John Grierson Movies

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

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

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 -...

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

Marionette parody of Cherry Kearton.

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

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

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

The history and modern day industry of Stirlingshire, Scotland.

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

Early documentary, slung together from footage depicting the first invasion of North America by Europeans, designed to show industrial technology's role in the development of North America. Used footage from the 1923 feature "The Covered Wagon" as though it were history. Produced by the Empire...

The building and launch of a new long-wave radio transmitter - just as the TV age is about to be born.

“Catching up with gossip, inspecting new ducklings, clambering over gates, walking across meadows - the life of a postman appears idyllic, but this Devon postie has some startling ideas about improving efficiency... The inimitable Richard Massingham, a doctor turned actor and filmmaker,...

Marionette parody of Tom Mix.

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

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

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.

Smog was the deadly downside of Britain's industrial might, as this powerful and revealing documentary spells out. In 1937, coal was Britain's lifeblood; it fuelled her industry and heated most homes. But coal was wasteful and dirty, and it had an unpleasant, even lethal by-product. Smog wasn't...

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