Movies: John Grierson

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

The Brave Don't Cry aspires to the "feel" of a documentary, right down to the deliberate absence of background music. A mine in Scotland falls victim to a cave-in, trapping some one hundred workers. Rescue parties are formed as the tremulous families...

A silent film by John Grierson. It tells the story of Britain's North Sea herring fishery....

This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow....

Seeking her long lost uncle, Ada Shore arrives at Skerryvore University to find him working under another name as the Gate Keeper. Ada is mistaken by the Principal as his new secretary so she jumps headlong into the role...

An impressionistic portrait of the BBC....

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

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

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

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. T...

Part of BFI collection "Police and Thieves."...

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

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

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 The authoritatarian narrator feels out-of-date and...

Norman McLaren was a cinematic genius who made films without cameras, and music without instruments. He produced sixty films in a stunning range of styles and techniques, collecting over 200 international awards, and world recognition. In Creative Pr...

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...

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

The life and work of the documentary pioneer....

A boy pursues his ambition to be a jockey...

Marionette parody of Buster Keaton....