The Emperor's Nightingale

The Emperor's Nightingale (Czech: Císařův slavík) is a 1949 Czechoslovak stop-motion animated film directed by Jiří Trnka and Miloš Makovec. The film is based on the 1843 fairy tale "The Nightingale" by Hans Christian Andersen. Boris Karloff provides the voice of the narrator in the 1951 American dubbed version.^[1] The film won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.^[2]

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The Emperor's Nightingale
Directed by	Jiří Trnka Miloš Makovec
Written by	Vítězslav Nezval Hans Christian Andersen Jiří Brdečka Jiří Trnka
Starring	Helena Patockova Jaromir Sobotoa Detsky pevecky sbor Jana Kuhna
Cinematography	Ferdinand Pecenka
Edited by	Helena Lebdusková Jiří Trnka
Music by	Václav Trojan
Release date	15 April 1949 (1949-04-15)
Running time	72 minutes
Country	Czechoslovakia
Language	Czech

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In the film, a live-action boy dreams that his toys are real. The toys come to life in stop-motion animation, and tell the story of a Chinese emperor who makes friends with a nightingale.^[3]