The Brothers Lionheart (1977)

Brothers Jonatan and Skorpan lead a revolution against the tyrant Tengil in the magical afterlife land of Nangijala.

Director:

Olle Hellbom

Writers:

Astrid Lindgren (novel), Astrid Lindgren (screenplay)

Stars:

Staffan Götestam, Lars Söderdahl, Allan Edwall

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Staffan Götestam	...	Jonatan
Lars Söderdahl	...	Skorpan
Allan Edwall	...	Mattias
Gunn Wållgren	...	Sofia
Folke Hjort	...	Jossi
Per Oscarsson	...	Orvar
Tommy Johnson	...	Hubert
Jan Nygren	...	Veder
Micha Gabay	...	Kader
Georg Årlin	...	Tengil
Bertil Norström	...	Pjuke
Mats Andersson	...	Tengil's Soldier
Aksel Erhardtsen	...	Tengil's Soldier (as Aksel Erhardsen)
Ulf Håkan Jansson	...	Tengil's Soldier
Bodil Lindorff	...	Mother

Storyline

9-year old Karl Lejon, 'Skorpan' is suffering from tuberculosis and knows that he will die soon. But his older brother Jonathan tries to comfort him by promising that they one day will meet in Nangijala, a magic country beyond the stars. Jonathan dies soon after in a house fire and Skorpan also passes away not long after. They meet in Nangijala, a country divided into the Cherry Blossom Valley and the Briar-Bush Valley. The people in the later are oppressed by the black knight Tengil and his dragon Katla. The two brothers, who now call themselves Jonathan and Karl Lion Heart, decide to help the freedom fighters against the oppression.

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Plot Keywords:

house fire | dragon | fire | afterlife | oppression | 

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Taglines:

From our world. To the world of the tales and the camp fires.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

Sweden Iceland

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

23 September 1977 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

The Brothers Lionheart

Filming Locations:

Iceland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artfilm, Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dragon Katla (partially portrayed by a flame-throwing puppet head) accidentally caught fire during shooting.

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Quotes

Mattias: Punished by death, punished by death. That's all those people think about.

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Connections

Featured in Ollebom (2002)

User Reviews

It's a shame

I had the privilege of owning this movie when I was a child. I think that my parents bought it from some video store that was going out of business. It was on a BetaMax tape, and was dubbed in English. I had to of watched this movie at least once week. The story is great, and the relationship between the two brothers is rather touching. Despite the fact that even as a child the dragon (who used to remind me of "the secret weapon" from An American Tale) looked terrible, it was one of my favorite movies for years. If anyone can find a copy of this movie, I suggest you watch it. Also, the synthesized soundtrack is quite good (arpeggios reminiscent of Philip Glass or something).