Self (Archival Photos)
BBC Four’s new documentary takes us on a journey through more than a century of animation. It examines the creative and technical inventiveness of some of the great animation pioneers who have worked in Britain – trailblazing talents such as Len Lye, John Halas and Joy Batchelor, Joanna Quinn, and Bristol’s world-conquering Aardman Animations.
Producer
Set to Gilbert and Sullivan tunes, a musical cartoon attempts to describe the character of the British nation, with occasional interruptions by Prince Charles.
Director
Documents the life and influence of the Bahaus artist, László Moholy-Nagy.
Director
Cartoon tennis match, with players based on Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe.
Director
Will mankind use its inventive abilities to benefit our world or bring about its destruction?
Director
An updated version of Halas and Batchelor's short film, 'The Magic Canvas', with a new electronic score.
Producer
A lonely man living in a large city buys a life-size sex doll. His relationship with his dream doll causes a certain reaction in the community. A bizarre adaption of Le Ballon Rouge.
Writer
An animated visual interpretation of the song "Autobahn," by German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk. A fast-paced experimental film which proved to be a groundbreaking combination of electronic and manual animation. One of the first films produced specifically for video disk.
Director
An animated visual interpretation of the song "Autobahn," by German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk. A fast-paced experimental film which proved to be a groundbreaking combination of electronic and manual animation. One of the first films produced specifically for video disk.
Art Direction
Production Design
Director
Director
D'Artagnan and his musketeer comrades must thwart the plans of Cardinal Richelieu to usurp King Louis XIII's power. Animated film directed by John Halas.
Producer
Out with the old and in with the new – one of Britain’s leading animation companies pitches its new image with great humour.
Producer
An animated cartoon of drawings by young children, who imagine the motor car of today and of the future.
Director
An animated cartoon of drawings by young children, who imagine the motor car of today and of the future.
Producer
Story
Cartoon set to songs from The Moody Blues' titular album.
Producer
Cartoon set to songs from The Moody Blues' titular album.
Director
Cartoon set to songs from The Moody Blues' titular album.
Producer
One of a humorous series of films devised to explain in graphic terms the concepts of basic mathematical functions.
Producer
For centuries, the Murgatroyd family, the Baronets of Ruddigore, have been under a witch's curse — commit a crime every day, or die in agony. Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the rightful heir, has run away to live as innocent peasant Robin Oakapple in the Cornish village of Rederring, sticking his brother Despard with the curse. But on the very day that "Robin" is to marry sweet, beautiful Rose Maybud, it all falls apart. Can Sir Ruthven outwit a picture gallery full of his ancestors' ghosts to save the day?
Director
Director
An animated cartoon on smoking and health. The villain, Old Nick O'Teen, disguises himself as an 18-year-old motorcyclist, the better to lure children into the cigarette habit. Fourteen-year-old Sam falls into the trap, but after awesome visions of his future, expert advice from a doctor, and straight talk from a friendly lorry-driver renounces the habit.
Producer
A humorous introduction to problem analysis and programming.
Director
This satirical animated short by the renowned Halas & Batchelor Studio asks the big Question. Can the meaning of life be found in religion or science? Patriotism or war? Money or self-discovery? Or none of the above?
Writer
A naïve father makes an embarrassing attempt to explain the facts of life to his son, but he becomes increasingly embarrassed to the point where his explanations are so vague as to be incomprehensible.
Director
A naïve father makes an embarrassing attempt to explain the facts of life to his son, but he becomes increasingly embarrassed to the point where his explanations are so vague as to be incomprehensible.
Director
The Maestro brings a world of emotions to life interpreted by the orchestra and the animation.
Writer
This a story of a violinist, pianist and cellist as they perform from place-to-place, under very unusual conditions. Every time they play, they remind someone of a lost love, so they are hired immediately hired by nightclub owners, ship captains and even a pirate... wherever circumstances take them.
Director
This a story of a violinist, pianist and cellist as they perform from place-to-place, under very unusual conditions. Every time they play, they remind someone of a lost love, so they are hired immediately hired by nightclub owners, ship captains and even a pirate... wherever circumstances take them.
Writer
Puck is introduced to the twentieth century and is as amused by the contemporary obsession with television as he was by the lovers' antics.
Producer
Puck is introduced to the twentieth century and is as amused by the contemporary obsession with television as he was by the lovers' antics.
Director
Puck is introduced to the twentieth century and is as amused by the contemporary obsession with television as he was by the lovers' antics.
Director
An animated short based on the cartoons of Gerard Hoffnung.
Writer
An animated, dark satire of America's automobile-obsessed, consumerist culture. An anonymous, brilliant scientist toils tirelessly in his ivory tower satisfying the public's ever-increasing demands for novelty and status consciousness, with predictable environmental consequences.
Director
An animated, dark satire of America's automobile-obsessed, consumerist culture. An anonymous, brilliant scientist toils tirelessly in his ivory tower satisfying the public's ever-increasing demands for novelty and status consciousness, with predictable environmental consequences.
Producer
The story of three children who find themselves with a friendly monster that grows at an alarming rate.
Director
Hamilton the elephant is being trained for the circus when he discovers his amazing musical ability; the ringmaster decides to exploit his new-found talent for jazz.
Director
An animated film about the history and use of hot water.
Screenplay
T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Director
T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Director
A candlemaker entrusts his young son with the task of making candles for their church on Christmas Eve.
Writer
A humorously semi-factual account of the history of cinema.
