
Directing
George Pal
Born — Died
1908-01-31 — 1980-05-02
Place of birth
Cegléd, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]
Known for
Directing
Credits
43 titles
George Pal (born Gyorgy Pal Marczincsak; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer. He is best known for his classic Puppetoon replacement animation short films, as well as his association with the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres. Pal was nominated for Academy Awards (in the category Best Short Subject, Cartoons) in seven consecutive years (1942–1948). He received an honorary Oscar, for the development of novel animation methods and techniques, in 1944.
Known for
7.4A Victorian Englishman travels to the far future and finds that humanity has divided into two hostile species.
The Time Machine
1960
6.8The residents of a small town are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills, until they discover it is the first of many transport devices from Mars bringing an army of invaders invincible to any man-made weapon, even the atomic bomb.
The War of the Worlds
1953
6.4When a group of astronomers calculate a star is on a course to slam into Earth, a few days before, it's accompanying planet will first pass close enough to the Earth to cause havoc on land and sea. They set about building a rocket so a few selected individuals can escape to the planet.
When Worlds Collide
1951
6.3One by one members of a special project team are being killed by telekinesis - the ability to move things with the power of the mind alone. The race is on to determine which of the remaining team members is the murderer and to stop them.
The Power
1968
5.6A team of American astronauts leave their space station on the first mission to Mars, but the captain's religious beliefs may get in the way.
Conquest of Space
1955
5.2A Greek Fisherman brings an Atlantean Princess back to her homeland which is the mythical city of Atlantis. He is enslaved for his trouble. The King is being manipulated by an evil sorcerer who is bent on using a natural resource of Atlantis to take over the world. The Atlanteans, or rather the slaves of Atlantis, are forced to mine a crystalline material which absorbs the suns rays. These crystals can then be used for warmth. The misuse of science has created weapons out of the crystals that can fire a heat ray to destroy whatever it touches.
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
1961
Film credits
Behind the camera
7.4A Victorian Englishman travels to the far future and finds that humanity has divided into two hostile species.
The Time Machine
1960
7.4A Victorian Englishman travels to the far future and finds that humanity has divided into two hostile species.
The Time Machine
1960
6.8The residents of a small town are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills, until they discover it is the first of many transport devices from Mars bringing an army of invaders invincible to any man-made weapon, even the atomic bomb.
The War of the Worlds
1953
6.4When a group of astronomers calculate a star is on a course to slam into Earth, a few days before, it's accompanying planet will first pass close enough to the Earth to cause havoc on land and sea. They set about building a rocket so a few selected individuals can escape to the planet.
When Worlds Collide
1951
6.3One by one members of a special project team are being killed by telekinesis - the ability to move things with the power of the mind alone. The race is on to determine which of the remaining team members is the murderer and to stop them.
The Power
1968
5.6A team of American astronauts leave their space station on the first mission to Mars, but the captain's religious beliefs may get in the way.
Conquest of Space
1955
5.2A Greek Fisherman brings an Atlantean Princess back to her homeland which is the mythical city of Atlantis. He is enslaved for his trouble. The King is being manipulated by an evil sorcerer who is bent on using a natural resource of Atlantis to take over the world. The Atlanteans, or rather the slaves of Atlantis, are forced to mine a crystalline material which absorbs the suns rays. These crystals can then be used for warmth. The misuse of science has created weapons out of the crystals that can fire a heat ray to destroy whatever it touches.
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
1961
5.2A Greek Fisherman brings an Atlantean Princess back to her homeland which is the mythical city of Atlantis. He is enslaved for his trouble. The King is being manipulated by an evil sorcerer who is bent on using a natural resource of Atlantis to take over the world. The Atlanteans, or rather the slaves of Atlantis, are forced to mine a crystalline material which absorbs the suns rays. These crystals can then be used for warmth. The misuse of science has created weapons out of the crystals that can fire a heat ray to destroy whatever it touches.
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
1961
6.6By the early 1900s, the extraordinary Houdini earned an international reputation for his theatrical tricks and daring feats of extrication from shackles, ropes, handcuffs and... Scotland Yard's jails.
