''Legend of the White Horse'' (original title: ''Biały smok'') is a 1987 Polish-American

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

children's film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are ...

directed by

Jerzy Domaradzki Jerzy Domaradzki (born 6 January 1943, in Lwów, occupied Poland) is a Polish-born film director based in Australia. He is most closely associated with Poland's film industry. Following his 1974 graduation from the National Film School in ...

and

Janusz Morgenstern Janusz "Kuba" Morgenstern (16 November 1922 – 6 September 2011) was a Polish film director and producer. Janusz Morgenstern was born in 1922 to a Jewish family in the town of Mikulińce, Poland (now Mykulyntsi, Ukraine), to Dawid Morgenstern ...

, based on the magic realism novel '' White Horse, Dark Dragon'' by Robert C. Fleet, who also wrote the screenplay. It was produced by Alina Szpak for

CBS Theatrical Films CBS Theatrical Films, also as CBS Theatrical Films Group, was the film production branch of the U.S. television network, CBS, which was active from 1979 to 1985. CBS was also a partner in TriStar Pictures, which started as a joint venture with Col ...

, Legend Productions & Film Polski. The film is also a

political satire Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where Political discourse analysis, political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing ...

. It was released on July 13, 1987. It was re-released in 2017 by Legend 44 Productions as ''White Horse, Dark Dragon''; Legend 44 Productions is the successor to Legend Productions, the American co-producer and copyright holder of the feature.

Plot

The action takes place in a fictional

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

an country, Karistan, where the beautiful Alta lives with her young blind daughter Jewel. Jewel has a friend in the form of an enigmatic white horse. Soon they meet an American visitor named Jim Martin, who has been sent to Karistan to prove that a new investment is not going to harm the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

in Karistan.

Cast

Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the ''Back to the Future'' tril ...

... Jim Martin * Stephan Szpak-Fleet (as aka Stephan aka Stephan Fleet) ... Steve Martin *

Dee Wallace Deanna Wallace (née Bowers; born December 14, 1948), also known as Dee Wallace Stone, is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Mary Taylor, the mother in the 1982 blockbuster film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''. She is ...

... Alta *

Allison Balson Allison Balson is an American actress who is also a published singer and songwriter. Her best-known role was that of Nancy Oleson on the ''Little House on the Prairie'' series which she held between 1981 and 1983. Biography Balson portrayed ...

... Jewel * Soon-Tek Oh ... Tai Ching *

Kazimierz Kaczor Kazimierz Julian Kaczor (born February 9, 1941) is a Polish actor and television presenter. He has made over 40 appearances in film and television. He starred in the 1986-1987 television series ''Zmiennicy'' but is well known for hosting the Poli ...

... The Superintendent * Christopher Stone ... Doc * Archie Lee Simpson ... Silver *

Luke Askew Francis Luke Askew (March 26, 1932 – March 29, 2012) was an American actor. He appeared in many westerns, and had a lead role in the spaghetti Western ''Night of the Serpent'' (''La notte dei serpenti''; 1969). He also had a small part in the ...

... Frank Brown * Zbigniew Lesien ... Peter * Stanislaw Wolski ... Johann * Zdzislaw Sosnierz ... Georgi *

Andrzej Blumenfeld Andrzej Stanisław Blumenfeld (12 August 1951 in Zabrze – 14 August 2017 in Warsaw) was a Polish film, television, and voice actor who worked for SDI Media Polska. Filmography *'' The Young Magician'' (1987) - Teacher *''Legend of the White H ...

... Bartan * Ryszard Radwanski * Andrzej Szopa * Agata Piszczorowicz * Ann Carol Vanex * Robert C. Fleet * Andrzej Krakowski * Janina Januszkiewicz ... Stewardess

Background

The novel ''White Horse, Dark Dragon'' is described by ''The Science Fiction Chronicle'' as "an interesting juxtaposition of fantasy and modern politics", and has become something of a cult due to its dry political humor satirizing late-era Communism and U.S. corporate boardrooms - mixed with action, historical romance and nuanced characters. The movie takes a simpler tack, perhaps reflective of Hollywood mind-think: good guys vs. bad guys. It was a decision that makes for an uneasy blend of target marketing vs. reality, since the result was a movie that at least one reviewer, Michael Medved, thought was "too intense for children." As ''Biały smok'' (''White Dragon''), it was the second highest grossing theatrical feature in Poland when it was released in 1987. It was renamed "Legend of the white horse" by CBS in the U.S., but the CBS Theatrical Films division was closed down in late 1986 and the feature languished in tax write-off obscurity until it was released to video by CBS/Fox Video a few years later. The book was held up for publication for contractual reasons, but finally published by Putnam/Berkley/Ace in 1993. It was re-released in digital and print versions in 2012 by Red Frog Publishing.

History of the production

Polish-born U.S. producer Alina Szpak, using her recently completed family feature, ''Brothers of the Wilderness,'' as an entrée to return to Poland, and with the aim of helping to ease the thaw of Cold War relations as the country was just coming out of martial law, in 1984 she and her husband/partner Robert Fleet approached the country's official film agency,

Film Polski Film Polski (also Przedsiębiorstwo Państwowe Film Polski) was the state-run film production and distribution organization of Poland, founded in 1945. History On November 13, 1945, the postwar communist government decreed the formation of Polsk ...

and, in co-operation with Film Unit Perspektywa (Zespoł Perspectywa) developed the first U.S.-Poland feature film co-production (''not'' services-for-hire), producing ''White Dragon'' (aka ''Biały Smok'' aka ''Legend of the White Horse'' aka ''White Horse, Dark Dragon'') for her own company, Legend Productions under the aegis White Dragon Productions, Inc. The fantasy-adventure feature, valued at a 1985 budget of US$11 million and starring American and Polish actors (

, Soon-Tek Oh,

), was purchased in pre-production by CBS Theatrical Productions. Released in 1987 in Poland, it was the #2 grossing theatrical film of the year, after ''E.T''. In the U.S., although ''White Dragon'' had already been pre-sold to 100 international markets during production in 1985-86, a corporate takeover of CBS by

Laurence Tisch Laurence Alan Tisch (March 5, 1923 – November 15, 2003) was an American businessman, investor and billionaire. He was the CEO of CBS television network from 1986 to 1995. With his brother Bob Tisch, he was part owner of Loews Corporation. ...

resulted in the entire feature film division being closed; the feature was subsequently renamed ''Legend of the White Horse'' and sold via Fox Video; due to a settlement with CBS, it is currently under digital distribution by Legend 44 as ''White Horse, Dark Dragon''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Legend of the White Horse 1987 films 1980s children's adventure films Films based on American novels Polish-language films Films set in Europe Films set in a fictional country Polish children's films 1980s English-language films