The Postman's Tale
Country
CzechoslovakiaCopyright
1947Production year
1946—1947Premiere
neproběhlaRuntime
12 minDirector
Otakar BrentenCategory
filmGenre
fairytaleTypology
animatedtheatrical distributionshortFilm state
partially realised projectOriginal title
Pošťácká pohádkaCzech title
Pošťácká pohádkaEnglish title
The Postman's TaleEnglish parallel title
The Mailman's TaleSummary
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 project was originally created in Bapoz in Zlín in 1941 and 1942. The work on this film was interrupted 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. Here it was gradually replaced by reshot scenes from the newly reworked version. In 1947, The Postman's Tale was completed and presented only with auxiliary sounds without music to the commission of the Prague company Short Film. She decided that the work on the film should be definitively stopped.
Photos
Crew and creators
Director
Screenstory
Based on
Karel Čapek (Pošťácká pohádka – pohádka ze sbírky Devatero pohádek a ještě jedna od Josefa Čapka jako přívažek)
Screenplay
Director of Photography
Art Director
Film Editor
Animation
František Vystrčil, Vladimír Lehký, Josef Fuksa, Bohumil Linhart
Production Manager
Cooperation
Music
Music Performed by
FISYO (Music Conducted by Otakar Pařík)
Production info
Original Title
Pošťácká pohádka
Czech Title
Pošťácká pohádka
English Title
The Postman's Tale
English Parallel Title
The Mailman's Tale
Category
film
Typology
animatedtheatrical distribution
Film state
partially realised project
Genre
fairytale
Origin country
Czechoslovakia
Copyright
1947
Production Year
1946—1947
Production specifications
projection approval nepředloženo ke schválení
Premiere
premiere neproběhla
Distribution slogan
no caption
Copyright Holders
Creative Group
Pracovní skupina Brno, Otakar Brenten (šéf pracovní skupiny Brno)
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
mono
Versions
Czech
Dialogue languages
without dialogue
Subtitles languages
without subtitles
Opening/End credits languages
Czech
