John Grierson
Encyclopedia
John Grierson was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film
. According to popular myth, in 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" to describe a non-fiction film.
, near Doune
, Scotland. His father was a schoolmaster, his mother a suffragette
and ardent Labour Party activist. From an early age, both parents steeped their son in liberal
politics, humanistic ideals, and Calvinist moral and religious philosophies, particularly the notion that education was essential to individual freedom and that hard and meaningful work was the way to prove oneself worthy in the sight of God.
After service on minesweepers
in the Royal Navy
during World War I
, Grierson entered the University of Glasgow
, where he spent a good part of his academic career enmeshed in impassioned political discussion and leftist political activism.
In 1924, after graduating from the university in English and Moral Philosophy, he received a Rockefeller Research Fellowship
to study in the United States at the University of Chicago
, and later at Columbia and the University of Wisconsin–Madison
. His research focus was the psychology
of propaganda
--the impact of the press, film, and other mass media on forming public opinion. Grierson was particularly interested in the popular appeal and influence of the "yellow" (tabloid) press
, and the influence and role of these journals on the education of new American citizens from abroad.
(8 February 1926), Grierson wrote that it had 'documentary' value.
In his essay "First Principles of Documentary" (1932), Grierson argued that the principles of documentary were that cinema's potential for observing life could be exploited in a new art form; that the "original" actor and "original" scene are better guides than their fiction counterparts to interpreting the modern world; and that materials "thus taken from the raw" can be more real than the acted article. In this regard, Grierson's views align with the Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov
's contempt for dramatic fiction as "bourgeois excess", though with considerably more subtlety. Grierson's definition of documentary as "creative treatment of actuality" has gained some acceptance, though it presents philosophical questions about documentaries containing stagings and reenactments.
Like a number of other social critics of the time, Grierson was profoundly concerned about what he perceived to be clear threats to democracy. In the US, he encountered a marked tendency toward political reaction, anti-democratic sentiments, and political apathy. He read and agreed with the journalist and political philosopher Walter Lippmann
's book Public Opinion which blamed the erosion of democracy in part on the fact that the political and social complexities of contemporary society made it difficult if not impossible for the public to comprehend and respond to issues vital to the maintenance of democratic society.
In Grierson's view, a way to counter these problems was to involve citizens in their government with the kind of engaging excitement generated by the popular press, which simplified and dramatized public affair. It was during this time that Grierson developed a conviction that motion pictures could play a central role in promoting this process. (It has been suggested that some of Grierson's notions regarding the social and political uses of film were influenced by reading Lenin's
writing about film as education and propaganda.)
Grierson's emerging view of film was as a form of social and political communication—a mechanism for social reform, education, and perhaps spiritual uplift. His view of Hollywood movie-making was considerably less sanguine:
film critics at the time. He was asked to write criticism for the New York Sun
. At the Sun, Grierson wrote articles on film aesthetics and audience reception, and developed broad contacts in the film world. According to popular myth, in the course of this writing stint, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in writing about Robert J. Flaherty
's film Moana (1926
): "Of course Moana, being a visual account of events in the daily life of a Polynesian youth and his family, has documentary value."
During this time, Grierson was also involved in scrutinizing the film industries of other countries. He may have been involved in arranging to bring Sergei Eisenstein
's groundbreaking film The Battleship Potemkin
(1925
) to US audiences for the first time. Eisenstein's editing techniques and film theories, particularly the use of montage, would have a significant influence on Grierson's own work.
, and to build national morale and national consensus. Filmmaking for Grierson was an exalted calling; the Filmmaker a patriot. In all of this there was more than a little elitism, a stance reflected in Grierson's many dicta of the time: "The elect have their duty." "I look on cinema as a pulpit, and use it as a propagandist."
