This film is part of Free

Title of error

Carnival in the Clothes Cupboard

A cartoon fantasy brings fabric patterns to life in a literal soap opera - yet even here the reality of Home Front life creeps in

Advert 1941 6 mins

Overview

A colourful cartoon commercial for soap flakes seems the last place that the realities of wartime life should creep in. A clothes cupboard opens to reveal a fantasy world where figures on fabric patterns come to life, and a neglected clown is shunned until he bathes in Lux Flakes. But in a last minute coda, the clown returns to break the animated fourth wall and tell the audience that the product will not be made again till the war is over.

Future Ealing and Hollywood director Alexander Mackendrick began his career at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, scripting and storyboarding many of their animated cinema commercials at this time. Along with the very similar Fable of the Fabrics, this was the first production by Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Films – a company that would quickly develop into Britain’s biggest animation studio of the post-war period.

Director

John Halas and Joy Batchelor

Genres

Advert and Animation & Artists Moving Image

Country

United Kingdom

Language

English

Watch for free

Your Shopping Guide Your Shopping Guide

Advert 1930 5 mins Silent

Lingerie, wallpaper, garages - there's something on offer for everyone in these lo-fi local cinema ads from Darlington

Watch for free

Air to Wear Air to Wear

Advert 1957 2 mins Silent

As full of holes as his Aertex shirt, Uncle Jeff’s tall tales are captured in crayon in this animated cinema ad

Watch for free

Ovaltine - Train Ovaltine - Train

Advert 1985 1 mins

Ovaltina will pick you up! With an electronic 80s synth and a catchy theme tune, Ovaltina parachutes in to save the day

Watch for free

Love on the Range Love on the Range

Advert 1939 6 mins

An animated Western mock-opera about Horlicks? Bring it on!

Watch for free

Molar Mischief Molar Mischief

Advert 1946 2 mins

Look out, germs at work! These loveable molar mischief making puppets really dig tooth decay.

Watch for free

Dolly Put the Kettle On Dolly Put the Kettle On

Advert 1947 2 mins

A spurned doll turns knife-wielding femme fatale when she doesn't get her teddy bear, in this cartoon cinema ad for tea

Watch for free

Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2024 24 mins

Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.

Watch for free

Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2024 30 mins

Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.

Watch for free

Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell

Documentary 2024 42 mins

Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.

Watch for free

Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels

Short documentary 2024 12 mins

Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.