Three Wishes for Cinderella

This 1973 Czech-East German co-production was the first of three classically interpreted fairytales filmed by Czech director Václav Vorlíček (1930–2019). Three Wishes for Cinderella (in Czech, Tři oříšky pro Popelku) immediately became an enduring Christmas classic in many European countries. Although Vorlíček specialized in making children’s films, viewers have described Three Wishes as unique in having appeal across all age groups.

According to a website about Czech cinema, considerable credit for the film’s popularity deserves to go to screenwriter František Pavlíček, who had to “hide behind” a colleague’s name in the film credits due to having run afoul of the communist regime. His screenplay “ensured the protagonists were enhanced with more complex motives and more attractive pastimes and predilections.” Cinderella, for example, knows how to ride a horse, shoot a crossbow, and hunt—and delights viewers by hitting the prince with a snowball at their first encounter. (A number of U.S. viewers have commented that American adaptations of the Cinderella tale are, in contrast, “lame and pathetic.”)

The film is also translated in English as Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella due to the heroine’s possession of three magic hazelnuts, which crack open to become the three forms of attire she needs at different moments: a hunter’s suit, a ballgown, and . . . a wedding dress.

Note: Three Wishes for Cinderella is available at some streaming services. You can also try viewing this version (in Czech with English subtitles).