The name of Biographic is associated primarily with co-founder Bob Godfrey, but we should not forget the work by other members of the group. Here are some stills from A Cat is a Cat, made in 1971 by Vera Linnecar; the short is a lighthearted documentary about cats in both nature and human culture, narrated by two children.
And while we're at it, some stills from Keith Learner's 1964 short Gold Whiskers. Unfortunately, this cartoon hasn't aged well - James Bond parodies have been rather well-trodden in the intervening decades, and this one in particular is now all too reminiscent of the later Danger Mouse. Still, some interesting design work.
Incidentally, I'm not entirely sure why these two films are credited to "Biographic 3" and "Biographic 2". The Biographic group appears to have become divided into units at some point, but I have no idea what the full story is there.
I'm reminded of one of Godfrey's shorts in the 60's, Alf, Bill and Fred that also was credited to a Biographic division number or such as well.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Dennis Gifford's filmography, Biographic One made Aquarius, Biographic Three did Springtime for Samantha and The Trend Setter, and Biographic Four handled The Plain Man's Guide to Advertising, The Rise and Fall of Emily Sprod and Alf, Bill and Fred...
ReplyDeleteBiographic Four = Bob. So presumably from the info above: Nancy Hanna = Biographic 1; Keith Learner = Biographic 2; Vera Linnecar = Biographic 3. It was a way of keeping their more personal films financially separate. Commercial work was presumably always done under the Biographic mantel.
ReplyDeleteAh, that clears that up then, thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi I'm Keith Learner's daughter. He's asked me to see if I can find a lost copy of Goldwhiskers as he's been contacted by the British Film Institute recently & they can't seem to find it. They have the original soundtrack but no film! Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteHello there,
ReplyDeleteIs it a specific print of the film you're looking for, or will any copy do? If it's any copy then I should be able to help. If you drop me an e-mail (my address is in the right-hand column of this blog) we can talk from there.
Thank you so much, I will be in touch, and yes any copy will do
ReplyDelete