John Grierson

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.

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.

A BFI-produced documentary about documentary filmmaker John Grierson speaking about documentary.

A boy pursues his ambition to be a jockey

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.

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 of the miners wait in agony. As in the actual incident upon which this film is based, the rescue is nip and tuck and times, but eventually successful. The faces of real-life Scottish mining folk are melded with the professional actors in The Brave Don't Cry, adding poignancy to this otherwise cut-and-dried film.

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

Part of BFI collection "Police and Thieves."

The history of Scotland and the factors that have shaped the character of its people.

A Cockney lad trains to be a messenger boy.

Short documentary about British education in the late 1930s.

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.

Short documentary about a trawler fishing for hake.

Short documentary about a trawler fishing for hake.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Marionette parody of Tom Mix.

Marionette parody of Charlie Chaplin.

Marionette parody of Cherry Kearton.

Marionette parody of Buster Keaton.

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.

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

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