Little Gems - CFF Production - The Adventures of HAL 5

Who doesn't remember the Children's Film Foundation (CFF) image above. Just the sight of the fountain, the sound of the church bells and the pigeons taking flight brings back vivid memories of a flotilla of films made by the CFF from the late 1950s-1980s. Some were absolutely brilliant including, "The Battle for Billy's Pond," (soon to arrive at Little Gems), "Cup Fever," "Egghead's Robot," "Glitterball," "Hoverbug" and "Sky Pirates." Sadly the Children's Film Foundation closed in 1981 and since that time very few British films aimed at under twelves have appeared on our screens. It is hard to believe that in 1999, the so called Culture Secretary was reportedly pushing money into young children's film production. I wonder how much of that money ended up on the screen and how much ended up in the usual administration box. I for one cannot think of any real films since 1999 which have had under twelves in mind (feel free to correct me but mark, I am referring to British made and targeting under twelves only). The only player which took up the work in the early 1990s was The Children's Unit and two good films arrived in the shape of Emily's Ghost (1992) and The Gingerbread House.

The Adventures of HAL 5 concerns the story of an old 1920s Austin 7 car which, having been sold by its owner, is purchased by two children and their uncle who happens to be a Vicar. The film was made in 1957 in black and white and lasted approximately fifty seven minutes. There are many similarities here to other children's films / programs such as "The Love Bug", "Herbie Rides Again", "Herbie goes Bananas", "Herbie goes to Monte Carlo", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", "Brum" and all other children's programs which bring vehicles to life. This was possible the first one that had an animated face on a car with live acting (again please correct if you know otherwise)

Charles	HAL 5	Moira
The Vicar	Mr. Cooper	Mr. Dicey (formerly Squadron Leader)
Ben	Grannie	The Doctor
Mr. Goorlie the nasty mechanic (right)	Ralph (nice honest mechanic)	Thunderbolt
Ginger	Titch	Village Bobby on the beat
Ginger, Titch and other boys	Village boys	Even more Village boys

From the book HAL 5 and the Haywards	by Henry Donald

The Players:
The Vicar	William Russell
Mr. Goorlie	John Glyn Jones
Ralph	John Charlesworth
Dicey	David Morrell
Cooper	Edwin Richfield
Grannie	Kathleen Williams
Charles	Petyer Godsell
Moira	Janina Faye
Ginger	Michael Maguire
Tich	Ian Higginson
Doctor	Martin Boddey
Ben	Bartlett Mullins
Thunderbolt	Boffin

The Film Makers:
Jo Jago	Took the Pictures
Eily Boland	Arranged them
Anthony Hinton	Managed the Business
Jim Goding	Operated the Camera
Doreen Russell	Designed the sets
Laurie Peake & George Adams	Recorded the Sound
W.L.Trytel	Wrote the Music
Don Sharp	Directed the Picture and Adapted the Story
Gilbert Church	Produced the Film
Bushey Film Studios Ltd.	At Halliford Studios Shepperton
Copyright MCMLVII	Children's Film Foundation Ltd.


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