the garnet stone back from her.