Joy Batchelor
1914 - 1991Secrets of British Animation
Sebastian Barfield
Peter Lord, David Sproxton
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.
Secrets of British Animation
Ruddigore
Joy Batchelor
John Reed, David Palmer
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?
Ruddigore
Animal Farm
Joy Batchelor, John Halas
Gordon Heath, Maurice Denham
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.
Animal Farm
6 Little Jungle Boys
Joy Batchelor, John Halas
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.
6 Little Jungle Boys
The Five
Joy Batchelor
This highly entertaining animated film begins as a young girl settles down into bed to sleep after coming home from a party. One of her feet protrudes from under the bed cover and the toes come alive and discuss how painful they are after being cramped into ill-fitting shoes all day. The toes show in a series of flash-backs how they have been maltreated, and a dream shows how they would like to be treated - feet measured, shoes fitted and lots of time spent out of shoes and stockings.
The Five
Robinson Charley
Joy Batchelor, John Halas
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.
Robinson Charley
R.A.F.: First Line of Defence
Joy Batchelor, John Halas
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.
R.A.F.: First Line of Defence