Rabbit Ears: The Emperor and the Nightingale
- Video
- 1987
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Soars like the most beautiful of nightingales
'The Emperor and the Nightingale' is a lovely story, if not one of my favourites. Other Hans Christian Andersen stories have connected with me more, 'The Ugly Duckling' (Rabbit Ears Productions also adapted that story beautifully, and their other adaptations of Andersen's stories) for example is very relatable. While 'The Emperor and the Nightingale's' story is quite slight it is charming and quite moving in the latter stages.
As said, Rabbit Ears Productions adapted more than one Andersen story and all that were adapted were done so wonderfully. My personal favourite being 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier'. 'The Emperor and the Nightingale' is beautifully and faithfully adapted, not being too wordy, very easy to follow and with exceptionally high quality and emotional impact. Not one of my all time favourites of the company's series of family literature adaptations, most being excellent, but it is still another winner.
While everything works brilliantly, there are two things especially that stand out. One is the music. Mark Isham was no stranger to scoring for the Rabbit Ears Productions adaptations and his scores for 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' and 'Thumbelina' are particularly wonderful. His music for 'The Emperor and the Nightingale' is another winner, not only is it beautiful to listen to and has an understated beauty but its authentic flavour is quite inspired.
The other standout is Glenn Close's narration. It is very soothing, warmly inviting and very like a mother reading a bedtime story to her child or children. Have gotten that vibe for almost all the adaptations of the series and it is my feeling that the storybook narration approach is exactly how these stories should be narrated.
Can't fault the visuals. They are simple but very colourful and elegant, especially the wonderfully exotic backgrounds and the drawing for the nightingale. A great job is done making Andersen's beautiful prose an easy and comprehensive listen, while staying faithful without being overly so, and the story is always engaging with the ending being quite moving.
Overall, beautiful adaptation and actually the best adaptation seen of this story. 10/10
As said, Rabbit Ears Productions adapted more than one Andersen story and all that were adapted were done so wonderfully. My personal favourite being 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier'. 'The Emperor and the Nightingale' is beautifully and faithfully adapted, not being too wordy, very easy to follow and with exceptionally high quality and emotional impact. Not one of my all time favourites of the company's series of family literature adaptations, most being excellent, but it is still another winner.
While everything works brilliantly, there are two things especially that stand out. One is the music. Mark Isham was no stranger to scoring for the Rabbit Ears Productions adaptations and his scores for 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' and 'Thumbelina' are particularly wonderful. His music for 'The Emperor and the Nightingale' is another winner, not only is it beautiful to listen to and has an understated beauty but its authentic flavour is quite inspired.
The other standout is Glenn Close's narration. It is very soothing, warmly inviting and very like a mother reading a bedtime story to her child or children. Have gotten that vibe for almost all the adaptations of the series and it is my feeling that the storybook narration approach is exactly how these stories should be narrated.
Can't fault the visuals. They are simple but very colourful and elegant, especially the wonderfully exotic backgrounds and the drawing for the nightingale. A great job is done making Andersen's beautiful prose an easy and comprehensive listen, while staying faithful without being overly so, and the story is always engaging with the ending being quite moving.
Overall, beautiful adaptation and actually the best adaptation seen of this story. 10/10
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Jan 22, 2021
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