The BFI National Archive, in partnership with BT, Royal Mail and The British Postal Museum & Archive, has curated and restored the legendary output of short films produced by the GPO Film Unit from 1933-1940. These varied and imaginative films are associated with such names as John Grierson, Alberto Cavalcanti, Basil Wright, Len Lye and Humphrey Jennings. This beautifully presented 2-disc set, filled with photographs and 1930s GPO posters throughout, and complete with an 80 page book that gives detailed background to the Unit and the films, is the first of three volumes.
Created in 1933 out of the ashes of the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit, the GPO Film Unit was one of the most remarkable creative institutions that Britain has produced. A hotbed of creative energy and talent, it provided a spring board to many of the best-known and critically acclaimed figures in the British Documentary Movement. This volume contains 15 films from the period 1933-1935 and provides a fascinating exploration of the unit’s early experimentation with sound.
Features The Coming of the Dial (Stuart Legg, 1933), Cable Ship (Alexander Shaw, Stuart Legg, 1933), Granton Trawler (John Grierson, 1934), John Atkins Saves Up (Arthur Elton, 1934), Air Post (Geoffrey Clark, 1934), The Glorious Sixth of June (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1934), Pett and Pott (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1934), 6.30 Collection (Harry Watt, Edgar Anstey, 1934), Weather Forecast (Evelyn Spice, 1934), Song of Ceylon (Basil Wright, 1934), A Colour Box (Len Lye, 1935), Coal Face (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1935), The King’s Stamp (William Coldstream, 1935), BBC The Voice of Britain (Stuart Legg, 1935) and Sixpenny Telegram (Donald Taylor, 1935).
