The Blue Bird is a 1976 American-Soviet children's fantasy film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay by Hugh Whitemore, Alfred Hayes, and Aleksei Kapler is based on the 1908 play L'Oiseau bleu by Maurice Maeterlinck. It was the fifth screen adaptation of the play, following two silent films, the studio's 1940 version starring Shirley Temple, and a 1970 animated feature. It was famous as one of the few cinematic co-productions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. However unlike prior adaptations the film received little-to-no critical praise and was a flop at the box office.
Plot
Mytyl and her brother Tyltyl are peasant children who are led on a quest for the Blue Bird of Happiness by the Queen of Light, who gives them a hat with a magic diamond that allows them to call forth the souls of all things, both living and inanimate.
On their journey, they are accompanied by the human personifications of a dog, a cat, water, sugar, bread, milk, and fire. They visit the kingdoms of the past and future and the queendoms of night and luxury, at each place absorbing more wisdom. Eventually they discover that the blue bird which they have been seeking, has been in their own backyard all along.
Cast
Elizabeth Taylor as Queen of Light/Mother/Witch/Maternal Love
Jane Fonda as Night
Ava Gardner as Luxury
Cicely Tyson as Tylette, the Cat
Robert Morley as Father Time
Leonid Nevedomsky as Father
Harry Andrews as The Oak
Todd Lookinland as Tyltyl
Patsy Kensit as Mytyl
Will Geer as Grandfather
Mona Washbourne as Grandmother
George Cole as Tylo, the Dog
Richard Pearson as Bread
Georgy Vitsin as Sugar
Margarita Terekhova as Milk
Valentina Ganibalova as Water
Yevgeny Shcherbakov as Fire
Nadezhda Pavlova as The Blue Bird
Grant Bardsley as Little Blue Brother
Oleg Popov as Clown
Production
Edward Lewis optioned the film rights to The Blue Bird in 1968 and worked with Tower International to try to secure a co-production with the Soviet Union through a cultural exchange program in the United Kingdom. In 1974, Lewis reached an agreement with Lenfilm to create an international co-production co-written by Alfred Hayes and Aleksei Kapler. Lewis initially hired Arthur Penn to direct, but Soviet authorities deemed him "too liberal" and as a compromise George Cukor was hired as a "non-political" American director. Lewis convinced the Soviet studios to co-produce the film with the promise that Marlon Brando would be cast in a role, but this never materialized. Katharine Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine initially were signed to star, but both dropped out of the production before shooting began. Taylor approached David Bowie to star in the film but he turned it down.
The film was shot on location in Moscow and Leningrad. At times, both work and living conditions bordered on the primitive, and the non-Russian cast found it difficult to cope with the severe weather and mostly inedible food. James Coco, originally cast as Tylo, could digest only bread and butter and eventually suffered a gall bladder attack that necessitated his being replaced, and Elizabeth Taylor dealt with amoebic dysentery throughout filming. After viewing her appearance in the first week's dailies Taylor flew to London and demanded that the director of cinematography Jonas Gricius, a Soviet Lithuanian cinematographer who was inexperienced in shooting with color film, be replaced. All of Taylor's scenes were reshot in post-production. Gricius became a member of the second unit crew while Freddie Young became the cinematographer. Communication between the English and Russian-speaking crews was nearly impossible, and George Cukor frequently resorted to sign language in a feeble effort to make himself understood. According to Cukor, Jane Fonda "was grim when she arrived but soon relaxed." He encountered more difficulties with Cicely Tyson, whom he accused of trying to jinx the production by casting voodoo spells on the set. When these issues caused the production to be delayed by a month, 20th Century Fox replaced Lewis with Paul Maslansky, who had experiences filming in the Soviet Union from The Red Tent and spoke Russian, as producer. Principal photography took place from January 20 to August 11, 1975. Taylor spent $8,000 buying additional costumes for her roles.
Critical reception
The film premiered at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., on May 5, 1976.