Lotte Reiniger’s dialogue-free animation The Tocher, created in 1938 for the GPO Film Unit, is described as ‘a film ballet’. Picture-book style illustration of stage curtains frame the opening titles, accompanied by Benjamin Britten’s arrangement of Rossini melodies. Reiniger’s signature hand-cut silhouettes are set within the traditions of the Romantic ballet, as a kilted young man travels on horseback through a landscape of fir trees to reach a castle, with a full-skirted princess in its tower. A letter, thrown from the balcony, reveals that she is to be married against her will to a rich suitor, and despite the young man’s kneeling protestations, she is summarily removed by her alarmingly-bearded father. Arriving at the shores of a forest-set lake, the young man encounters three romantic-length tutu-wearing winged fairies. Arms are raised and a wisping mist summoned, as a sylph arises on pointe from the heart of a flower. Presenting the young man with a casket-shaped gift, a parting arabesque is followed by a linking of fairy hands, enveloped by mist. Continuing on through the forest, the moat and drawbridge of a castle are eventually reached. Inside, the princess, on tiptoe and in bridal veil, is dragged up a flight of stairs by her father. The young man arrives in time to present the casket, which is revealed to contain a Post Office Savings Book. Happiness is restored with a kiss and some highland dancing, and the stage curtains frame ‘the end’.