The Princess
and the Magic Frog

(aka AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW)
(1965, U.S.) color 80 minutes
Fantasy Films Inc. / Don Gundrey Productions
Screenplay: Harold Vaughn Taylor
Cinematography: Don Gundrey
Music: Billy Allen, Dave Roberts
Produced by Austin Green
Directed by Austin Green

With: David Bailey (Matthew O'Brien), G. Edward Brett (Wicked Wizard), Nancy De Carl (Gypsy Girl/Princess Cecelia), Frank Delfino (Leprechaun), Clive Halliday (Sir Humpty Dumpty), Richard Reeves (Genie), Ernest Vaio (Timothy Ryan), Lindsay Workman (Prof. Antonio)

***

Plot Outline: Two kids play hooky from school and find a girl princess, a magic frog, a leprechaun, magic coins, talking trees, puppet people, an evil wizard, and eventually, a magic rainbow.

***

SYNOPSIS: On St. Patrick's Day, Matthew O'Brien, a young boy, plays hooky from school by fishing at a nearby pond. He doesn't catch any fish, but takes a little frog with him. On his way home, he gets lost in the woods, and stumbles upon a leprechaun, whose beard is caught in a log.

Matthew agrees to free the little man in exchange for his bag of golden magic coins. The leprechaun reluctantly agrees. Matthew tries the coins, but they don't seem to work. The leprechaun explains that the magic coins will only work in service of others.

Matthew walks on, and encounters a strange sign post. Matthew tosses one of the magic coins, and the signpost suddenly comes to life and talks! It apologizes to Matthew for not being able to help the boy with his predicament.

Matthew walks into a forest of talking trees. The oldest tree tells Matthew to use a magic coin on his frog, to turn it back into the knight which he formerly was. The frog does, indeed, turn into a bumbling knight in shining armor, Sir Humphrey. The knight tells Matthew of the terrible wizard, and how he was turned into the frog. He then gathers a picnic basket of food for Matthew, from a "picnic basket bush!"

As Matthew eats, Sir Humphrey tells the sad story of how he was turned into a frog after trying to rescue the good Princess Cecilia from the evil Wizard. Just as he finishes the story, the Wizard materializes out of a puff of smoke! The wizard casts a spell, makes Matthew and Sir Humphrey disappear, and turns day into night!

Next, Matthew and Sir Humphrey are thrust onto the sand in a scorching desert. They land net to a man who introduces himself as the genie of "Aladdin's Lamp" fame! The Genie manifest a feast for the weary dimension-travelers, and Sir Humphrey relates their tale of woe. The Genie explains that they have landed in the "Impossible Desert", from which no mortal has ever escaped!

The Genie then confesses that he has had his power taken from him by an angry king; when he tries to work magic, the gods throw a pie in his face! Matthew uses one of his magic coins to help the Genie gain back his magic powers. The Genie tests them by draping Matthew in the opulent raiment of an Arab prince. The Genie then sends Matthew and Sir Humphrey back to the woods from which they were banished.

Back in the woods, Matthew and Sir Humphrey encounter Esmerelda, a beautiful young gypsy, dancing in the woods. Esmerelda is also a fortune teller, and tells Matthew to consult her crystal ball. Matthew sees his home and his mother in the magic globe.

Matthew get tired of wearing his Arab prince outfit, so Sir Humphrey fetches some "grow seeds", and gives them to the boy, so he can "grow" his old clothes back. But first, he becomes a Chinaman and a Scot, replete with kilt!

The trio head back to the talking signpost, continuing to seek the elusive "end of the rainbow", which will take Matthew back home. Esmerelda, sadly, cannot continue the journey with them, for reasons unknown.

Soon, Matthew and Sir Humphrey stumble upon an old circus wagon, which appears to contain a travelling puppet show. A clown marionette appears, and announces "Professor Antonio's Gigantic Colossal Puppet Show!" Antonio himself appears, and tells his sad tale of woe, of being abandoned by the circus for being too old.

The kind Matthew uses one of his magic coins to wish that Antonio continue to prosper with his puppet show for many years. Sir Humphrey goes to fetch some supper from a nearby "dinner bush", the others are shocked when Antonio's clown puppet comes to life, and starts to speak! Apparently, Matthew's wish worked! The grateful puppets put on a show for the group. Belly dancers, pink elephants and French can-can girls perform for the proud Antonio.

