We are not big The Little Prince people. I'm sure we have a copy of the book around somewhere, in French, but we haven't read it to the kid. And I guess I read it myself at some point, though I can't really recall.
What I certainly don't remember, at least without several years of hypnotic recovered memory therapy, is ever seeing the1974 movie musical adaptation of The Little Prince. Written and composed by Lerner and Loewe [My Fair Lady, Camelot, Brigadoon] And directed by Stanley Donen [Charade, Funny Face, Singing In The Freakin' Rain!] Starring Bob Fosse as The Snake. Ho. Ly. Smokes, people! What the hell was going on in the 1970s??
And why not just throw in a version of Fosse re-edited and mashed up with the guy who stole all his moves, Michael Jackson, singing "Billie Jean"? [via maud newton]
Whoa! I remember this! Read the book afterwards, many times, but this was my first Little Prince experience - I even faintly remember the song "a snake in the grass".
I loved the Little Prince as a kid, & saw this when it first came out (which would've made me thirteen) & I remember thinking it was a very weird movie. I don't think I'd change my mind in hindsight.
I have a slightly different (and I think more satisfying) memory of the animated version of the Little Prince. Without getting into the bizarre series of events that lead up to this point, on one episode of the animated "The Tick" TV show, the eponymous superhero leads the planet-devouring Omnipotus (kind of like Marvel's Galacticus) past the Little Prince's world on a trip through space. Omnipotus spies the planet, licks his lips and nosily chomps down the planet, all while the Little Prince impotently swears at him.
As I said, a MUCH more satisfying tale than being whapped over one's head with "Les essentiels sont invisibles" over and over again.
All I'd remembered from that film was the Little Prince's coat. Man, I wanted one of those.
I remember seeing this movie (probably when I was about 6 or so) and being terrified. I have ever after found The Little Prince to be menacing.