John Grierson Movies

A portrait of John Grierson, the first Canadian Government Film Commissioner and founder of the National Film Board in 1939. Interweaving archival...

At Balloch Moss mine in Scotland, water comes through a seam bringing a torrent of mud into the mine and flooding the pit shaft, resulting in 118 men...

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

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

A behind-the-scenes GPO Film Unit documentary (directed by Stuart Legg) that races from studio rehearsals and newsrooms to control rooms and...

The life and work of the documentary pioneer.

Part of BFI collection "Police and Thieves."

Made to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the London County Council, responsible for many of the changes celebrated in the film – modern...

An Irish "oracle" foretells the next day's track results to a newspaperman, resulting in a national uproar.

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

Farming techniques and modern methods bring new crops to market.

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 boy pursues his ambition to be a jockey

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

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

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

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...

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

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