John Grierson

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.

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

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).

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.

The life and work of the documentary pioneer.

A portrait of John Grierson, the first Canadian Government Film Commissioner and founder of the National Film Board in 1939. Interweaving archival footage, interviews with people who knew him and footage of Grierson himself, this film is a sensitive and informative portrait of a dynamic man of vision. Grierson believed that the filmmaker had a social responsibility, and that film could help a society realize democratic ideals. His absolute faith in the value of capturing the drama of everyday life was to influence generations of filmmakers all over the world. In fact, he coined the term 'documentary film'.

When Canada entered World War II, the National Film Board suddenly had an urgent new mission—and hundreds of women stepped forward, helping to create Canadian cinema as we now know it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Part of BFI collection "Police and Thieves."

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.

A boy pursues his ambition to be a jockey

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

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 Process, director Donald McWilliams demystifies the process of artistic creation. Drawing on McLaren's private film vaults, a gold mine of experimental footage and uncompleted films, McWilliams explores McLaren's methods, including his celebrated "pixillation" technique, and his daring forays into animated surrealism.

A Cockney lad trains to be a messenger boy.

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

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

In this parody of Sherlock Holmes, the Great Detective goes to an opium den of inequity in the dangerous London district of London and challenges Tong assassins in order to rescue a woman.