John Grierson Movies

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

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

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

Ada Shore (Diane Hart) arrives at Skerryvore University in Scotland in search of her long-lost uncle Connell O’Grady (Joseph Tomelty), who was...

A boy pursues his ambition to be a jockey

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

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

Short documentary about a trawler fishing for hake.

Filmed in Uganda, Man of Africa was assembled by legendary documentary producer John Grierson. The film depicts the mass migration of the Bakija and...

A celebration of the importance of the British countryside.

“Catching up with gossip, inspecting new ducklings, clambering over gates, walking across meadows - the life of a postman appears idyllic, but...

The story of the North Sea herring fleets from Yarmouth and Lowestoft to Shetland.

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

Short documentary about British education in the late 1930s.

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

The life and work of the documentary pioneer.

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

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

Developed from John Grierson's opportunistic recruitment of the well-known director and anthropologist Robert Flaherty, Industrial Britain provides a...

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