| The Little Prince | |
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Theatrical release poster by Richard Amsel |
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| Directed by | Stanley Donen |
| Produced by | Stanley Donen |
| Written by | Antoine de Saint Exupéry (book) Alan Jay Lerner |
| Starring | Richard Kiley Steven Warner Bob Fosse Gene Wilder Donna McKechnie Joss Ackland Victor Spinetti |
| Music by | Frederick Loewe (score) Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics) |
| Cinematography | Christopher Challis |
| Editing by | Peter Boita George Hively |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 7, 1974 |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Little Prince is a 1974 American/British science fiction musical film with screenplay and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. It became one of the creative team's last collaborations—they would later reunite to write extra songs for a stage version of Gigi.
Directed and produced by Stanley Donen, the film stars Steven Warner in the title role, with Richard Kiley as the aviator. Additional cast members included Bob Fosse (who choreographed his own dance sequence), Gene Wilder, Donna McKechnie, Joss Ackland, and Victor Spinetti. The desert sequences were filmed on location in Tunisia.
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Based on the 1943 classic book of the same name by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, the fable tells the story of an aviator (Richard Kiley) forced to make an emergency landing in the Sahara Desert. There he is befriended by a young boy, the Little Prince from Asteroid B-612. In the days that follow, The Pilot hears about his past and various journeys throughout the solar system. As he travels through space, the Little Prince encounters several strange grown-ups on different planetoids, all with a skewed way of looking at life. But it is not until he finally reaches Earth, that the Little Prince learns his most important life lessons of all, mainly from The Fox (Gene Wilder), and The Snake (Bob Fosse). These lessons the Little Prince shares with The Pilot, before the Little Prince dies.
Richard Burton was actively pursued for the role of The Pilot. Burton had had a huge success, on Broadway, with Lerner & Lowe's Camelot, but had turned down the film role for Camelot (1967), as he did for The Little Prince.
This is the complete film listing:[1]
Not on a CD soundtrack"
The film was shot on location in Tunisia.
In 1973, Lerner and Loewe recorded the score at the Palm Springs Desert Museum, with Lerner on vocals and Loewe at the piano. It included "Matters of Consequence", which was cut from the film. It is one of only a few existing recordings of the duo performing together.
The film had production design by John Barry (not to be confused with composer John Barry, who later composed a failed musical-adaptation of The Little Prince for Broadway).
A soundtrack album was released by ABC Records. It is available in CD format on the Decca Records label.
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