HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

) , image = Peter-No-Tail (film).jpg , image_size = , border = , alt = , caption = Original Swedish film poster , native_name = , director =
Stig Lasseby Stig or STIG may refer to: People * Stig (given name) * Nickname of Robert Stigwood (1934–2016), musical act manager Arts and entertainment * The Stig, a masked racing driver on the UK television show ''Top Gear'' * Stig (singer), Finnish perf ...

Jan Gissberg , producer =
Stig Lasseby Stig or STIG may refer to: People * Stig (given name) * Nickname of Robert Stigwood (1934–2016), musical act manager Arts and entertainment * The Stig, a masked racing driver on the UK television show ''Top Gear'' * Stig (singer), Finnish perf ...
, writer = , screenplay =
Leif Krantz John Leif Krantz (15 April 1932 – 28 December 2012) was a Swedish television producer, screenwriter and film director. Leif Krantz was born in 1932 in Gothenburg. He began his career as an assistant director during the filming of Astrid Lindg ...
, story = , based_on = , narrator = , starring = , music =
Berndt Egerbladh Berndt Erik Egerbladh (May 1, 1932 – March 2, 2004) was a Sweden, Swedish pianist, jazz pianist, composer and television personality. Biography Egerbladh was born in Transtrand. He grew up in Umeå and performed in local jazz and dance orchestr ...
, cinematography = Eberhard Fehmers , editing = , studio = , distributor = Sandrew , released = , runtime = 81 minutes , country = Sweden , language = Swedish , budget = , gross = ''Peter-No-Tail'' ( sv, Pelle Svanslös) is a 1981 Swedish
animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
film based on the children's book series by
Gösta Knutsson Gösta Lars August Knutsson (original surname Johansson; 12 October 1908, in Stockholm – 4 April 1973) was a Swedish radio producer and writer of a popular series of children's books about the cat ''Pelle Svanslös''. Gösta Knutsson was born ...
.


Plot

On a Swedish country farm, a cat gives birth to a litter of kittens, one of which does not have a tail. The kindly farmer is ordered by the farm's cruel owner to get rid of the tail-less kitten, so he smuggles the young cat into the car of a family returning to
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
after their summer holiday near the farm. Discovered on arrival at the family's home, the stowaway is named Peter-No-Tail (Pelle Svanslös) by the children Olle and Birgitta. Peter soon settles into his new home, but when Birgitta takes him out for a walk in the following spring, he is chased by a vicious bulldog, and escapes to a town alley where Elaka Måns (Mean Mike) lives. The long-tailed Måns, aided by twins Bill and Bull, is a notorious bully amongst the town cats, so he tricks the naïve Peter into singing outside the home of a young female cat named Maja Gräddnos (Molly Cream-Nose). Maja's human owners hate cat howling, so Måns expects Peter to be soaked with water in his attempt to impress Maja. But Maja is attracted to the polite and kind-hearted Peter, so she invites him in to share some fish with her; thus it is Måns who ends up getting soaked with a garden hose when he tries to impress Maja himself. At the town cats' spring ball, Måns organises a competition where contestants must answer a mental arithmetic question by showing the winning number with their tails. Peter is given an impossibly hard sum, and the other cats mock him for not having a tail at all to even guess the answer. But a snake that Peter befriended earlier reveals the correct answer, and also bites Måns' long tail, humiliating him in front of the crowd. In revenge, Måns breaks into Peter's home and frames him for eating Olle's birthday cake, so the family locks Peter in the ironing room as punishment. However, when a fire breaks out in the house at night, Peter wakes and alerts the sleeping family with his frantic meowing, so he is redeemed as a hero, and Birgitta gives him a medal for his bravery. When Måns learns of Peter's good deed, he dismisses his medal as worthless, and invents a new sports event called the Cat Championship, where the winning prize is a gold medallion. The challenges include a distance jump, throwing shotput balls, and a hurdle race course. Måns stages each of the challenges so that Peter fails - his spike shoes for the distance jump have the spikes on the inside to hurt his feet, Peter's shotput ball is far heavier than the others, and Måns cheats in the hurdle race to make sure he wins. But when Måns' tricks are discovered, the referee disqualifies him and awards Peter the gold medallion instead. Maja, who has been cheering Peter on throughout the tournament, congratulates him and they celebrate his victory together. Now eager to get rid of Peter, Måns tries to rally his fellow cats into opposing 'country' cats, and he sets loose the dangerous bulldog to chase Peter out of the city. Most of the town cats watch from safety in the trees, but a kitten named Fridolf has strayed onto some high scaffolding platforms, where he is attacked by the bulldog. Peter rescues Fridolf from the collapsing scaffolding and escapes from the savage bulldog, who subsequently chases Måns, Bill and Bull away instead. For saving Fridolf, the town cats praise Peter and finally accept him into their community. At the end of the film, Peter's family take him with them on their next summer holiday, returning to the farm where Peter was born.


Origins

The film is animated and is based on the children's book series by
Gösta Knutsson Gösta Lars August Knutsson (original surname Johansson; 12 October 1908, in Stockholm – 4 April 1973) was a Swedish radio producer and writer of a popular series of children's books about the cat ''Pelle Svanslös''. Gösta Knutsson was born ...
.
Class discrimination Class discrimination, also known as classism, is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of social class. It includes individual attitudes, behaviors, systems of policies and practices that are set up to benefit the upper class at the expense of ...
,
bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...
and
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
play a big part of the story, much like in the books since Peter is at times looked down on for being a "country cat", who is accused by Måns of threatening the livelihoods of the town cats. In the original Swedish dub Måns is played by
Ernst-Hugo Järegård Ernst-Hugo Alfred Järegård (12 December 1928 – 6 September 1998) was a Swedish actor. Biography Järegård was born in Ystad. He received his acting training at Malmö City Theatre. From 1962 he was an actor in Sweden's prominent Royal Dra ...
.


Cast


Additional American Voices

*
Richard Kline Richard Kline (born April 29, 1944) is an American actor and television director. His roles include Larry Dallas on the sitcom ''Three's Company'', Richie in the later seasons of ''It's a Living'' and Jeff Beznick in '' Noah Knows Best''. Early ...
(Monty, Ernest, Lambert) *
William Schallert William Joseph Schallert (July 6, 1922 – May 8, 2016) was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on '' Richard Diamond, Privat ...


Sequel

A sequel called ''
Peter-No-Tail in Americat ''Peter-No-Tail in Americat'' ( sv, Pelle Svanslös i Amerikatt) is a 1985 Swedish animation based on stories about the tail-less cat ''Pelle Svanslös'' by Gösta Knutsson. The cartoon is a sequel to the 1981 cartoon '' Peter-No-Tail'', and is k ...
'' ( sv, Pelle Svanslös i Amerikatt) was released in 1985.


Reception


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peter-No-Tail (Film) Films based on Swedish novels Swedish children's films Swedish animated films 1981 animated films 1981 films Animated films about cats Films set in Uppsala Atlantic Entertainment Group films 1980s children's animated films 1980s Swedish films