A prizewinning colour cartoon made by the same husband and wife team that later turned Orwell’s Animal Farm into a classic of animated storytelling. Two neighbours, a shoemaker and a hatter, argue about how best to recover their livelihoods after the war. The hatter believes in producing few hats at a high profit per hat, protected by tariff. The shoemaker sees the need for lots of shoes. He wants to lower their cost through mass production and make his profit through export and free trade. After many adventures, the shoemaker eventually proves that free trade can bring prosperity to them both. Since the free trade vs. protectionism argument is still in today’s headlines, this film is fresh as ever. One of the most popular Marshall Plan films, it was shown in eleven language versions in movie houses throughout Western Europe.

Genre
Animation Film

Credits
Production Country: Great Britain
Film Production Company: John Halas and Joy Batchelor Ltd., London
Commissioning Institution: Economic Cooperation Administration
Director: John Halas & Joy Batchelor
Producer: John Halas & Joy Batchelor
Script: Joy Batchelor / Philip Stapp
Cinematography: Unknown
Film Editing: Jack King
Music: Matyas Seiber

Technical Information
Original Film Format: 16 mm
Duration: 16 minutes
Colour: Colour

European Cooperation, Marshall Plan, Transatlantic Partnership, European Economy, Tariffs and Borders, Common Market, Productivity

The HAEU does not own rights to the films. Copyright or other restrictions applying to the material should be assessed by the user. Any copyright violations resulting from the use of documents held at the Historical Archives are solely the user’s responsibility. More about copyright

English, German

Video

National Archives, Washington, DC

The films were digitised from the copy located at the National Archives, Washington, DC.

Fritsche, Maria: The American Marshall Plan Film Campaign and the Europeans. A Captivated Audience?, London : Bloomsbury 2018.

Fritsche, Maria: Das Schiff und der Strom – Subtiles Werben für Europa in den Marshallplan-Filmen, in: Clemens, Gabriele (ed.) : Werben für Europa. Die mediale Konstruktion europäischer Identität durch Europafilme, Paderborn : Schöningh 2016, pp. 471-488.

Bruch, Anne; Clemens, Gabriele ; Goergen, Jeanpaul & Tode, Thomas: « Cooperation means prosperity » – Das Werben für die Integration Europas in den Marshallplan-Filmen, in: Clemens, Gabriele (ed.): Werben für Europa. Die mediale Konstruktion europäischer Identität durch Europafilme, Paderborn: Schöningh 2016, pp. 191-226.

Other versions of the film in other languages which are not part of this collection are: Le cordonnier et le chapelier (French)
Il calzolaio e il cappellaio (Italian)