The King and the Mockingbird

The King and the Mockingbird (Le Roi et l'Oiseau) is a 1980 animated feature film directed by Paul Grimault. Begun in 1948 as The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep (La bergère et le ramoneur) (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 in 1952, 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 as they originally intended. The film was completed over 30 years after production commenced.

Dubbing History
In 1957, the 1952 version was released in the United States and given an English-dubbed soundtrack under the title of The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird. Peter Ustinov narrates and provides the voice of the bird in this version. Since then, the Mr. Wonderbird version is now in the public domain and has been released as bargain video releases. Adventures of Mr. Wonderful was another name given to this version among many of its releases. The dub aired on American television in the early 1960s under its original title The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep, and it was shown as part of Capt'n Sailorbird where it was cut into a series of 5-minute segments.

There also exists an English dub for the 1980 version of the film, which was released on VHS in the UK in the 1980s by Entertainment in Video under the title Mr. Bird to the Rescue. The dub has since fallen into obscurity until 2014 when it was included on the StudioCanal DVD release in the United Kingdom. The voice cast in that dub is unknown, but it is believed to be a France-based English cast.

Video Releases
The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird (1952 Version)

The King and the Mockingbird (1980 Version)