John Halas Movies

Out with the old and in with the new – one of Britain’s leading animation companies pitches its new image with great humour.

A humorous introduction to problem analysis and programming.

Hamilton the elephant loves playing music with his trunk. When he is fired from the circus he does odd jobs till he gets his big break.

In this film Charley demystifies the new state-funded National Health Service, detailing the benefits a free-at-point-of-delivery health service will...

A candlemaker entrusts his young son with the task of making candles for their church on Christmas Eve.

The cartoon is one of the Marshall Plan's most popular films. A clash between a shoemaker and a hat maker illustrates the contrasts between...

Feature-length instructional cartoon made for the Home Office and the Fire Brigade.

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

If you haven’t already been diverted by the history of John Gilpin, or would like to venture that way again, you couldn’t find a better...

Cartoon of chicken's adventures while being chased by woodland animal.

This cartoon propaganda short by Halas & Batchelor sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow.

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....

A short animated War Office commissioned health education film, showing the fate of each of the 6 jungle soldiers.

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...

No man is an island, but Charley represents his nation in this economical cartoon tale of Britain’s economics.

Puck is introduced to the twentieth century and is as amused by the contemporary obsession with television as he was by the lovers' antics.

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...

Hello darkness my old friend. The four-part “experiment in word, music and paintings” that was made by the BFI for the 1951 Festival of...

The film is designed to encourage recycling - which was a key part of the war effort.

A feature length instructional video for the Admiralty on coastal navigation and pilotage.