MGM-British Studios Meanwhile, Amalgamated Studios Ltd constructed a large studio on the north side of Elstree Way between 1935 and 1937. A January 1937 deal for eight films to be made for the American studio Columbia Pictures soon collapsed. The company was unable to meet the cost of building work, and sold the facility to the Rank Organisation, which was not interested in using the studios itself, but wanted to stop John Maxwell's rival British International Pictures (BIP) from being able to compete more effectively with its own new Pinewood Studios. During the war, the studios were leased from Rank by the
Popeye the Sailor filmography (Fleischer Studios) Color Specials" ("Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" from 1936, "Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves" from 1937, and "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" from 1939), which are two-reels (20 minutes) long and in Technicolor. The first 8 cartoons used the "Out of the Inkwell" logo. Dave Fleischer was the credited director on every cartoon produced by Fleischer Studios. Fleischer's actual duties were those of a film producer and creative supervisor, with the head animators doing much of the work assigned to animation directors in other studios. The head animator is the first animator listed. Credited animators