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Peter-No-Tail (1981 film)

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Wikipedia article




'Peter-No-Tail' is a 1981 Swedish animated film based on the children's book series by Gsta Knutsson.

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 after their summer holiday near the farm. Discovered on arrival at the family's home, the stowaway is named Peter-No-Tail (Pelle Svansls) 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 Mns (Mean Mike) lives. The long-tailed Mns, aided by twins Bill and Bull, is a notorious bully amongst the town cats, so he tricks the nave Peter into singing outside the home of a young female cat named Maja Grddnos (Molly Cream-Nose). Maja's human owners hate cat howling, so Mns 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 Mns who ends up getting soaked with a garden hose when he tries to impress Maja himself.

At the town cats' spring ball, Mns 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 Mns' long tail, humiliating him in front of the crowd. In revenge, Mns 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 Mns 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. Mns 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 Mns cheats in the hurdle race to make sure he wins. But when Mns' 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, Mns 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 Mns, 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 Gsta Knutsson. Class discrimination, bullying and racism 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 Mns of threatening the livelihoods of the town cats. In the original Swedish dub Mns is played by Ernst-Hugo Jregrd.

Cast



*Mats hlfeldt - Pelle

*Ewa Frling - Maja Grddnos

*Ernst-Hugo Jregrd - Mns

*Carl Billqvist och Bjrn Gustafson - Bill och Bull

*Wallis Grahn - Gammel Maja

*Lena-Pia Bernhardsson - Gullan frn Arkadien

*Charlie Elvegrd - Laban frn Observatorielunden

*ke Lagergren - Murre frn Skogstibble och Kalle Huggorm

*Nils Eklund - Rickard frn Rickomberga

*Jan Sjdin - Fritz

*Gunilla Norling - Frida

*Eddie Axberg och Charlie Elvegrd - Rttor

*Gunnar Ernblad - Krkan

*Kajsa Bratt - Birgitta

*Niklas Rygert - Olle

*Helena Brodin - Mamma

*Axel Dberg - Pappa

*Sture Hofstadius - Ladugrdsfrmannen

Sequel



A sequel called 'Peter-No-Tail in Americat' was released in 1985.

Reception



References




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