The Postman's Tale

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1945

Production year

1941—1942

Premiere

neproběhla

Runtime

12 min

Category

film

Genre

fairytale

Typology

animatedtheatrical distributionshort

Film state

partially realised project, lost film

Original title

Pošťácká pohádka

Czech title

Pošťácká pohádka

English title

The Postman's Tale

English parallel title

The Mailman's Tale

Working title

Pošťák Kolbaba

Summary

Unfinished film.

A cartoon film about a postman named Kolbaba, post office gnomes and a letter without no address based on Karel Čapek's fairy-tale of the same title.

Synopsis

A postman delivers the mail around the town, putting letters into the mailboxes. The last letter does not have an address written on it. The sad postman goes back to the post office and wants to get rid of the letter and throw it into the fireplace, but he is stopped by a paragraph. At midnight starts the spree of post-office elves and the postman gives them also the letter without address. The elves shine a light through the letter and read it. Then they put stamps with hearts on it and write an address “Ms Mařenka in Lhota”. The postman must go a long way, in summer and winter, until he delivers this romantic letter to Mařenka in Lhota, who was feather-plucking at the time and waiting for a message from her beloved František.

Note

The film was never finished. The work on this film was interrupted in 1942 when the studio fell under the German company Deutsche Schmalfilmgesellschaft (Descheg), but Czech employees secretly continued with work on it. After the end of the war was the exposed material sent to the Brenten´s cartoon studio in Brno, but Brenten´s new version of The Postman's Tale was never finished too. The film materials are believed lost.

Crew and creators

Based on

Karel Čapek (Pošťácká pohádka – pohádka ze sbírky Devatero pohádek a ještě jedna od Josefa Čapka jako přívažek)

Director of Photography

Dalimil Řehák

Art Director

Stanislav Šulc

Sound Designer

František Pilát

Production Manager

Ladislav Kolda

Music

Music Composed by

Jiří Šust

Production info

Original Title

Pošťácká pohádka

Czech Title

Pošťácká pohádka

English Title

The Postman's Tale

English Parallel Title

The Mailman's Tale

Working Title

Pošťák Kolbaba

Category

film

Typology

animatedtheatrical distribution

Film state

partially realised project, lost film

Genre

fairytale

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1945

Production Year

1941—1942

Production specifications

date of censorship nepředloženo cenzuře

Premiere

premiere neproběhla

Distribution slogan

no caption

Copyright Holders

Národní filmový archiv

Studio

FAB Zlín

Laboratories

Bapoz Zlín

Technical info

Duration typology

short film

Duration in minutes

12 min

Original length in metres

335 meters

Distribution carrier

35mm

Animation technique

cartoon

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

black & white

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

Tobis – Klang

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

without dialogue

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech