Shooting Location at:
Water Castle of Švihov, Švihov, Czech Republic, Europe.

These contemporary photographs of the location were shot by me in August 2008, 35 years after filming.

Švihov is one of the youngest Czech castles. It was constructed at the turn of the 15th and the 16th centuries by Půta Švihovský of Rýzmberk. After Půta’s death in 1503, his sons, who invited a famous architect Benedict Ried to take part in the construction project, proceeded with the completion of the fortress. After the Švihovský family, the family of Kavka of Říčany took over the castle in 1548; already in 1598, however, their poor property management forced them into selling the castle to the family of Černín of Chudenice.

Plot:

The film stars Libuse Safrankova as the title character, a young woman who is put upon by her stepmother and stepsisters.

The film employs a twist, though, when a handsome prince comes knocking.

Cinderella does not simply fall into the prince's arms. In this version, he must actively pursue the young woman who is a skilled sharpshooter prone to wearing hunting outfits.

Cinderella also has three wishes at her disposal, gained from three magic nuts.

The balcony was mounted here by the filmcrew.


The Movie shown on Norwegian, German, Swiss, Czech and Slovak television every Christmas.

The film started in the CSSR with 400 copies. For a long time, all screenings were sold out.

The actors were both Czechs and Germans and they all spoke their native language.

In the respective editions, they were dubbed to Czech or German.

After that came the period of the Thirty Years’ War, and the Swedish troops passed by the Švihov Castle two times, leaving it unconquered.

After this war, the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand III issued an order to demolish the castle.

However, due to its permanently being put off, the demolition was luckily never carried out entirely; only part of the fortification wall was damaged. Later on, the castle was turned into a farmstead and a granary.

The Švihov Castle remained property of the Černín family up to the end of the Second World War, after which it was nationalized.

The Czechoslovak state took over the important historic landmark in a dilapidated state, and as one of the most treasured monuments, the state decided to make it open to public.

In the second half of the 20th century, extensive reconstruction work started turning the granary back into a castle.

Starting with this extensive reconstruction, smaller scale work has been continuously carried out at the castle up to the present day.

The Water Castle of Švihov remains property of the Czech Republic to this day; it is managed and operated by the National Institute for the Preservation of Historical Monuments.

Cinderella is played by Libuse Sanfrankova (I’ve omitted about seventeen accent marks so don’t even try to pronounce it) to great effect.

She lives in a quaint village snugly tucked into a wintry forest near the local castle. Her stepmother and sister, jealous of her beauty, happiness and good-nature, try to saddle her with a life of drudgery.

Libuse Sanfrankova’s lead performance is one of the reasons the film works. Though twenty at the time, she looks no more than fifteen in the film. She possesses all the innocence, enthusiasm and ethics that a good fairy tale heroine needs, but demonstrates a competence in horsemanship, archery and climbing that modernize her into a girl-power emblem.

Inside the castle.

Tree wishes or "Tri orisky pro Popelku" ( "Three hazelnuts for Cinderella) is one of the best Czech fairy tailes ever made. Even after more then 30 years it doesn't lose any of it's magic. It is one of the movies that you can watch over and over. Many European Tv stations include it as a must in it's Christmas line up.

Libuse safrankova who portraits Cinderella is one of the Finest Czech actors .

She had played in other spectacular czech fairy tailes such as "Treti Princ" ( Third Prince)and "Princ a Vecernice" (Prince and EveningStar). She also played in Academy awarded "Kolya" (1996).

Beautiful view outside of the castle.


LOCATION OF THE CASTLE:

The Water Castle of Švihov is situated in the Pilsen Region at the principal railway and highway route from Pilsen to Železná Ruda via Klatovy, and you cannot miss the castle whether you are travelling by car or by train.

Parking is available at the plaza of the Town of Švihov, approximately 100 m away from the castle.

The walking distance from the train station to the castle is approximately 20 minutes.

OF INTEREST:

Our best preserved water castle.

Shooting location for many films and fairy tales. The one known the most must be the fairy tale movie Tři oříšky pro Popelku (Three Wishes for Cinderella) with the actors Pavel Trávníček and Libuše Šafránková, where the castle acted as Cinderella’s, her stepmother’s and her stepsister’s home.

Among other famous movies we may name for example the film Šašek a královna (The Jester and the Queen), the telefilm Král posledních dnů (The King of the Last Days), or the recent fairy tale movie Tři životy (Three Lives).

