Ferda the Ant
Country
CzechoslovakiaCopyright
1942Production year
1941—1942Premiere
4 February 1944Runtime
10 minCategory
filmGenre
slapstickTypology
animatedtheatrical distributionshortOriginal title
Ferda mravenecCzech title
Ferda mravenecEnglish title
Ferda the AntParallel title
Der brave SlimSummary
A puppet cartoon comedy featuring the most popular charakter of Ferda the Ant who outsmarts evil spider with the help of his friends.
Synopsis
The anthill is waking up and Ferda the Ant rushes to work, incidentally finding a sugar cube on the way. The summoned ant brigade breaks the sugar into small pieces with their pickaxes. A cricket and a fly entertain the working ants with their music and singing. Ferda likes the little fly a lot, even though she flirtatiously pretends to run away from him. Ferda follows her, but the teasing between the two ends in the net of a bloodthirsty spider. At just the right time, there comes the rain, a mushroom grows in the spider-net prison and it carries both prisoners to the upper side of the net on its cap. Ferda calls for a snail and he and the fly jump over onto his shell. The spider is enraged and perseveringly pursues the fugitives. When he almost catches up with them, the snail opens the back door of his house and imprisons the spider inside. A band by the anthill then plays for the dancing Ferda and the fly.
Note
The film was approved by German censorship on 2 November 1943 and was distributed by the Degeto Film Berlin company. The surviving copy of the film has a lower-case letter "m" in the title (Ferda mravenec – Ferda the ant), while the literary original by the Czech writer and designer Ondřej Sekora was published with the upper-case "M" (Ferda Mravenec – Ferda the Ant). The following editions of the book use both variants.
Photos
Crew and creators
Director
Screenstory
Based on
Ondřej Sekora (Ferda Mravenec – kniha)
Screenplay
Director of Photography
Art Director
Stanislav Mikuláštík (figurky), Zdeněk Plesník (dekorace)
Film Editor
Sound Designer
Animation
Production Manager
Cooperation
Music
Music Composed by
Production info
Original Title
Ferda mravenec
Czech Title
Ferda mravenec
English Title
Ferda the Ant
Parallel Title
Der brave Slim
Category
film
Typology
animatedtheatrical distribution
Genre
slapstick
Origin country
Czechoslovakia
Copyright
1942
Production Year
1941—1942
Production specifications
start of filming 01/1941
end of filming 06/1942
date of censorship 5 January 1944 (predikát „uznáníhodný film“)
date of censorship 15 March 1945 (predikát „uznáníhodný film“ /16mm verze/)
withdrawal from distribution 18 May 1945
projection approval 9 June 1945 (konec povolení k promítání 9. 6. 1950)
Premiere
premiere 4 February 1944 /suitable for youths/ (kina Alfa /4 týdny/ a Viktoria /2 týdny/, Praha)
renewed premiere 03/1945 /suitable for youths/ (16mm verze)
renewed premiere 06/1945 /suitable for youths/
Production
Bapoz, Degeto Berlín (dokončení), ČMÚ (dokončení)
With support
Copyright Holders
Studio
Laboratories
Distribution
Ufa (původní 1944), ČMÚ (obnovená 1945 /16mm verze/), Státní půjčovna filmů (obnovená 1945)
Technical info
Duration typology
short film
Duration in minutes
10 min
Original length in metres
291 meters
Distribution carrier
16mm, 35mm
Animation technique
puppet
Aspect ratio
1:1,19
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
