The Little Prince (film)

This article is about the film musical. For the novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, see The Little Prince. For other uses, see Little Prince.

The Little Prince
Theatrical release poster by Richard Amsel
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.

Plot

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.

Cast

• Richard Kiley as The Pilot
• Steven Warner as The Little Prince
• Bob Fosse as The Snake
• Gene Wilder as The Fox
• Donna McKechnie as The Rose
• Joss Ackland as The King
• Graham Crowden as The General
• Victor Spinetti as The Historian
• Clive Revill as The Businessman

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.

Musical numbers

This is the complete film listing:

1. "I Need Air" - The Pilot
2. "Be Happy" - The Rose
3. "I'm on Your Side" - The Pilot
4. "You're a Child" - The King, The Little Prince, and The Businessman
5. "Little Prince" - The Pilot
6. "I Never Met a Rose" - The Pilot
7. "Why is the Desert" - The Pilot and The Little Prince
8. "Snake in the Grass" - The Snake
9. "Closer and Closer and Closer" - The Fox and The Little Prince
10. "Finale - The Little Prince" - Chorus

Not on a CD soundtrack"

1. "It's a Hat" - Chorus

Production

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).

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album was released by ABC Records. It is available in CD format on the Decca Records label.

See also

• List of The Little Prince adaptations, a listing of The Little Prince story adapted into various media.
• The Little Prince (play), a theatrical adaptation
• The Little Prince (opera), an opera in two acts by Rachel Portman to an English libretto by Nicholas Wright
• The Adventures of The Little Prince (TV series), an animé series
• The Little Prince and the Aviator, a 1981 musical theatre adaptation
• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry category listing of articles

External links

• The Little Prince at the Internet Movie Database
• The Little Prince at AllRovi
• Lerner & Loewe recording