
Directing
Vera Linnecar
Born 1923-01-01 · Lambeth, London, England, UK
Vera joined Halas & Batchelor in 1940 fresh out of art school. Her talents and need to express them quickly moved her from tracing work – copying the pencil drawings of others onto clear cels in ink – to animating herself. She remained a key member of the company in its founding years, before leaving to join the Larkins Studio in the late 40s. Vera flourished at Larkins, working particularly well with Nancy Hanna who was already established there and the two were head-hunted to work in an animation department at Pearl & Dean under ex-UPA man Dave Hilberman in 1953 or 54. Hildenburg’s tenure at Pearl & Dean was unfortunately short-lived and Nancy and Vera were not treated well by the management thereafter. They both moved to join Bob Godfrey and Keith Learner at Biographic in 1957, and remained key a fixture of the British animation industry there until she retired in 1985. Post-retirement, Vera has left animation behind but continues to paint and exhibit her work.
Acting credits
7.0The story of married animators, John Halas and Joy Batchelor. A Jewish emigre from Hungary and a working class woman from Watford, England, John and Joy fell in love, created cartoons that helped the allies to win the war, and produced the first feature-length animation in British cinema history, Animal Farm (1954).
The Animated World of Halas and Batchelor
2020
8.0A surreal mix of advertising tropes from the 1960s is very funny but has a neat anti-capitalist undertow.
The Plain Man's Guide to Advertising
1962
Behind the camera
Animated short. A man runs and runs.
Quodlibet
1968
Animated short. A man runs and runs.
Quodlibet
1968
Animated short. A man runs and runs.
Quodlibet
1968
A BAFTA award nominated animated Industrial safety film featuring a clumsy fruit porter who learns the error of his ways, told as a mini-operetta.
Do Be Careful Boys
1964
NRWatch the Ungle Wungle bird find his mate in this very early Bob Godfrey film, made with his colleagues at Larkins Studio.
Watch the Birdie
1954
NRSamantha, beloved by Spring, is captured by a butterfly hunter.
Springtime for Samantha
1965
Meet Mildred. A delightfully dotty older lady who’s carefree attitude means you need to be careful around her. Not the most obvious route into a sponsored film about BP’s air fuelling operation, but these are not the most obvious scriptwriters. Michael Bentine was embarking on “It’s a Square World” and Dick Lester would go on to direct features with The Beatles, and films in the Superman franchise.
Mildred
1960
9.0No synopsis available yet.
The Trendsetter
1970
7.0Are you a dog or a cat person? If you favour the felines then this animated meditation on cats of all shapes and sizes is for you. The film grew out of industry veteran Vera Linnecar's play with applying mottled coloured paints directly onto animation cels. Paired with the piano music these scenes are a playful experiment, mixing abstraction with careful observation of cat behaviour. Vera started her animation career at the Halas & Batchelor studio in 1940, as did Elizabeth Horn, who also worked on this film. Moving from tracing, to inbetweening, to animating, Vera became one the company's principle artists. In the late 1940s she moved to the Larkins studio which better suited her experimental spirit. In 1957, along with Nancy Hanna, she joined Bob Godfrey and Keith Learner at Biographic, and continued innovating there until she retired in 1983, after four decades in the business.
A Cat Is A Cat
1971
7.0Are you a dog or a cat person? If you favour the felines then this animated meditation on cats of all shapes and sizes is for you. The film grew out of industry veteran Vera Linnecar's play with applying mottled coloured paints directly onto animation cels. Paired with the piano music these scenes are a playful experiment, mixing abstraction with careful observation of cat behaviour. Vera started her animation career at the Halas & Batchelor studio in 1940, as did Elizabeth Horn, who also worked on this film. Moving from tracing, to inbetweening, to animating, Vera became one the company's principle artists. In the late 1940s she moved to the Larkins studio which better suited her experimental spirit. In 1957, along with Nancy Hanna, she joined Bob Godfrey and Keith Learner at Biographic, and continued innovating there until she retired in 1983, after four decades in the business.
A Cat Is A Cat
1971