The Happy Prince is an animated short film adaptation of the short story by Oscar Wilde. The film was produced in 1974 by the Canadian-based Potterton Productions as a follow-up to its 1971 film The Selfish Giant. It is narrated by Christopher Plummer. The film premiered in Canada on CTV on December 2, 1974. It was broadcast in the US in syndication in 1975 and in the UK on the BBC.
A royal statue makes friends with a swallow. The statue is moved by the suffering he sees around him and asks the swallow to peel off his gold covering leaf by leaf and give it to various poor and needy people.
Howard Blake was originally hired to score the film, and after writing a theme for the bird, and a song, he called the director and found out they had hired Ron Goodwin without telling him.