In the US Grierson had met pioneering documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty. Grierson respected Flaherty immensely for his contributions to documentary form and his attempts to use the camera to bring alive the lives of everyday people and everyday events. Less commendable in Grierson's view was Flaherty's focus on exotic and faraway cultures. ("In the profounder kind of way", wrote Grierson of Flaherty, "we live and prosper each of us by denouncing the other"). In Grierson's view, the focus of film should be on the everyday drama of ordinary people. As Grierson wrote in his diaries: "Beware the ends of the earth and the exotic: the drama is on your doorstep wherever the slums; are, wherever there is malnutrition, wherever there is exploitation and cruelty." "'You keep your savages in the far place Bob; we are going after the savages of Birmingham,' I think I said to him pretty early on. And we did.")
On his return to England, Grierson became Assistant Films Officer of the Empire Marketing Board
(EMB), a governmental agency which had been established several years earlier to promote British world trade and British unity throughout the empire
. One of the major functions of the EMB was publicity, which the Board accomplished through exhibits, posters, and publications and films. It was within the context of this State funded organization that the "documentary" as we know it today really got its start.
In late 1929 Grierson and his cameraman, Basil Emmott
, completed his first film, Drifters
, which he wrote, produced and directed. The film, which follows the heroic work of North Sea
herring fishermen, was a radical departure from anything being made by the British film industry or Hollywood. A large part of its innovation lie in the fierce boldness in bringing the camera to rugged locations such as a small boat in the middle of a gale, while leaving relatively less of the action staged. The choice of topic was chosen less from Grierson's curiosity than the fact that he discovered that the Financial Secretary had made the herring industry his hobbyhorse. It premiered in a private film club in London on a double-bill with Eisenstein's
then controversial film The Battleship Potemkin
(which was banned from general release in Britain until 1954), and received high praise from both its sponsors and the press.
After this success, Grierson moved away from film direction into a greater focus on production and administration within the EMB. He became a tireless organizer and recruiter for the EMB, enlisting a stable of energetic young filmmakers into the film unit between 1930 and 1933. Those enlisted included filmmakers Basil Wright
, Edgar Anstey
, Stuart Legg
, Paul Rotha
, Arthur Elton, Humphrey Jennings
, Harry Watt
, and Alberto Cavalcanti
. This group formed the core of what was to become known as the British Documentary Film Movement
. Robert Flaherty himself also worked briefly for the unit.
In 1933 the EMB Film Unit was disbanded, a casualty of Depression era economics. Grierson's boss at the EMB moved to the General Post Office (GPO) as its first public relations officer, with the stipulation that he could bring the EMB film unit with him. Grierson's crew were charged with demonstrating the ways in which the Post Office facilitated modern communication and brought the nation together, a task aimed as much at GPO workers as the general public. During Grierson's administration, the GPO Film Unit
produced a series of groundbreaking films, including Night Mail
(dir. Basil Wright
and Harry Watt
, 1936) and Coal Face (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti
, 1935). In 1934 he produced at the GPO Film Unit the award winning The Song of Ceylon (dir. Basil Wright
) which was sponsored jointly by the Ceylon Tea Propagands Bureau and the EMB.
Grierson eventually grew restless with having to work within the bureaucratic and budgetary confines of government sponsorship. In response, he sought out private industry sponsorship for film production. He was finally successful in getting the British gas industry to underwrite an annual film program. Perhaps the most significant works produced during this time were Housing Problems (dir. Arthur Elton, Edgar Anstey
, John Taylor
, and Grierson's sister Ruby Grierson, 1935).
In 1938, Grierson was invited by the Canadian government to study the country's film production. He proposed that the government create a national coordinating body for the production of films. In 1939, Canada created the National Film Commission, which would later become the National Film Board of Canada
. Grierson was the first Commissioner of the Board. When Canada entered World War II
in 1939, the NFB focused on the production of propaganda
films, many of which Grierson directed. After the war, it focused on producing documentaries that reflected the lives of Canadians. The NFB is recognized around the world for producing quality films, many of which have won Academy Awards
.
In 1945 Grierson was dismissed from his post as Commissioner of the NFB after allegations of communist sympathy regarding several of the films the Board had produced during the war. Following his dismissal, and that of three of his coworkers, Grierson returned to Scotland.
During the 1950s he worked at Southall Studios
in West London
.
