Studio: Ub Iwerks Studio (ComiColor Cartoons)
Distributor: Celebrity Productions
Produced by: Ub Iwerks
Short Synopsis
A little tailor, pestered by flies while he eats, swats seven at a blow and is so pleased with himself that he embroiders "Seven at One Blow" on his belt and goes out to tell the world. The world, hearing the boast, assumes he means seven men, and the king, who is being plagued by a giant, sends the tailor to deal with him, with the princess's hand as the reward. The tailor finds the giant, a shaggy ogre as tall as the trees, and outwits him trick by trick: he squeezes water from a stone, which is a cheese; throws a stone that never comes down, which is a bird; and dodges the giant's blows until the brute knocks himself senseless. The tailor returns in triumph, marries the princess and is carried off in state, the valiant tailor of the title by accident and nerve.
Why It Matters
- It is the Grimm tale that Disney later gave to Mickey Mouse in Brave Little Tailor, and the Iwerks version is the earlier of the two by four years, with the giant drawn in the Iwerks studio's heavy, rounded style and the Cinecolor palette of orange and blue-green; the tricks with the cheese and the bird are straight from the tale.
- Despite its reputation as a free film, its copyright was renewed by Exclusive Pictures on 9 May 1962 (R295119) and runs to the end of 2029; it circulates under both its own title and the Castle Films home-movie retitling "The King's Tailor". The Wikipedia entry is a stub, and the account above follows the tale as the film tells it.
Notes and Trivia
- Disney's Brave Little Tailor of 1938 was nominated for an Academy Award.
- The ComiColor series title card at this date reads "Ub Iwerks ComiColor Cartoon in Cinecolor".
- See also: Jack and the Beanstalk (1933), The Headless Horseman (1934), Brave Little Tailor (1938).
