Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I had seen this Lerner & Loewe adaptation back when it was first released in 1974 (as a pre-adolescent elementary schooler ). I think it was either a Thanksgiving or Christmas release. The only thing from this film I recalled from that initial theatrical viewing was a song-and-dance sequence involving a therianthropic transfiguration of a snake into a man. That dance sequence by a certain man was all I recalled from this film. Years later when learning about the performing arts industry in general (both stage and screen), I realized it was Broadway icon Bob Fosse(!)...The greatest Broadway dancer & choreographer of all time...Surpassing Jack Cole and Jerome Robbins as a choreographer and even surpassing Fred Astaire & Gene Kelly as a dancer. Fosse was the only dancer who went toe-to-toe with and matched Tommy Rall (arguably the greatest modern stage dancer ever): The 'Alley Dance' from the 1955 film My Sister Eileen between Fosse and Rall is the evidence. But the thing that is absolutely mind-blowing about The Little Prince (1974) is how Bob Fosse's dance sequence in the musical number Snake In The Grass virtually defined Michael Jackson's post- 1982 performing career(!) Michael Jackson's signature dance moves for the most successful period of his performing life (1982-1997) were a direct plagiarism of Bob Fosse's Snake In The Grass sequence. This sequence has all of Michael Jackson's hallmark dance moves. And it is all genuine FOSSE(!). That this film contains the blueprint of Michael Jackson's performing career as an adult is why it is invaluable and A MUST SEE(!)

Count Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's novella entitled Le Petit Prince was adapted into a fantasy-musical screenplay that resulted into a film that stars Steven Warner together with Richard Kiley,Bob Fosse,Gene Wilder,Donna McKechnie and Joss Ackland entitled The Little Prince.This film directed by Stanley Donen tells the story of a French aviator whose airplane crashes in the middle of the Sahara deserts and gets in contact with a young prince who comes from another planet.The Little Prince tells the aviator about his perception and impressions of Earth as well as the other planets he has visited.No question that this film is a cute adaptation of the novella.The music maybe campy especially this being a movie more than 40 years ago but the performances are good.Warner as the Little Prince will definitely provide enjoyment and entertainment.Added to that,adults will get the benefit of enjoying it more than children despite the latter being its target audience.

Every French has a warm spot in his heart for Saint-Ex' young endearing hero(people here really call the writer like that) ,one of the most popular characters of our literature ;it is reportedly all-time French best-seller over the world,and the famous sentence "L'ESSENTIEL EST INVISIBLE POUR LES YEUX" is often quoted everywhere.It's a hard task to transfer it to the screen ;and doing so as a musical ,with syrupy songs and interminable dances (notably that with the snake) was certainly not a smart idea.The first ditty "it's a hat" is thoroughly unbearable ..I do think that Donen's take on "Le Petit Prince " is a partial failure ;the book's sometimes unfathomable poetry is almost completely lost .Only Steven Warner shines in his part and his innocence and his spontaneity make wonders and partly saves the movie .People who are fluent in French should try the CD with the marvelous Gerard Philipe as the aviator and Georges Poujouly ("Jeux Interdits " as " Le Petit Prince" .)Instead of the heavy-handed glib and meaningless prologue,why not the lines about the Sunset ?"-let's go and see a Sunset!-but,we have to wait for the sun to go down!"hence the unforgivable absence of the lamplighter whose only pleasure in life is sleeping.

A noble attempt to film French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's cult children's book "Le Petit Prince" as a musical; while it doesn't quite work overall, there are splendid scenes. An aviator crash-lands his plane in the Sahara desert, where he is visited by a Cockney child in royal garb who claims to be from a tiny planet in the galaxy. This Little Prince, in search of knowledge, in turn teaches the pilot, who has been robbed of his imagination. Director Stanley Donen is careful not to get too heavy with the pedagogical moments of insight, and he's aided by Christopher Challis' brilliant cinematography and a rich set design, but the song score (by Alan Jay Lerner, who also scripted, and Frederick Loewe) slows the pacing down. The editing is lax as well, allowing sequences such as the Prince's encounter with the Fox, played by Gene Wilder, to go on and on; a montage in a desert oasis (and the journey there by foot) is also interminable. The 'touching' sentiments in the film's final stages are forced, muffling the emotional impact, while the appealing look of the picture is never allowed to give the narrative its wings. This fantasy is grounded, quite literally. ** from ****