Director
A humorously semi-factual account of the history of cinema.
Director
A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when corrupt pigs hijack it for their personal gain. Based on the socialist George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm”, a critique of Stalinist authoritarianism.
Screenplay
A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when corrupt pigs hijack it for their personal gain. Based on the socialist George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm”, a critique of Stalinist authoritarianism.
Producer
A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when corrupt pigs hijack it for their personal gain. Based on the socialist George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm”, a critique of Stalinist authoritarianism.
Producer
A BAFTA award nominated film made for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company charting the history of aviation from Daedalus to jets.
Producer
A BAFTA award nominated animation tracing the development of the motor car from the original horseless carriage common in the late 19th century to the 1950s streamlined, massed produced, designs.
Producer
A poem of unrequited love: the studio's first puppet production. Based on a poem by Cosbie Garstin, the film tells the story of a carved wooden saint who is painted to look like a soldier and used as a figurehead on a sailing ship. The ship sinks and the figurehead is saved by a beautiful mermaid who falls in love with him. Her love is not returned because despite his dashing looks he has the wooden heart of a saint.
Producer
A short animation based on the Edward Lear poem
Director
A short animation based on the Edward Lear poem
Director
Cartoon of chicken's adventures while being chased by woodland animal.
Producer
Everyone knows that petroleum comes out of the earth, but the question is how did it get there, and what is it made of? The answer to these questions are given simply and accurately in this animated programme.
Director
Script
Producer
This cartoon propaganda short by Halas & Batchelor sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow.
Writer
This cartoon propaganda short by Halas & Batchelor sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow.
Director
This cartoon propaganda short by Halas & Batchelor sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow.
Director
First Line of Defence is a short cartoon recruitment film for the RAF created in 1949 by animation duo Halas and Batchelor. The story follows a trainee pilot dreaming about the history of flight.
Director
An overview of the new schooling system. Part of BFI collection "Your Children and You."
Producer
A powerfully graphic piece of animation that best expresses John Halas' own feelings about mans universal quest for freedom.
Writer
A powerfully graphic piece of animation that best expresses John Halas' own feelings about mans universal quest for freedom.
Director
A powerfully graphic piece of animation that best expresses John Halas' own feelings about mans universal quest for freedom.
Director
No man is an island, but Charley represents his nation in this economical cartoon tale of Britain's economics. Meet Charley, the portrait of a nation. At the end of the 1940s the Central Office of Information commissioned Halas and Batchelor to make seven films about policies of the post-war Labour Government. Charley was cast as the figurehead of the campaign, learning about mining, farming, national insurance, and even schooling via a son at the end of the series. This short looks at the Marshall Plan, and makes the most explicit link between character and country as his life story stands in for 270 years of British economic history.
Story
Popular animated character Charley explains the National Insurance Act, which was legislation that made health insurance available to all British citizens.
Director
Popular animated character Charley explains the National Insurance Act, which was legislation that made health insurance available to all British citizens.
Director
Feature-length instructional cartoon made for the Home Office and the Fire Brigade.
Director
In this film Charley demystifies the new state-funded National Health Service, detailing the benefits a free-at-point-of-delivery health service will offer to everyone in England.
Director
Meet Charley, your jovial cartoon guide to Britain’s changing towns and cities.
Producer
Joy Batchelor directed, produced, wrote and designed this short film for Brook Bond Tea: two girls compete for the affections of a Teddy Bear.
Director
Joy Batchelor directed, produced, wrote and designed this short film for Brook Bond Tea: two girls compete for the affections of a Teddy Bear.
Director
Cartoon proof that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In this 1940s cinema advert, the tardiness of Signalman Squirrel's breakfast brings passengers to the brink of a major rail disaster every day. The solution is not setting his alarm earlier, finding an extra pair of hands for his long-suffering wife, or (heaven forbid) making his own breakfast. No, the answer lies in a home delivery mix-up of a familiar cereal box.
Director
In commissioning Halas & Batchelor, the War Office recognised the potential of cartoons as an unobtrusive and entertaining medium by which official messages could be conveyed - in this case some rather unsavoury warnings pertaining to foot rot, dysentery and VD. Aimed at soldiers serving in the Far East, the antics of six sprightly soldiers stationed in the jungle illustrate with humour and clarity the potential pitfalls of poor personal hygiene.
Writer
Instructional cartoon for the Admiralty.
Producer
Instructional cartoon for the Admiralty.
Director
Instructional cartoon for the Admiralty.
Director
A dancing radio stops partying to transmit an announcement on fuel conservation in this WWII cartoon short.
Producer
Director
Animation
The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.
Art Designer
The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.
Producer
The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.
Writer
The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.
Director
This World War II propaganda short encourages British people to "dig for victory," by planting vegetable gardens.
Director
A particularly vicious Father Time with a hit-list in his Book of Doom seeks to wipe out characters brought to life from fabric patterns. This neat concept for a cartoon washing powder commercial can be credited to Alexander Mackendrick, who worked at the J Walter Thompson advertising agency before making films at Ealing and then Hollywood.
Director
The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.
Director
A colorful cartoon commercial for soap flakes seems the last place that the realities of wartime life should creep in. A clothes cupboard opens to reveal a fantasy world where figures on fabric patterns come to life, and a neglected clown is shunned until he bathes in Lux Flakes. But in a last-minute coda, the clown returns to break the animated fourth wall and tell the audience that the product will not be made again till the war is over.
Director
The first British animated Technicolor film.
