Son of the White Mare

Original title: Fehérlófia

1981
Unrated
1h 26m

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

3.1K

YOUR RATING

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Adult Animation Adventure Animation Fantasy

In this dreamlike Hungarian folk myth, a horse goddess gives birth to three powerful brothers who set out into the Underworld to save three princesses from three evil dragons and reclaim the... Read allIn this dreamlike Hungarian folk myth, a horse goddess gives birth to three powerful brothers who set out into the Underworld to save three princesses from three evil dragons and reclaim their ancestors' lost kingdom.In this dreamlike Hungarian folk myth, a horse goddess gives birth to three powerful brothers who set out into the Underworld to save three princesses from three evil dragons and reclaim their ancestors' lost kingdom.

Director
- Marcell Jankovics
Writers
- László György
- Marcell Jankovics
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

3.1K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Marcell Jankovics
Writers
- László György
- Marcell Jankovics
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Fanyüvö
(voice)
…

Vera Pap

Gyula Szabó

Ferenc Szalma

Griffmadár úr
(voice)

Mari Szemes

Fehérló
(voice)
…

Szabolcs Tóth

Háromfejü sárkány
(voice)
(as Dr. Szabolcs Tóth)
…

Ottó Ulmann

Fiatal Fanyüvö
(voice)
(uncredited)

Director
- Marcell Jankovics
Writers
- László György
- Marcell Jankovics
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The movie caught the attention of American animation historian Charles Solomon, who convinced Disney to hire director Marcell Jankovics for their proposed animated musical epic "Kingdom of the Sun". Due to numerous production hurdles this project was abandoned, and the comedy The Emperor's New Groove (2000) was made instead. Though he was not involved with the finished work, Jankovics still received a production credit. He claims he absolutely hated the film because it had nothing to do with the original idea of a serious mythological epic, calling it a "horrendous, Las Vegas-style comedy show". He accepted the offer to work on the project mainly to fund his own film, The Tragedy of Man (2011), though he claimed to have made a couple friends at Disney and stole some of their colored pencils when no one was looking.

Goofs
The official English subtitles mistranslate one of the dragons' lines. When the White Mare gets pregnant with her third son, the dragons threaten the giant snake holding the Mare prisoner by saying "If you cannot deal with this, her third son, your life will be over." The subtitles have the dragons threaten the Mare instead of the snake, saying "You cannot provide milk for a third son, and so your life ends here." The translator probably misheard the outdated phrase "ha te evvel" (if you with this) as "a tejeddel" (with your milk).

Crazy credits
Before the credits begin scrolling, a looped animation of Treeshaker walking amidst a smoggy, polluted cityscape is played accompanied by eerie "technological" noises play. As he walks, the smog slowly engulfs him until he is gone. According to the director, this short segment is the most important part of the movie because it encapsulates his core messages. Treeshaker is a traditional hero of old and the city around him references the 12-headed city dragon that he had fought in the film. The scene means that the destructive urbanization and pollution of modernity causes humans to forget about their values. The stars on the sky remind us of the old traditions but the rising buildings and smog make them vanish from view. In the end, although Treeshaker defeated the dragons, the darkness represented by the dragons might win out.

Alternate versions
The film's Hungarian and Russian home video releases were incorrectly color-graded. The 1983 Soviet VHS release was entirely green toned, while the 2005 Hungarian DVD (the most commonly watched version prior to the 2019 remaster) had an overly high saturation and was tinted pink and blue, muddying the reds and yellows. Neither of these accurately represented the film's original colors and both got entirely rid of grays, which can be best seen on the originally gray Three-Headed Dragon. The 2019 4K high-def remaster by Arbelos Films and the Hungarian Filmlab finally restored the film's original colors and revealed finer shading details that have been previously hidden by incorrect color-grading.

Connections
Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Weirdest Animated Movies (2019)

User reviews13

Review

Featured review

10/10

Experimental, full-feature, pop-art/folk-art fairy-tale. Yet, a mainstream title at its home!:)

Alright! We're talking about high-quality movie-making here! Its experimental way is the films strongest feature. Or its keenness about traditionalism? Its up to you, to decide which pars you like better: the funky, vibrant colors, and wacky-trippy movement, or the heavy use of traditional, middle-European folk ornaments?

The white mare give gives birth to a son once again, who grows to be strong enough, to defeat the evil ones, who keep the three beautiful princess' as captives... and even, to find his long lost, and just as powerful brothers on his journey.

The plot for this one has been mixed together, from folktales all around the globe (but mostly, they're from middle-Europe, and eastern, nomad tribes), which makes the story familiar for almost everyone, from everywhere. It reaches back into our most ancient collective memories, and bring up something, that might even be forgotten.

The new-age look of some aspects of this movie, and the respect for folk traditions, surprisingly makes a totally coherent, and unbelievably powerful whole. Which makes it Marcell Jankovics's best directional work ever. This film earned his righteous place, amongst the "world's best fifty animated-films ever", at Los Angeles' animation Olympic.

Anyone, who likes animation, experimental film-making, or just GOOD MOVIES, simply must see this one. No exceptions!