Ralph Keene
Directing
Biography
Ralph Keene was an Indian-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. He is generally known for his work on documentaries. Following the Second World War he shot a number of non-fiction films outside Britain including in Cyprus, Ceylon and Persia.
Known For

A short history of the island is followed by views of the countryside and people in town and village.
Cyprus Is an Island

The lives of the members of a West Yorkshire cycling club are complicated by romantic entanglements and a series of bike thefts.
A Boy, a Girl and a Bike

The hero discovers his estranged wife dead and tries to frame her lover for the murder. He becomes involved with the criminals who make various unsuccessful attempts on his life while the police clear up the mystery.
Double Confession
In a bid to encourage city-dwellers to leave behind the restrictions of war, 'The Green Girdle' escapes from the austere urban landscape of inner-city London and savours the natural delights of the capital’s rural surroundings.
The Green Girdle

After the last train at night and before the first in the morning, 800 people are hard at work behind the scenes making London's Underground fit to travel on. Including brushing dust from ventilation ducts, ‘fluffers’ cleaning up rubbish, routine rail replacement and fixing a broken rail discovered at 3.30am.
Under Night Streets

Between the Tides is a 1958 short documentary directed by Ralph Keene for British Transport Films.It is a study of the animal and plant life of Britain's shores. The film show the fascinating and colourful marine life of shoreline and rock pool, filmed in the inter-tidal zone of a typical and attractive rocky shore of southwest England. The amazing diversity of creatures must be seen to be believed; periwinkles, top-shells, starfish and lump suckers, the self-concealing flatfish, the gaper and razor fish and the commuting and breeding seabirds. Beautifully photographed in glorious Technicolor by resident cameraman Ron Craigen, the film was awarded fifteen international film honours, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Between the Tides
A short documentary about the work of the National Trust in Great Britain
The People's Land

A look at a family living in Stoke-on-Trent in the 1940's and what it's like working in the pottery factories that Stoke is famous for.
Five Towns

A look at the rural farming community during WW II and how farmers help stop food shortages during the war.
Summer on the Farm

Exploration of the Slimbridge Wild Fowl Trust in Gloucestershire, England, which boasts the largest collection of living wild fowl in the world.
Wild Wings

Journey into Spring is a 1958 British short documentary film directed by Ralph Keene, and made by British Transport Films. The film -- partly a tribute to the work of the pioneering naturalist and ornithologist Gilbert White (1720-1793), author of The Natural History of Selborne -- features a commentary by the poet Laurie Lee, and camerawork by the wildlife cinematographer Patrick Carey. The journey suggested by the title is through time rather than space. In fact, two such journeys are made: the first back to the eighteenth century to pay tribute to the work of White, and the second studies the changing natural landscape near White's home town of Selborne in Hampshire between a typical March and May. It was nominated for two Academy Awards -- one for Best Documentary Short, and the other for Best Live Action Short.
Journey Into Spring
"Tale in a teacup"- a short documentary on England's love affair with tea.
A Tale in a Teacup
A documentary that follows the flight of a BOAC Lancastrian airliner travelling from London to Sydney that offers some observations from the passengers and of the places en route (Sicily, Lydda, Karachi, Singapore and Darwin).
Three Dawns to Sydney
A documentary on modern British farming.
Power on the Land: The Story of the Mechanisation of British Farming
Sharjah airport in the 1930's showing the airport, town, Emirate and Imperial Airways staff. An early British documentary produced by many pioneers of the medium.
Air Outpost
Christmas, during wartime.
Adeste Fideles

The original LCC project for the replanning and building of London explained by two architects responsible for the plan, Sir Patrick Abercrombie and JH Forshaw.
The Proud City: A Plan for London

A BAFTA award nominated documentary looking at the lives of the Negombo fishermen of southern Ceylon.
Fishermen of Negombo
British documentary on how the community of Ulster got converted to war times.
Ulster

An express freight train links manufacturers with their customers at the other end of Britain.