Matthew and Sir Humphrey spend the night with Antonio. Matthew has a nightmare in which he is chased around the wood by the horrible Wizard. Matthew is awakened by the clown puppet, who warns him that indeed, the Wizard is just outside the wagon!

While Antonio distracts the evil villain, Matthew and Sir Humphrey sneak out the back door, and to safety. Some time later, the two meet up again with Esmerelda.

Shortly, the Wizard catches up with the group, and makes poor Sir Humphrey disappear in a puff of smoke! Now angered more than afraid, Matthew uses a magic coin to disarm the Wizard's power. Suddenly, the Wizard becomes a doddering old fool, who doesn't even remember his former wicked incarnation!

Matthew asks Esmerelda to look into her crystal ball, in one final attempt to locate the lost Princess Cecilia. To everyone's astonishment, it is Esmerelda's face which appears in the glass; Esmerelda is the Princess Cecilia, placed under a spell by the Wizard!

Matthew uses his last magic coin to free the Princess from her gypsy curse. The grateful Cecilia beknights Matthew in gratitude. Thus anointed, Matthew finally sees the rainbow he has been looking for, and runs off to catch it. Sir Humphrey calls after him, "The end of the rainbow is right in your own back yard!"

THE END

***

Thanks to the tireless archivists at Something Weird Video, who have saved more fringe and "trash" cinema from extinction than any other organization, another Kiddie Matinee feature considered lost to the ages has resurfaced for new generations to ponder.

THE PRINCESS AND THE MAGIC FROG (1965), produced and released originally as AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW, is a fascinating (albeit threadbare) U.S. fantasy film, very much in the spirit of similar mid-1960's Kiddie Matinee indie product such as SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, MAGIC CHRISTMAS TREE and JIMMY, THE BOY WONDER.

We start with a crudely animated title sequence, accompanied by a pleasant theme song sung by a children's chorus.

We soon learn that our young hero, Matthew, is Irish, and he is playing hooky from school, like all good Irishmen do, for this is St. Patrick's Day! What a strange holiday to celebrate in a children's fantasy!

The rather lackluster story unfolds almost entirely in the woods, nature's cheapest set. Luckily, the woods themselves are quite lush, and give the film an attractive but redundant green backdrop.

The one scene which ventures outside this predictable landscape takes place in a desert, or what appears to be a desert. It could easily be some expansive sand dunes in Baja, California, but the effect is impressive nonetheless.

Matthew (David Bailey) has "Hollywood Kid" written all over him, and yet he seems to have made very few other films, and a small number of television appearances. Like the very similar MAGIC CHRISTMAS TREE, young Matthew is given a chance at holding and weilding great power, but learns that the only wise thing to do with this power is use it in the service of others; any other uses leads to corruption and destruction.

On the way to this lesson, Matthew meets some quite sterotypical and ridiculous characters. First, there is a terrible leprechaun (Frank Delfino), who sports a fake beard and a green suit which looks like ER scrubs. Delfino was an active "little" performer of the period, in both TV and movies.

Then there is Sir Humphrey, a fallen knight who was turned into a frog. (Over)played by Clive Halliday, Humphrey emotes his lines like he's in a 1935 cabaret show. And one gets very weary of hearing him belch, "Ods Bodikins!" at every new revelation.

Almost as hoary is the Wicked Wizard (G. Edward Brett), a cheapjack Merlin clone wearing a silly cloak with the inevitable stars and moon on it, as well as some very bad red eyebrows, eye shadow and (again) fake beard. As dumb as the Wizard looks in close-up, he actually does comes across as marginally creepy in longer shots, as he skulks and prowls the woods in search of his young prey.

The Genie (Richard Reeves) is also an ill-advised creation, with a scruffy (real) beard and a huge pot belly. The attempts at "Olde English" on the part of all the males is especially painful. The Genie's scene comes across as vaguely surreal, as he has, as his minimal props, a tiny tent, an oriental rug and a fan on a stick. Most wonderful about the scene with the Genie, however, is the nearly-constant presence of the boom mike in every shot. Reeves is probably the most accomplished actor in the film, with upwards of fifty film roles covering three decades.

