John Grierson Movies

A Cockney lad trains to be a messenger boy.

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

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

A boy pursues his ambition to be a jockey

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...

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

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

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.

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

Marionette parody of Cherry Kearton.

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

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

Marionette parody of Charlie Chaplin.

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

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

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...

Short documentary about a trawler fishing for hake.

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

Highlights of the life of John Grierson, documentary film-maker