The King and the Mockingbird (, literally
The King and the Bird) is a
1980 traditionally animated feature film directed by
Paul Grimault. Begun in
1948 as
The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep (loosely based on the
fairy tale of the same name by
Hans Christian Andersen), the film was a collaboration between Grimault and popular French poet and screenwriter,
Jacques Prévert. However the film suddenly stopped production and was released unfinished by its producer, without the approval of either Grimault or Prévert. Through the course of the 1960s and 1970s, Grimault obtained the rights to the film and was able to complete a new version they originally intended and was finished over 30 years after it was started.