Film Archive
Fearless Four, The (furchtlosen Vier, Die)
A sad fate awaits all four at their present owners. They take to their heels and meet up on the country road: Gwendolyn the cat, Buster the dog, Fred the donkey, and Tortellini the rooster. Not only their refugee existence and loneliness forge them together - it is, above all, their love of music that proves to be a strong bond of friendship. They decide to make capital from their vocal chords as a singing group: The Fearless Four want to become famous in Paris on the lines of "One for all and all for one"! However, they end up in Bremen - all the fault of signpost pointing in the wrong direction. The hanseatic town is ruled by the concern of the mysterious tyrant Dr. Greed who has forbidden singing by police order. The four newcomer bards also get into his clutches. They actually get a contract and are allowed to make appearances, but they have to waste their musical talent on mindless advertising jingles. They need to call on all of their unbeatable team spirit and heroic courage to stand up to the evil doctor. And so The Fearless Four finally manage to free the city from its curse.
Michael Coldewey founded his own company Coldewey Trickfilm in 1992, combining traditional animation with computer-generated 3D effects.Eberhard Junkersdorf has produced more than feature 55 films, including Volker Schloendorff's OSCAR-winner The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel) and Voyager (Homo Faber), Margarethe von Trotta's Rosa Luxemburg, The Promise (Das Versprechen)and Marianne and Juliane (Die Bleierne Zeit) - winner of a Golden Lion at Venice, as well as Reinhard Hauff's Knife in the Head (Messer im Kopf) and Stammheim - winner of a Golden Bear at Berlin. In 1995, he founded the production company Munich Animation and co-directed the animated feature The Fearless Four (Die Furchtlosen Vier) in 1997. In 2002, he founded Neue Bioskop Film and produced Oskar Roehler's Berlinale competition feature Angst (Der alte Affe Angst), and Jester Till (Till Eulenspiegel, 2003), which was short-listed for an Academy Award in 2003 in the category Best Animation.
Juergen Richter worked at Munich-based TC-Filmproduktion and was then appointed to Steven Spielberg's Amblimation London studio and was responsible for Fievel Goes West, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, and Balto.
Category Animation, Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 1997
Director Michael Coldewey, Eberhard Junkersdorf, Juergen Richter
Screenplay Bert Henry, Dagmar Kekulé, Georg Reichel
Editor Uli Schoen
Music by Peter Wolf
Producer Eberhard Junkersdorf
Production Company Bioskop Film/Munich, with the voices of Oleta Adams, Mario Adorf, Hartmut Engler, James Ingram, Joachim Kemmer, B.B. King, Bernd Schramm, Sandra Schwarzhaupt, Katharina Thalbach, Klaus-Juergen Wussow, Zucchero
Length 89 min, 2,435 m
Format 35 mm, color
Original Version German/English
Sound Technology Dolby SRD
With backing from German Federal Film Board (FFA), FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, BMI
German Distributor Warner Bros. Pictures Germany/Hamburg
World Sales
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