Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Films

Asterix and Obelix depart on an adventure to complete twelve impossible tasks to prove to Caesar that they are as strong as the Gods. You'll roar with laughter as they outwit, outrun, and generally outrage the very people who are trying to prove them "only human".

Animals on a farm lead a revolution against the farmers to put their destiny in their own hands. However this revolution eats their own children and they cannot avoid corruption.

An animated film about the history and use of hot water.

Football crazy, football mad. Don’t watch this off-beat jukebox cartoon expecting any conventional soccer action. Equal parts Disney, Dali and Duchamp, this abstract mix of black and white photos and alternative comix style animation is accompanied by a medley of doo-wop classics and documentary soundbites. The film is certainly an extreme departure for those familiar with the more conventional output of the Halas & Batchelor studio, best known for their feature-length version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1954). Paul Vester was one of a number of sixties art school graduates that brought a mix of pop art and illustration influences to the company whilst it was undergoing a brief change in its ownership. As a warning, in keeping with its progressive, adult style there is some brief nudity at the end of the film.

The story of three children who find themselves with a friendly monster that grows at an alarming rate.

A BAFTA award nominated animation looking at the development of oil prospecting techniques since the 19th century.

A BAFTA award winning documentary on the basic principles and applications of hydrostatics.

A BAFTA award nominated reworking of a 1957 documentary using models and animation to explain the need to mix air and petrol in the correct proportions to create an efficient fuel for an engine.

A one-minute cartoon from Halas and Batchelor's The Condition of Man series, commenting on humanity's struggle to keep a balance of power. Directed and animated by Tony White.

Seville's most successful Matador has a secret, which his rival will use against him when he finds out.

Our animated hero questions his sanity after blowing his top and driving his car into a police station.

a short Halas & Batchelor animation about the adventures of Bolly and his friends on imaginary planets, featuring animation by Tony Guy, animation director on Watership Down

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.

An androgynous person is climbing up a swaying tower of humans who hang in the air. Many drop into a sea of flies below them. The flies pick at their brains. At the top of the tower a lotus flower opens and radiates light.

The Shorts and the Talls just can’t see eye to eye until a mediating fairy arrives to help them make ends meet.

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.

A project assembled to musically support William Plomer's (1903-73) book of poems called 'The Butterfly Ball and Grasshoppers Feast'; in which Alan Aldridge had provided the illustrations. British Lion had secured the rights, and commissioned Glover, through Tony Edwards (the Deep Purple manager), to add the musical dimension that it required if it were to be made into a 26-part animated cartoon series, suitable for TV. (Discogs) This is the music video for the song Love Is All, performed by Ronnie James Dio.

A short animation based on the Edward Lear poem

Meet Charley, your jovial cartoon guide to Britain’s changing towns and cities.

Set to Gilbert and Sullivan tunes, a musical cartoon attempts to describe the character of the British nation, with occasional interruptions by Prince Charles.