The Blue Bird (1976)
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40% of users liked it
(227 ratings)
The first official co-production between the United States and the Soviet Union, The Blue Bird was the third screen adaptation of the children's story by Maurice Maeterlinck about a pair of children, Tyltyl (Todd Lookinland) and Mytyl (Patsy Kensit), who leave home to search for the Blue Bird of… More The first official co-production between the United States and the Soviet Union, The Blue Bird was the third screen adaptation of the children's story by Maurice Maeterlinck about a pair of children, Tyltyl (Todd Lookinland) and Mytyl (Patsy Kensit), who leave home to search for the Blue Bird of Happiness. After spending some time wandering through a fantasy world and encountering The Night (Jane Fonda), The Cat (Cicely Tyson), Luxury (Ava Gardner), Father Time (Robert Morley), and The Oak (Harry Andrews), they meet The Queen of Light (Elizabeth Taylor) and discover that true happiness can be found right at home, with your family. As the box-office failure of the first two versions of this story proves, putting this sort of children's fantasy on film is tricky business, and despite a top-notch cast of American and Soviet talent and the directorial expertise of veteran filmmaker George Cukor, The Blue Bird had a notoriously difficult production, with the American and Russian crews not always understanding each other's working methods, the Soviet camera crew not knowing how to light African-American actress Cicely Tyson, and Jane Fonda often trying to engage the Russian crew members in political discussions. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- George Cukor
- Genres
- Drama, Action & Adventure, Kids & Family, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy
G,
- In Theaters
- Apr 5, 1976 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
It seems to be a contest over who can deliver the worst performance (I think Fonda wins, but it's a close call) as they all prance around bad sets in even worse costumes.
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Phil Hall, Film Threat
Gooey and stupid.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Elizabeth Taylor
as Light, Maternal Love, Mother, Witch
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Jane Fonda
as Night
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Ava Gardner
as Luxury
- Sesiliya Tayson
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Cicely Tyson
as Cat
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Robert Morley
as Father Time
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Harry Andrews
as Oak
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Oleg Popov
as Fat Laughter
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Todd Lookinland
as Tyltyl
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Patsy Kensit
as Mytyl
- Todd Lukinlend
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Will Geer
as Grandfather
- Petsi Kenzit
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Mona Washbourne
as Grandmother
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George Cole
as Dog
- Uill Giir
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Richard Pearson
as Bread
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Nadia Pavlova
as Bluebird
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Georgi Vitsin
as Sugar
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Margarita Terekhova
as Milk
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Leonid Nevedomsky
as Father
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Valentina Ganilaee Ganibalova
as Water
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Yevgeny Shcherbakov
as Fire
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Pheona McLellan
as Sick Girl
