History of Hungarian Animation 4.

After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and throughout the turbulent interwar and war years, many Hungarian animators emigrated elsewhere. This diaspora became highly influential for the development of animation in a number of countries:

One such was Britain, where John Halas (János Halász) founded the Halas and Batchelor studio with his wife, animator Joy Batchelor in 1940. During the war they created numerous shorts for the War Office and Ministry of Information and Defence, including the inventive and humorous Dustbin Parade (1941) and Blitz on Bugs (1944). Their studio became the most significant in Britain with a variety of productions extending from experimental to commercial and educational to entertaining, a truly remarkable range of work. Perhaps their most famous achievement was a masterful adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1954), but they directed and produced many memorable gems, including Magic Canvas (1948), History of Film (1957), the Snip and Snap series (1960), Automania 2000 (1963), The Five (1970), and Autobahn (1979).