The Tale of the Fox

The Tale of the Fox (French: Le Roman de Renard, Dutch: Van den vos Reynaerde, German: Reinecke Fuchs) was stop-motion animation pioneer Ladislas Starevich's first fully animated feature film. The film is based on the tales of Renard the Fox. Although the animation was finished in Paris after an 18-month period (1929–1930), there were major problems with adding a soundtrack to the film. Finally, funding was given for a German soundtrack by the UFA—Goethe had written a classic version of the Renard legend—and this version had its premiere in Berlin in April 1937.

The Tale of the Fox
Original French poster.
Directed by	Irene Starevich Ladislas Starevich
Written by	Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (story) Jean Nohain (dialogue) Antoinette Nordmann (dialogue) Roger Richebé Irene Starevich Ladislas Starevich
Produced by	Louis Nalpas (1929–1931) Roger Richebé (1939–1941)
Starring	Claude Dauphin Romain Bouquet Laine Sylvain Itkine Léon Larive
Cinematography	Ladislas Starevich
Edited by	Laura Sejourné
Music by	Vincent Scotto
Release dates	Germany 10 April 1937 France 10 April 1941
Running time	65 minutes
Country	France
Languages	German (1937) French (1941)

Released eight months before Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, it is the world's sixth-ever animated feature film (and the third surviving animated film, as well as the second to use puppet animation, following The New Gulliver from the USSR). The film was released in France with a French language soundtrack in 1941; this is the version which is currently available on DVD.