John Grierson Movies

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

This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the...

Trade Tattoo went even further than Rainbow Dance in its manipulation of the Gasparcolor process. The original black and white footage consisted of...

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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

In this delightful fantasy adventure, a mild-mannered writer of adventure stories for girls finds himself presented with an intriguing proposition...

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

When Canada entered World War II, the National Film Board suddenly had an urgent new mission—and hundreds of women stepped forward, helping to...

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...

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

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

Part of BFI collection "Police and Thieves."

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