Houdini
1953
5.9The Grimm brothers Wilhelm and Jacob, known for their literary works in the nineteenth century, have their lives dramatized. Wilhelm fights to write something entertaining amongst the sea of dry, non-fiction books they write and he sets about collecting oral-tradition fairy tales to put into print. Their life story is countered with reenactments of three of their stories including "The Dancing Princess," "The Cobbler and the Elves" and "The Singing Bone."
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
1962
5.9The Grimm brothers Wilhelm and Jacob, known for their literary works in the nineteenth century, have their lives dramatized. Wilhelm fights to write something entertaining amongst the sea of dry, non-fiction books they write and he sets about collecting oral-tradition fairy tales to put into print. Their life story is countered with reenactments of three of their stories including "The Dancing Princess," "The Cobbler and the Elves" and "The Singing Bone."
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
1962
6.6The Leiningen South American cocoa plantation is threatened by a 2-mile-wide, 20-mile-long column of army ants.
The Naked Jungle
1954
5.2In the Fabulous Thirties, Doc Savage and his five Amazing Adventurers are sucked into the mystery of Doc's father disappearing in the wilds of South America. The maniacal Captain Seas tries to thwart them at every turn as they travel to the country of Hidalgo to investigate Doc's father's death and uncover a vast horde of Incan gold.
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze
1975
5.2In the Fabulous Thirties, Doc Savage and his five Amazing Adventurers are sucked into the mystery of Doc's father disappearing in the wilds of South America. The maniacal Captain Seas tries to thwart them at every turn as they travel to the country of Hidalgo to investigate Doc's father's death and uncover a vast horde of Incan gold.
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze
1975
6.4A boy, no bigger than a thumb, manages to outwit two thieves determined to make a fortune from him.
Tom Thumb
1958
6.4A boy, no bigger than a thumb, manages to outwit two thieves determined to make a fortune from him.
Tom Thumb
1958
6.9An old Chinese man rides into the town of Abalone, Arizona and changes it forever, as the citizens see themselves reflected in the mirror of Lao's mysterious circus of mythical beasts.
7 Faces of Dr. Lao
1964
6.9An old Chinese man rides into the town of Abalone, Arizona and changes it forever, as the citizens see themselves reflected in the mirror of Lao's mysterious circus of mythical beasts.
7 Faces of Dr. Lao
1964
5.9A team composed of an aerospace scientist, an ex-Air Force general, and an industrialist conceives an ambitious plan to land Americans on the moon. From their base in the Mojave Desert, they construct and successfully launch a spacecraft named "Luna" that contains a cargo of four astronauts. But a critical miscalculation of needed power to escape the moon's gravitational pull may put the astronauts' lives in danger.
Destination Moon
1950
8.3Jim Dandy lands on a tropical island and falls in love with a beautiful maiden. A Puppetoon animated short film.
Hoola Boola
1941
6.5Bartholomew Cubbins has SO MANY HATS. Every time he removes one in the presence of the King, it is replaced magically with another. This enrages the King, who brings him to trial, and to the ultimate sentence.
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
1943
5.7Shortly before Christmas, a family moves into an apartment where Rupert the squirrel lives in the attic rafters. Just as it seems that the holiday will come and go without so much as a Christmas tree, Rupert acts as the family's guardian angel - not only saving Christmas, but changing their lives forever.
The Great Rupert
1950
6.1John Henry springs to life as a full-grown man, and in no time at all establishes himself as the mightiest steel-driver around. When a newfangled steel-driving machine threatens his livelihood, he sets out to beat it in a one-on-one race.
John Henry and the Inky-Poo
1946
NRShort commercial with animated sequences.
How Much Is Your Health Worth to You?
1932
NRAnimated cinema advertisement produced for Horlick's by George Pal.
South Sea Sweethearts
1938
10.0Jasper is hunting in the jungle with his friend the Scarecrow. Along the way, they run into Bugs Bunny, making a rare cameo in a non-Warner Bros. production.