From 1957 to 1967 Grierson hosted a successful weekly television program on Scottish
television, This Wonderful World, which showed excerpts from outstanding documentaries. In 1957 he received a special Canadian Film Award
.
are currently supervised by The Grierson Trust. The aim of the awards is to recognise outstanding films that demonstrate integrity, originality and technical excellence, together with social or cultural significance.http://www.griersontrust.org/past_awards.htm
Grierson Awards are presented annually in nine categories:
Filmography as producer/creative contributor:
Grierson.http://www.nfb.ca/trouverunfilm/fichefilm.php?id=10466&v=h&lg=en&exp=${grierson} Produced and directed by Roger Blais
. Montreal, Que.: National Film Board of Canada
, c. 1973. 59 min.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
. According to popular myth, in 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" to describe a non-fiction film.
Early life
Grierson was born in DeanstonDeanston
Deanston is a village in the district of Stirling,Scotland, on the south bank of the River Teith, formerly of West Perthshire. It is a part of the parish of Kilmadock....
, near Doune
Doune
Doune is a burgh in the district of Stirling, Scotland, on the River Teith. Doune's postal address places the town in Perthshire, although geographically it lies within the District of Stirling, and administratively Doune is under the control of Stirling Council...
, Scotland. His father was a schoolmaster, his mother a suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
and ardent Labour Party activist. From an early age, both parents steeped their son in liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
politics, humanistic ideals, and Calvinist moral and religious philosophies, particularly the notion that education was essential to individual freedom and that hard and meaningful work was the way to prove oneself worthy in the sight of God.
After service on minesweepers
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Grierson entered the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
, where he spent a good part of his academic career enmeshed in impassioned political discussion and leftist political activism.
In 1924, after graduating from the university in English and Moral Philosophy, he received a Rockefeller Research Fellowship
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
to study in the United States at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, and later at Columbia and the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. His research focus was the psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
of propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
--the impact of the press, film, and other mass media on forming public opinion. Grierson was particularly interested in the popular appeal and influence of the "yellow" (tabloid) press
Yellow journalism
Yellow journalism or the yellow press is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism...
, and the influence and role of these journals on the education of new American citizens from abroad.
Social critic
In his review of Robert Flaherty's film Moana (1926) in the New York SunNew York Sun (historical)
The Sun was a New York newspaper that was published from 1833 until 1950. It was considered a serious paper, like the city's two more successful broadsheets, The New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune...
(8 February 1926), Grierson wrote that it had 'documentary' value.
In his essay "First Principles of Documentary" (1932), Grierson argued that the principles of documentary were that cinema's potential for observing life could be exploited in a new art form; that the "original" actor and "original" scene are better guides than their fiction counterparts to interpreting the modern world; and that materials "thus taken from the raw" can be more real than the acted article. In this regard, Grierson's views align with the Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov
Dziga Vertov
David Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
's contempt for dramatic fiction as "bourgeois excess", though with considerably more subtlety. Grierson's definition of documentary as "creative treatment of actuality" has gained some acceptance, though it presents philosophical questions about documentaries containing stagings and reenactments.
Like a number of other social critics of the time, Grierson was profoundly concerned about what he perceived to be clear threats to democracy. In the US, he encountered a marked tendency toward political reaction, anti-democratic sentiments, and political apathy. He read and agreed with the journalist and political philosopher Walter Lippmann
Walter Lippmann
Walter Lippmann was an American intellectual, writer, reporter, and political commentator famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War...
's book Public Opinion which blamed the erosion of democracy in part on the fact that the political and social complexities of contemporary society made it difficult if not impossible for the public to comprehend and respond to issues vital to the maintenance of democratic society.
In Grierson's view, a way to counter these problems was to involve citizens in their government with the kind of engaging excitement generated by the popular press, which simplified and dramatized public affair. It was during this time that Grierson developed a conviction that motion pictures could play a central role in promoting this process. (It has been suggested that some of Grierson's notions regarding the social and political uses of film were influenced by reading Lenin's
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
writing about film as education and propaganda.)
