More Davenport Films: The Odder Stories

I'm impressed that Davenport adapted the fairy tales of Rapunzel, Goose Girl, and Bristlelip without apology because, frankly, they are somewhat uncomfortable fairy tales.

Rapunzel is the best known. But as Sondheim's Into the Woods points out, the prince and Rapunzel forge a relationship based on dysfunction and a departure from the norm. In Tangled, Rapunzel and Flynn get to know each other through an adventure. In comparison, the original tale gives us imprisonment, blinding, and a baby born in the wilderness. It's soap opera, plain and simple. And Sondheim's Rapunzel eventually loses her mind. 

 

Davenport's Rapunzel (Amanda Moose) doesn't go crazy but the blinding and exile are in there!

 

The talking horse gets killed in this version too.

The Goose Girl likewise purports a relationship in which class triumphs over personal knowledge. The maid (Helen Stoltzfus) replaces the princess (Allison Brody), gets to the castle, manages to convince everyone of her assumed identity and then...gets ousted. It seems unfair...right up to the point where the issue becomes one of stolen identities. Then the matter turns into something one would watch on Elementary or Law & Order.

 

Bristlelip is a Taming of the Shrew tale except, unfortunately, without the Kate-Petruchio relationship. The triumph of Shakespeare's play is that he manages to convince us that the two belong together, even if we wince at the underlying misogyny. I argue elsewhere that the individual relationship is what matters most. And I adore the Shakespeare Retold version with Shirley Henderson and Rufus Sewell. 

 

Most importantly, Kate and Petruchio know each other; they know what is on the table. Petruchio may make demands and play weird games but he doesn't pretend to be someone else. In Bristlelip, however, the taming depends on an elaborate ruse--the suitor pretends to be a poor peddler and takes his wife to a shabby hovel. I start to root for her to simply leave and go get a job...except then I realize that she has no skills to offer.

 

David Hornstein and Gary Ellis

Like all Davenport films, the stories are sold by the actor's expressions and reactions. The tales are told without editorial comment. Instead, viewers learn a great deal from the visuals; the maid's character is shown through how she sneers at others and flirts with people other than her husband-to-be. Rapunzel's curiosity is shown through the small smile she displays when she spots her "young man." 

 

And the short film Bristlelip is, in fact, very funny. The husband (Robert Carroll) has a Rhett Butler quality, as played by Clark Gable, and recognizes that "The Haughty Princess" (Veanne Cox) has enough inherent toughness, she could be a supposed peddler's wife--and will leave when she is ready. The horrible suitors are hilariously horrible. The marriage ceremony is pure camp. 

 

In the end, I believed that the couple suited each other, which is a remarkable feat for this particular tale.

 

The Davenport films cannot be praised enough!