''Handling Ships'' is a 1945 British

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

animated film made by

Halas and Batchelor Halas and Batchelor was a British animation company founded by husband and wife John Halas and Joy Batchelor. Halas was a Hungarian émigré to the United Kingdom. The company had studios in London and Cainscross, in the Stroud District of Glou ...

. The 70-minute film was created at the request of the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom that was responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Historically, its titular head was the Lord High Admiral of the ...

, as a training aid for new

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...

s joining the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. Although never formally released to cinemas because of its small target audience, ''Handling Ships'' was an "Official Selection" at the 1946

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

, and is recognised as the first

feature-length A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

work, and the first work in

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

, in British animation history.

Background

After independent careers in animation,

John Halas John Halas OBE (born János Halász;Brian McFarlane ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'', London: Methuen/BFI, 2003, p.48 16 April 1912 – 21 January 1995) was a pioneering British animator. Together with Gyula Macskássy (an acquaintance fro ...

and Joy Batchelor began working together in 1938, and founded

in 1940 to create war information and

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

films. Approximately 70 films were created for the Ministry of Information, the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

, and the Admiralty over the course of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

; most of these were

shorts Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they ar ...

intended to improve morale or spur on increased contributions to the war effort, such as ''Dustbin Parade'', about recycling, and ''Filling the Gap'', about gardening. Halas and Batchelor also created a series of anti-

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

cartoons intended for viewing in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

; starring an Arab boy named Abu, who was "enticed and misguided by the forces of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his overthrow in 194 ...

". The heavy workload (at one point the studios were creating a minute-long short every three weeks) and minimal budgets meant that simple animations with economically driven stories were the norm.

Description

Halas and Batchelor were approached by the Admiralty to create an instructional film for Royal Navy navigation trainees; according to Halas, the intent was to "stop young people from driving a ship like it was a car". The film was not intended as a propaganda work, instead serving as a precise guide to manoeuvring and navigating ships, along with aspects of general ship handling and control. For ''Handling Ships'', Halas and Batchelor used stop motion animation of three-dimensional ship models, along with schematic designs, to simplify the intricacies and vagaries of ship movement and educate the viewer. The film was shot in 35 mm and

. Unlike previous animations by the company, ''Handling Ships'' was

, running at 70 minutes: at the time, the longest stop motion production made in the UK. The film was never released to cinema chains, as Halas and Batchelor felt it was too specialised for and of limited appeal to general audiences, and it had no propaganda value.

Reception and Significance

After the war, ''Handling Ships'' was entered in the 1946

, where it was a short film "Official Selection". The work proved the value of stop motion animation for instructional films, and the ability of the studio of Halas and Batchelor at making them, as they were said to have "extended the medium to explain complex ideas with clarity and humour". In 1948, the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

commissioned a feature-length training film, ''Waterford Fire Fighting''. This was followed in 1949 by another film for the Admiralty, ''Submarine Control'', for

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

r training. Halas and Batchelor were responsible for the animated feature film, ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' (originally ''Animal Farm: A Fairy Story'') is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic far ...

'', first released in the UK in 1954.Michael Brook
"''Animal Farm'' (1954)"
BFI screenonline

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0145807, title=Handling Ships 1945 films 1945 animated films 1945 documentary films British animated documentary films British animated feature films Documentary films about water transport 1940s stop-motion animated films Films directed by John Halas Halas and Batchelor films 1940s British films