John Grierson Movies

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...

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

A boy pursues his ambition to be a jockey

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

Legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock pays tribute to the "father of the documentary", John Grierson, exploring what made his work so...

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

Short documentary about a trawler fishing for hake.

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...

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

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...

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

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

A look at the work of Glasgow's Medical Officer of Health.

Norman McLaren was a cinematic genius who made films without cameras, and music without instruments. He produced sixty films in a stunning range of...

Marionette parody of Tom Mix.

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

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

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 Cockney lad trains to be a messenger boy.