A Fairy Tale About a Melancholic King: Margarine Magic

Is this thing worth four minutes of your life?

Honestly, yes. If you have any interest in animation history or just want to see something truly bizarre, give it a watch. If you hate old-school cel animation or get annoyed by blatant product placement, maybe skip it. But then again, it’s only four minutes long, so you don't really lose much either way.

It’s wild that this thing was just chilling in the Czech Republic all this time. You’re watching it and thinking, "This was made to sell butter-substitute?" It feels more like a fever dream than a commercial.

The colors in this are something else. That Gasparcolor process really pops in a way that feels tactile, almost like looking at a stained-glass window that decided to start moving. George Pal really knew how to make things feel alive even when they were just painted bits of celluloid.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Fairy Tale About a Melancholic King (1934) through its definitive frames.

The King looks genuinely miserable for the first minute. It’s actually kind of funny how dramatic the slump of his shoulders is. You expect a deep, Shakespearean tragedy, and then—boom—in comes the margarine to save the day. It’s the kind of blunt storytelling you just don't see anymore.

Watching this made me think about The Poverty of Riches. Both films have that weird, heavy sense of importance for stories that are actually quite small in scope. Except here, the "riches" are just a healthy breakfast spread.

Some random notes I scribbled down:

• The music is weirdly upbeat for a guy who was apparently dying of sadness.
• I spent way too long staring at the background textures.
• The transition from sad king to healthy king is so fast it’s basically a jump cut.
• It's kind of refreshing that it doesn't try to be a "masterpiece." It's just a job well done.

If you're looking for something to pair this with, maybe throw on Beau Hunks for a weird double feature of vintage charm. It’s not like they share a theme, but they both feel like they belong to a different century of filmmaking. 🧈✨

It’s not a film that's going to change your world view. But it’s a cool little reminder that even the most commercial work can have a soul if the person making it actually cares about the craft.