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At the end of World War II, the jubilance of victory was soon tempered as the
devastating economic impact of the war became evident. Robinson Charley was one
of a series of seven light-hearted films made by the Halas and Batchelor
animation team at the behest of Sir Stafford Cripps, then Chancellor of the
Exchequer, to convey important information about the government's new social
reforms and, in the case of Robinson Charley, publicise the urgent need to
increase production and revivify the hardening arteries of international
trade.
Britain's economic history is recounted allegorically through the experiences
of Charley, a recalcitrant 'man-in-the-street' type. Designed by Joy Batchelor,
Charley features in all of the films in the series. Robinson Charley's
protracted journey, from self-sufficient farmer to international business
tycoon buying and selling goods on the international market, spans centuries.
His trajectory to money and power is scuppered by two world wars in which he has
to fight to hold onto his international assets.
In personally commissioning Halas and Batchelor, Sir Stafford Cripps
recognised the potential of cartoons as an unobtrusive and entertaining medium
by which the government's complex political intentions could be communicated to
cinema audiences. (Cripps received a script credit for his involvement in the
pre-production stage). And Halas and Batchelor's particular style of
animation, with its clarity of exposition, vivid use of colour and exaggerated
gestures, had the capacity to disguise any underlying political hectoring.
The witty last-minute reversal of the downbeat ending is engineered through
one of Charley's characteristic chipper ripostes with the unseen narrator. The
resulting new denouement is a colourful injection of hope for audiences faced
with the somber realities of continued rationing and
shortages.
Katy McGahan
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1. The good times (2:18)