Puppetmaster Professor Antonio (Lindsay Workman) is a fairly sorry creation, dressed in silly Papa Gepetto uniform and spouting unbearable Italian schtick.

Antonio's traveling puppet show, which the audience is subjected to thanks to one of Matthew's magic coins, is a terribly dull affair, with a belly dance, two pink elephants, and some can-can girls doing going through predictable moves. The one note of interest in this sequence is the creepy clown puppet, who officates as master of ceremonies, is dubbed by Del McKinnon, the 1960's voice of Gumby, in a voice strikingly similar to that of the little clay boy.

Last but not least, there is the sexy gypsy girl (Nancy De Carl). De Carl also doubles as the titular "Princess", in a brief finale. The sultry De Carl bears a marked similarity to a young Cher.

One odd note of irony in the mostly elemental screenplay is the Genie's revelation of a strange curse he accrued when he attempted to imitate American television: he received a pie on the face from the gods! This could be seen as a broad swipe at the simplistic vulgarity of current popular culture.

Another odd moment in the screenplay occurs when Matthew asks Antonio about parents' love for their children: "Do they love 'em, even when they wallup 'em real bad?" Old-school Antonio replies, with embarassing Italian gusto, "Atsa when dey like 'em da best!" Matthew then rubs his sore butt and mumbles, "My parents must love me a whole lot!" This creepy ode to corporal punishment, though surely in synce with the prevailing philosophy of the day, sends shivers up one's spine when viewed today.

Yet another embarassing cultural moment occurs when Sir Humphrey sprinkles "grow seeds" over Matthew, in order to exchange his fey Arab prince garb for his old garments. First, however, he is briefly transformed into a Scotsman, replete with kilt and sash, and even worse, a "Chinaman", in coolie jacket and rice paddy hat! Everybody laughs. Ha, ha, aren't they funny-looking!

And then there's "the chant". This film makes THREE children's films in a two-year period which used the same occult incantation, mouthed by one of it's characters. The incantation is, "Rimbum! Carinum! Poe!", and the other films which use it are MAGIC CHRISTMAS TREE (1964) and THE MAGIC LAND OF MOTHER GOOSE (1967). This is a most odd coincidence, and one wonders if this silly chant existed elsewhere in the pop culture of the day, for three disparate filmmakers on different ends of the continent to pilfer it for their projects. (Actually, credit for two of the films at least can be given to screenwriter Harold Vaughn Taylor, who also penned the remarkably similar MAGIC CHRISTMAS TREE.)

The "magical" props are minimal and sad, such as the talking signpost, which shakes and squeaks as somebody off-camera all-too-obvioulsy pulls strings to animate it. Special effects consist primarily of flash powder and jump-cutting to make people appear and disappear. The "magic coins" also sparkle with the help of flash powder, and what could be more lame than "talking trees" which "talk" due to simple overdubbing?

Certainly the saddest "effect" of all occurs when Sir Humphrey runs off into the brush, twice, to fetch supper from some nearby "dinner bushes". He returns with a "magic" picnic basket full of food. Twice, we see close-ups of the inside of the basket, and each time, the assembled edibles look worse than before; the roast chickens and potatoes and sandwiches stuffed into the wicker basket look completely toxic, not magic! And even worse, (possibly due to the Irish connection?), the bread on the sandwiches is painted a grisly green! Nummers!

The story itself is farical and overplayed, a primitive meoldrama drawn in bare-bones form. The characters all being primal sterotypes, the acting stiff and the production design threadbare, one wonders if 60's tots would have found this odd fairy tale engaging or excrutiating. It looks more than anything like a children's theatre production restaged out in the dull woods. Yet even with a fantasy film told with the bare minimum of production value, the question remains; does it work? The answer, in this case, is yes and no.

Certainly this was producer-director Austin Green's labor of love. Green had a fairly successful career as an actor in television, and some films such as THE STERILE CUCKOO and JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME. This was his only directorial project.

Something Weird's print of THE PRINCESS AND THE MAGIC FROG is excellent, with vivid restored color, and even the original end title sequence, with the AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW title card. For Kiddie Matinee curiosity-seekers and completists, this is a must-have.

Video/DVD availability: VHS, DVD (Something Weird Video)