John Grierson

A record of an educational experiment in the small town of Chesterfield in Derbyshire.

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Documentary about shipbuilding on the Clyde. In 1960, Glasgow and other towns and ports on the River Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland, were still one of the world's great centres of shipbuilding. The film gives an idea of the business of building a ship - the largest moving thing made by man - from the naval architects who design her to the workmen, the shipbuilders in the yard, through to a ship's launching.

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A boy pursues his ambition to be a jockey

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An Irish "oracle" foretells the next day's track results to a newspaperman, resulting in a national uproar.

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Filmed in Uganda, Man of Africa was assembled by legendary documentary producer John Grierson. The film depicts the mass migration of the Bakija and Batwa tribes to a new territory after the natural resources of their native soil has been depleted. The pro-ecological message is always present, but never so much as to degenerate into fatuous speechmaking. As a means to introduce the semblance of a plot, writer/director Cyril Frankel concentrates on the trials and tribulations of clerk-cum-farmer Jonathan (Frederick Bijurenda) and his native sweetheart Violet (Violet Mukabuerza). Print quality in Man of Africa varies from adequate to murky.

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In this delightful fantasy adventure, a mild-mannered writer of adventure stories for girls finds himself presented with an intriguing proposition from an elderly fan. She suggests that they conspire to steal a secret whiskey formula from ruthless distillers, who themselves stole it from her family in years gone by. With the recipe back in hand however, it's not long before they attract attention from the Inspectors of Scotland Yard.

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At Balloch Moss mine in Scotland, water comes through a seam bringing a torrent of mud into the mine and flooding the pit shaft, resulting in 118 men being trapped, with nine missing. The only means by which the rescue team can bring the men out is through some old abandoned workings which are now full of gas and thus will cause delays in any rescue attempt.

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Ada Shore (Diane Hart) arrives at Skerryvore University in Scotland in search of her long-lost uncle Connell O’Grady (Joseph Tomelty), who was once a subversive Irish poet but is now working under an assumed name as a University porter. Ada is mistaken by Principal Archibald Asher (Patrick Barr) as his new secretary, and she goes along with the impersonation. Archibald and Ada fall in love, which incurs the disapproval of the puritanical Professor Hayman (Duncan Macrae).

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Part of BFI collection "Police and Thieves."

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Made to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the London County Council, responsible for many of the changes celebrated in the film – modern hospitals, schools and services.

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Drama-documentary, reconstructing a real incident in which a trawler got into difficulties in a North Sea storm. Released 7th March 1938.

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A stark warning about Britain’s coal-fired smog, charting its damage to health, buildings, and the economy while advocating cleaner gas/electric power, processed smokeless fuels, and better housing—presaging the Great Smog of 1952 and the Clean Air Act of 1956.

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Trade Tattoo went even further than Rainbow Dance in its manipulation of the Gasparcolor process. The original black and white footage consisted of outtakes from GPO Film Unit documentaries such as Night Mail. Lye transformed this footage in what has been described as the most intricate job of film printing and color grading ever attempted. Animated words and patterns combine with the live-action footage to create images as complex and multi-layered as a Cubist painting. Music was provided by the Cuban Lecuona Band. With its dynamic rhythms, the film seeks (in Lye’s words) to convey “a romanticism about the work of the everyday in all walks of life."

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A Cockney lad trains to be a messenger boy.

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“Catching up with gossip, inspecting new ducklings, clambering over gates, walking across meadows - the life of a postman appears idyllic, but this Devon postie has some startling ideas about improving efficiency... The inimitable Richard Massingham, a doctor turned actor and filmmaker, co-directed this film, and appears in it as the testy Mr Proctor. This film was produced by John Grierson, often hailed as the father of British documentary. It was made for the General Post Office (GPO) Film Unit, one of the most remarkable creative institutions that Britain has produced. It provided a springboard for many of the best-known and critically acclaimed figures in the British Documentary Movement.” - BFI

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Short documentary about British education in the late 1930s.

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Short documentary about a trawler fishing for hake.

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Animated shapes dance to Cuban music. This was one of the first animations to be painted directly onto the film.

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A behind-the-scenes GPO Film Unit documentary (directed by Stuart Legg) that races from studio rehearsals and newsrooms to control rooms and transmitters, weaving speeches, music, and outside broadcasts—featuring voices like H. G. Wells and Ramsay MacDonald—into a kinetic portrait of how the BBC’s national “voice” is made.

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1935 documentary about the hard working life of Welsh coal miners.

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The building and launch of a new long-wave radio transmitter - just as the TV age is about to be born.

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Ambitious documentary chronicling the cultural life and religious customs of the Sinhalese and the effects of advanced industrialism on such customs.

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Documentary following an Edinburgh fishing trawler, the "Isabella Grieg".

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Short documentary about weather forecasting, emphasising the importance of the GPO's telecommunications systems.

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Short documentary showing the workings of a large London sorting office.

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Humphrey Jennings' first film as a director, a brief overview of the British postal service.

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Farming techniques and modern methods bring new crops to market.

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A celebration of the importance of the British countryside.

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A short GPO documentary showing how undersea telephone cables are repaired.

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Life on a farm at springtime, including blossom, piglets and ducklings.

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A film made by the British General Post Office (GPO) in 1933, promoting the automation of telephone exchanges.

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An overview of the shepherd's life during the lambing season.

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Story of salmon fishers and the methods they use; captures the migration of salmon up a Highland river for spawning.

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Grierson set out to make "propaganda," and this film--with it's voice-over proclaiming the great value of the British industrial worker, without a hint of ambiguity or doubt--fits that category well. The authoritatarian narrator feels out-of-date and unsophisticated, but the footage is well shot and interesting, and the transparency of the propaganda aspect is almost a reflief at a time when so many films have hidden agendas.

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Early documentary, slung together from footage depicting the first invasion of North America by Europeans, designed to show industrial technology's role in the development of North America. Used footage from the 1923 feature "The Covered Wagon" as though it were history. Produced by the Empire Marketing Board, which was established by the Conservative Party in 1926 to promote inter-imperial trade.

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