Summary
Based on a folk tale, later retold by children’s author Božena Němcová, and then adapted for the theatre by K. M. Walló. In 1959, the story also found its way to the big screen courtesy of director Martin Frič – and would go on to become one of the most beloved of all the Czechoslovak film fairytales. The title heroine, played by Marie Kyselková, is a bold young woman, who rejects marriage to King Kazisvět (“World wrecker”). Instead, she flees from the castle of her timid father. Princess Lada masks both her beauty and the gold star on her forehead by wearing a hood made of shabby mouse fur, and finds a job as a cook at the palace of a neighbouring monarch – the wise Prince Radovan (played by singer and occasional actor Josef Zíma). Ultimately, the prince finds his true love in the form of this wayward kitchen helper. The power-hungry Kazisvět is played by Martin Růžek, and in line with the ideology of the times, he portrays a prototypical German usurper-occupier, who is ultimately cast out of Lada’s land by ordinary folk.
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