Halas and Batchelor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Halas and Batchelor was an animation company founded by John Halas and his wife, Joy Batchelor. The company started as a small animation unit that created commercials for theatrical distribution. The unit continued this until the outbreak of World War II and became well known for its over 70 animated propaganda short films. Its first feature film was Handling Ships, made in 1945, and is the first-ever British animated feature. After the war, Halas and Batchelor continued to make short films, while in production, the first British animated feature released worldwide, Animal Farm was being made. The studio grew from a small unit to a proper animation company, located on several areas in Britain. Its best-known animation series were Foo Foo (1959-60) and DoDo, The Kid from Outer Space (1965-70).
As well as short films, the studio made a small number of feature films, such as Ruddigore in the late 1960s. The company no longer exists but most of the 2000 films now form part of The Halas and Batchelor Collection Limited that was started in 1996.
