The Lion (1948) is the first in the David Hand-produced Animaland series. It was directed by Bert Felstead, with animation by Stan Pearsall, Ted Percival, Bill Hopper, John Wilson and Chick Henderson. Like the other Animaland shorts it is rough around the edges but is unusual as an example of a British studio going all-out to emulate the style of contemporary American animation. Hand, of course, was a veteran Disney animator, having directed Snow White, Bambi and numerous shorts.
The Lion appears to have been Felstead's directorial debut, as I can find no film credits for him outside of the nine Animaland films. Steve Holland has a great blog post charting Felstead's career as a comic artist in the fifties, sixties and seventies.
Despite being the star the lion, later christened Zimmy, was not the character who caught on. Instead, the crew appear to have preferred the unnamed parrot that appeared in one scene: redesigned but with voice and personality intact he served as the basis for Corny Crow, a regular character from later on in the series.
