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...

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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...

The life and work of the documentary pioneer.

Part of BFI collection "Police and Thieves."

A boy pursues his ambition to be a jockey

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

Marionette parody of Charlie Chaplin.

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

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...

An impressionistic portrait of the BBC.

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

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

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