Introduced by Amanda Elaine Doxtator
Judith Rosenberg on Piano

Amanda Elaine Doxtator is a UC Berkeley doctoral student in Scandinavian who is writing a dissertation on Carl Th. Dreyer.

(Der Var Engang). “Tell the chamberlain he will be hanged if he does not immediately find my parrot!” rages the spoiled heroine of Dreyer's delightful fairy tale of princes and princesses, assumed identities, and magic tea kettles. In the kingdom of Illyria dwells a bored, beautiful princess with a spectacular hairdo (Dreyer even gives her a child servant whose only duty is to keep it aloft), who sends most of her suitors straight to the hangman. The Prince of Denmark, however, will not be similarly dismissed, and embarks on a wild scheme to win her heart, involving musical instruments, forest exiles, wood nymphs, and a confession of love. Unlike anything in Dreyer's filmography, Once Upon a Time is an eye-opening taste of silent cinema at its lightest and most entertaining.