Springman and the SS

Springman and the SS
Directed by	Jiří Brdečka Jiří Trnka
Written by	Jiří Brdečka Eduard Hofman Ota Safránek (story) Jiří Trnka
Music by	Jan Rychlík
Release date	1946
Running time	14 minutes
Country	Czechoslovakia

Springman and the SS (Template:Lang-cs) is a 1946 Czechoslovak animated short film directed by Jiří Brdečka and Jiří Trnka featuring Pérák, the Spring Man of Prague. The film is also known as The Chimney Sweep in the USA.

Plot

A chimney sweep disguises as a Spring-heeled Jack-like figure during the Nazi occupation. The heroic and mischievous black-clad "Springer", with a mask fashioned out of a sock and defying the curfew, is capable of performing fantastic leaps due to having couch springs attached to his shoes. He taunts the occupying German army sentries and the Gestapo before escaping in a surrealistic, slapstick chase across the darkened city.

Credits

• "The Spring-man and the SS"
• Story: O. Šafránek
• Screenplay: J. Trnka, J. Brdečka
• Music: J. Rychlík
• Played by: the Film Symphony Orchestra
• Conducted by: M. Uzelac
• Sound effects: AR Studio, Lucerna, Prague
• Made under the artistic management of: Jr. Trnka
• Head of Production: J. Jílovec
• Animation: Duba, Kábrt, Krejčí, Látal, Mann, Műller, Šrámek, Štrébl
• Made with the collaboration: Bláha, Blahout, Holan, Masník, Možíš, Novák, and a hundred others
• During the German occupation tales were told of a mysterious man who jumped about on springs and brought terror to the occupants with his jumps and springs. Our film is dedicated to this good ghost.

Soundtrack

• Sung by bird - "Yankee Doodle"

Cultural impact

Trnka's postwar interpretation of Pérák as a quasi-superhero formed the basis for sporadic revivals of the character in Czech science fiction and comic book stories.

DVD releases

Pérák a SS is featured in a DVD anthology of World War II propaganda cartoons, Cartoons for Victory, which was released on May 2, 2006.

External links

• Springman and the SS at IMDb
• The short film Springman and the SS is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
• Video on YouTube