Brave Little Tailor
Mickey Mouse outwits a giant using his sewing skills.
Brave Little Tailor is a 1938 American animated short from Walt Disney Productions, released by RKO Radio Pictures alongside the feature Fugitives for a Night. It adapts the fairy tale The Valiant Little Tailor, with Mickey Mouse playing the lead. Bill Roberts and Burt Gillett directed, and Albert Hay Malotte composed the original music. Walt Disney voiced Mickey, while Eddie Holden voiced the Giant.
This was the 103rd Mickey Mouse short and the fifth released that year. At the 11th Academy Awards in 1939, it was nominated for Best Animated Short Film but lost to another Disney entry, Ferdinand the Bull. In 1994, animation professionals ranked it the 26th greatest cartoon ever in the book The 50 Greatest Cartoons. The plot follows a peasant tailor, Mickey, who kills seven flies with one blow and boasts of it, leading the king to believe he can defeat a giant.
After being promised Princess Minnie’s hand, Mickey uses his wits and sewing skills to outsmart and bind the giant, who later powers an amusement park with his snores.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Bill Roberts; Burt Gillett
- Story
- Joe Grant
- Starring
- Walt Disney
- Eddie Holden
- Billy Sheets
- Music
- Albert Hay Malotte
- Producer
- Walt Disney
- Studio
- Walt Disney Productions
- Distributor
- RKO Radio Pictures
- Runtime
- 9 minutes
Facts from the source article.
Plot
As a king seeks a warrior to defeat a giant terrorizing his kingdom, a peasant tailor, Mickey Mouse, kills seven flies at once and boasts that he killed “seven with one blow”, causing everyone else to believe he has slain giants. The king summons Mickey, appoints him to kill the giant, and promises riches if he succeeds. Though initially fearful, Mickey accepts the task upon being additionally promised the hand of Princess Minnie. When the giant appears, Mickey hides in a cart of pumpkins and is accidentally swallowed.
He causes the giant to hiccup and escapes when the giant drinks from a well, then hides in some hay, but is discovered when the giant tries smoking it. Using his sewing skills to outwit and bind the giant, Mickey eventually causes him to fall and lose consciousness. An amusement park is later built at the site, with its rides powered by the captive giant’s snores, and the newlywed Mickey and Minnie are shown riding the carousel.
Adaptations
From August 28 to November 27, 1938, the Mickey Mouse comic strip published 14 Sunday newspaper comics retelling the story under the title The Brave Little Tailor. This version was bookended by segments showing the "real" Mickey Mouse as an actor who is cast by Walt Disney to appear in the film. The comic has Mac MacCorker as the fictional director of the short. Goofy also appears in these scenes and, after the wrap he is wearing the same clothes he wore in the short film The Whalers, which was released the month before Tailor.
The story was written by Merrill De Maris and drawn by Manuel Gonzales and Floyd Gottfredson, with inking by Ted Thwaites. In 1985, Bantam Books published a children's book called Mickey Meets the Giant which featured Mickey encountering the same giant as the one in this short. This version was somewhat more faithful to the original fairy tale, maintaining that the tailor fools the giant by apparently beating him in feats of strength.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who stars in Brave Little Tailor?
Brave Little Tailor stars Walt Disney, Eddie Holden and Billy Sheets.
How long is Brave Little Tailor?
Brave Little Tailor has a running time of 9 minutes.
More in Disney Animated Films Based on Fairy Tales
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