Jasper Goes Hunting
1944
10.0Jasper is hunting in the jungle with his friend the Scarecrow. Along the way, they run into Bugs Bunny, making a rare cameo in a non-Warner Bros. production.
Jasper Goes Hunting
1944
The first of a series of 12 compilation features (number 1-12)made for theatres to use as a Saturday Matinee offering aimed strictly at children. Marian Stafford, folk-singer Jared Reed, and The Bunin Puppets appear before and after each cartoon short. All of the cartoon shorts were originally released by Paramount, and included "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1943)" - Betty Boop's "Crazy Town (1932)" - "The Silly Goose/Dumme Ganslein, Der (1945)" - "The Busy Little Bears (1939)" - "Toys Will Be Toys (1949)", and other Paramount cartoons, shorts and a couple of the audience-participation Screen Song singalong shorts. Strictly sold on a "Park-the-kids-and-go-shopping" or "Cheap Baby-Sitting" basis, and, since it was geared toward the kids, there was also a bath-room break intermission about halfway through the film. New footage and some of the cartoons in Technicolor, but a few of the cartoons were black-and-white.
The Big Fun Carnival
1957
The first of a series of 12 compilation features (number 1-12)made for theatres to use as a Saturday Matinee offering aimed strictly at children. Marian Stafford, folk-singer Jared Reed, and The Bunin Puppets appear before and after each cartoon short. All of the cartoon shorts were originally released by Paramount, and included "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1943)" - Betty Boop's "Crazy Town (1932)" - "The Silly Goose/Dumme Ganslein, Der (1945)" - "The Busy Little Bears (1939)" - "Toys Will Be Toys (1949)", and other Paramount cartoons, shorts and a couple of the audience-participation Screen Song singalong shorts. Strictly sold on a "Park-the-kids-and-go-shopping" or "Cheap Baby-Sitting" basis, and, since it was geared toward the kids, there was also a bath-room break intermission about halfway through the film. New footage and some of the cartoons in Technicolor, but a few of the cartoons were black-and-white.
The Big Fun Carnival
1957
In this entertaining Puppetoon animated short film, a young boy, Jasper, gets trapped inside a pawnshop at midnight. All the musical instruments come to life and play jazz. A whooping wooden Indian chief self-animates as well, and goes on the warpath.
Jasper in a Jam
1946
7.31944 animated short film by George Pal, based on the book by Dr. Seuss.
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
1944
8.0As the goose-stepping "Screwball Army" pillages Europe, a statue of Mr. Strauss (symbol to defeat Hitler) comes to life with violin in hand. Like a Pied Piper, Strauss leads the nuts and bolts to drown in the Danube River.
Bravo, Mr. Strauss
1943
8.0Jasper and the scarecrow play some piano.
Jasper's Music Lesson
1943
10.0To get his comeuppance, Jasper sets a series boobytraps for Scarecrow.
Jasper's Boobytraps
1945
7.0Jasper and the Haunted House is another George Pal Puppetoon about a black boy and his troubles. This time, the scarecrow switches a sign that leads Jasper to a haunted house instead of a deacon's place where he brings a pie.
Jasper and the Haunted House
1942
6.0Puppet animation of Bert Ambrose and His Orchestra performing. A Puppetoon animated short film.
The Great Philips Review
1938
6.5Puppet animation film advertising Philips Radio sets. A ship steers its way to several international radio stations, where characteristic music is heard - France, Vienna, Rome, Hilversum, Beromünster, Munich and Daventry.
The Ship of the Ether
1934
NRAll-puppet animation tells the story of how oil is formed through ages of geological change, how it is found, extracted and put to use by man.
Prospecting for Petroleum
1946
7.0The Scarecrow and the Crow trick Jasper out of all of his possessions. The Crow reads to the Scarecrow from Jasper's book. The Scarecrow falls asleep and dreams he is on trial for stealing Jasper's property.
My Man Jasper
1945
In this Puppetoon animated short film, Judy, an enticing blonde, lives across the way from Punchy and uses all her feminine wiles to try to snare him.
Together in the Weather
1946

