Not Cricket

Not Cricket

A cartoon Caribbean mini-musical scripted by a Nobel Prize winner and accompanied by a Trinidadian guitar legend

When it comes to pedigree, few adverts can claim such illustrious origins. This cartoon Caribbean mini-musical was scripted by V.S Naipaul, who was just starting a writing career that would garner him a Nobel Prize in Literature. Music comes from Fitzroy Coleman, a Trinidadian guitar legend, and the animation was from the ground-breaking Larkins Studio who were pushing at the boundaries of cartoon style.

Having collaborated with Larkins on the successful Put Una Money For There (also available on the BFI Replay) for African audiences, Barclays were keen to explore a similar approach in the West Indies. The director of the commercial, Richard Taylor, recruited Coleman and fellow Trinidadian Naipaul to give some local authenticity to this tale of robbery and redemption. The characters were designed without faces on Barclays' advice to avoid representing people whose skin colour and racial origin varied throughout the West Indies. As an advert the film was considered a failure as West Indies audiences found it patronising and parochial to Trinidad. Ignore the spurious sales message and it remains a delight to watch today.

Tags

From the collection

Animated Ads

British animation won great success as an entertainer, but it has long had a lucrative second career in sales

In cinemas and on TV, animated adverts have frequently outshone the main attraction. In the early days of the cinema, animated ads were often relative epics, with five-minute comic encounters leading to a pack-shot punchline. The arrival of commercial television in 1955 brought the animated ad down to bite-size, but if anything they packed an even harder punch. Advertisers found that animation could soften the edges of a hard sell approach, and bring cartoon brand characters to life.

32 videos in this collection

Love on the Range

  • 1939

Your Shopping Guide

  • 1930

Molar Mischief (Solidox Advert)

  • 1946
A spurned doll turns knife-wielding femme fatale when she doesn't get her teddy bear, in this cartoon cinema ad for tea

Dolly Put the Kettle On

  • 1947

Cadbury's Star Bar

  • 1979

Mousewife's Choice

  • 1948
"Gee, old age!" Malicious Father Time doesn't stand a chance against a cartoon cupid armed with a big box of washing powder.

Fable of the Fabrics

  • 1942

South Sea Sweethearts

  • 1938

Silver Lining

  • 1947

Lyons Maid Lolly Gobble Choc Bomb

  • 1974

Put Una Money for There

  • 1956
Don't judge a book by its cover but do judge a political party by its garage in this Conservative cartoon from the height of the depression.

The Right Spirit

  • 1931
Anthropomorphic houses pop pills to defeat colds in this cartoon cinema commercial

Flu-ing Squad

  • 1951

Looking Ahead

  • 1930

Mr.........Goes Motoring

  • 1925

What Ho She Bumps

  • 1937

Brooke Bond D: Tea Party

  • 1977
15 seconds isn't long, you've got to say Crosse and you've got to say Blackwell, and you've got to say Branston Pickle!

Branston Pickle: Advertising Agency

  • 1957

Lyons Maid Vanilla - 2p Off

  • 1975

The Boy Who Wanted to Make Pictures

  • 1924

Shippam's Guide to Opera

  • 1955

Babycham: Tennis

  • 1957

Change for the Better

  • 1949

Aladdin and the Junior Genie

  • 1942

Fun on the Farm

  • 1935
A cartoon fantasy brings fabric patterns to life in a literal soap opera - yet even here the reality of Home Front life creeps in

Carnival in the Clothes Cupboard

  • 1941

Guinness - RAF Flying Toucans

  • 1955

Bee Wise!

  • 1946

Guinness at the Albert Hall

  • 1962

Not Cricket

  • 1958

The Red Box Fantasy

  • 1935
A fun selection of vintage animated adverts promoting some of Britain's leading bicycle brands.

Cinema Adverts for Humber, Raleigh and Rudge Bicycles - Compilation

  • 1938
View full collection