The main entrance of the castle.


Director Václav Vorlíček is quite liberal with Perrault’s original telling, giving Cinderella far more agency.

At one point, the prince tells her that he shall make her his bride.

She responds by chiding him for not asking her how she feels about it and then playfully rejecting him despite his pleas.

It’s nice to see the subtle feminist touches, especially compared to today’s gauche Hollywood appropriations like “Shrek,” where any positive message comes watered down with crudities and pop-culture references.

Shooting Location at:
Moritzburg, Castle Moritzburg, Saxony, Germany, Europe.

These contemporary photographs of the location were shot by me in August 2008, 35 years after filming.


A surprising place where “Three Wishes for Cinderella” succeeds is in the immaculate cinematography, not usually of much interest in family fare. The whole thing is lens in a glittery soft-focus that makes the light seem to hang in the air.

The snow-covered, unspoiled woodlands (somewhere in the Bohemian Forest) is put to good use filtering in the dappled sunlight and reflecting it ambiently off the snow-covered hillocks.

Schloss Moritzburg is a Baroque German castle in the small town of Moritzburg in the German state of Saxony.

It is located close to the city of Dresden.

It was built from 1542 - 1546 as a hunting lodge for Duke Moritz of Saxony.

The chapel was added between 1661 and 1671 after designs by Wolf Caspar von Klengels and is a fine example of the early Baroque style.

Between 1723 and 1733, the castle was remodelled as a pleasure seat with formal park for Augustus II the Strong, elector of Saxony and king of Poland by the architects Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann and Longeloune.

The film looks a little low-budget and dated from a modern perspective, but the lack of CG, shine and crispness give it a homely, earthy charm.

The sets are not highly dressed, but the richness of texture from the wood grains, muddy slush and festive costumes makes the suspension of disbelief a pleasurable task.

This story of Cinderella even though has same story line as many other versions made all over the world it includes elements not seen in other versions which made it one of the all time favorite.

It will make a great family favorite for generations to come just as it has for the past 31 years

The famous stairway at Moritzbug!


The displays of many areas within the castle are dedicated to the courtly art of formal hunting. The collection of red deer antlers is considered to be the largest in the world.

In the Monströsensaal ("Monstrosity Room") are 39 morbidly contorted antlers, one of them the famous 66-point antler.

The Elector's apartments contain wonderful examples of lacquer and splendid parade furniture, the silver furniture made in Augsburg in emulation of Louis XIV's silver furniture at Versailles, and Chinese, Japanese and Meissen porcelain as well as fine engraved and inlaid hunting weapons.

In the Stone Hall one can visit the antlers collection, in the Billiardsaal (billiards hall) a painting of Louis de Silvestre, and in the entrance hall a collection of Galakut. The castle is also famous for its sandstone decorations and stuccos.

For an extra information, the German version ("Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel") has been digitally remastered. Not the yellow box version, but the one which presents Cinderella and the Prince on the cover, with a blue label: "DIGITAL überarbeitete FASSUNG" (digitally remastered). The entire movie has been cleaned of all its scratches, the colour enhanced, thus recovering its original aspect of the 1974 release. The audio has not been forgotten as it now offers a new digital AC3 (2 channels) quality. Available also on Amazon, but from Germany. That means: for zone 2 (or region free) players only.

I will dearly recommend everyone to see this movie, wether you're old or young, man or woman, this is a great movie!!!

The Main entrance at the castle.


The shell-pink Fasanenschlösslein ("little pheasant castle") in the park stands at the end of a cross axis to the main axial entrance route leading to the main castle on its formal island in the lake.

It stands high and cubical, five bays wide on each face, under a high roof with an ogee profile that is capped by an open cupola that has a pair of Chinese figures under a parasol for a finial.

On its garden side, paired staircases descend to a sunken parterre, now planted with turf.

The design was commissioned from Johann Daniel Schade (1730-1798) who had been the architect in charge of the royal building projects, and was completed about 1776.

An old pavilion by Knösswel was completely rebuilt on its foundations.

Its outbuildings, concealed behind plantings to give the pavilion an isolated air, were bird breeding pens, where pheasants were raised to be shot at.

Closed for some time for renovation, the Fasanenschloss was expected to reopen in 2007 as a museum showing court life.

" Just bring me the first thing that will fall on your nose. "

Popelka played by Libuse Safránková