Grierson's emerging view of film was as a form of social and political communication—a mechanism for social reform, education, and perhaps spiritual uplift. His view of Hollywood movie-making was considerably less sanguine:
- "In an age when the faiths, the loyalties, and the purposes have been more than usually undermined, mental fatigue--or is it spiritual fatigue?--represents a large factor in everyday experience. Our cinema magnate does no more than exploit the occasion. He also, more or less frankly, is a dopeCannabisCannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
pedlar."
Film critic
Grierson's emerging and outspoken film philosophies caught the attention of New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
film critics at the time. He was asked to write criticism for the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
. At the Sun, Grierson wrote articles on film aesthetics and audience reception, and developed broad contacts in the film world. According to popular myth, in the course of this writing stint, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in writing about Robert J. Flaherty
Robert J. Flaherty
Robert Joseph Flaherty, F.R.G.S. was an American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature length documentary film, Nanook of the North...
's film Moana (1926
1926 in film
-Events:*August - Warner Brothers debuts the first Vitaphone film, Don Juan. The Vitaphone system used multiple 33⅓ rpm disc records developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to play back audio synchronized with film....
): "Of course Moana, being a visual account of events in the daily life of a Polynesian youth and his family, has documentary value."
During this time, Grierson was also involved in scrutinizing the film industries of other countries. He may have been involved in arranging to bring Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
's groundbreaking film The Battleship Potemkin
The Battleship Potemkin
The Battleship Potemkin , sometimes rendered as The Battleship Potyomkin, is a 1925 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm...
(1925
1925 in film
-Events:*November 5: The Big Parade holds its Grand Premier*December 30: premier of Ben-Hur the most expensive silent film ever made costing 4-6 million dollars -Top grossing films :...
) to US audiences for the first time. Eisenstein's editing techniques and film theories, particularly the use of montage, would have a significant influence on Grierson's own work.
Filmmaker
Grierson returned to Great Britain in the late 1920s armed with the sense that film could be enlisted to deal with the problems of the Great DepressionGreat Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
, and to build national morale and national consensus. Filmmaking for Grierson was an exalted calling; the Filmmaker a patriot. In all of this there was more than a little elitism, a stance reflected in Grierson's many dicta of the time: "The elect have their duty." "I look on cinema as a pulpit, and use it as a propagandist."
In the US Grierson had met pioneering documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty. Grierson respected Flaherty immensely for his contributions to documentary form and his attempts to use the camera to bring alive the lives of everyday people and everyday events. Less commendable in Grierson's view was Flaherty's focus on exotic and faraway cultures. ("In the profounder kind of way", wrote Grierson of Flaherty, "we live and prosper each of us by denouncing the other"). In Grierson's view, the focus of film should be on the everyday drama of ordinary people. As Grierson wrote in his diaries: "Beware the ends of the earth and the exotic: the drama is on your doorstep wherever the slums; are, wherever there is malnutrition, wherever there is exploitation and cruelty." "'You keep your savages in the far place Bob; we are going after the savages of Birmingham,' I think I said to him pretty early on. And we did.")
On his return to England, Grierson became Assistant Films Officer of the Empire Marketing Board
Empire Marketing Board
The Empire Marketing Board was formed in May 1926 by the Colonial Secretary Leo Amery to promote inter-Empire trade and to persuade consumers to 'Buy Empire'...
(EMB), a governmental agency which had been established several years earlier to promote British world trade and British unity throughout the empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. One of the major functions of the EMB was publicity, which the Board accomplished through exhibits, posters, and publications and films. It was within the context of this State funded organization that the "documentary" as we know it today really got its start.
In late 1929 Grierson and his cameraman, Basil Emmott
Basil Emmott
Basil Emmott was a prolific English cinematographer with 190 films to his credit, active from the 1920s to the 1960s. Emmott's career started in the silent era and continued through to the mid 1960s...
, completed his first film, Drifters
Drifters (1929 film)
Drifters is silent documentary film by John Grierson, his first and only personal film. It tells the story of Britain's North Sea herring fishery...
, which he wrote, produced and directed. The film, which follows the heroic work of North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
herring fishermen, was a radical departure from anything being made by the British film industry or Hollywood. A large part of its innovation lie in the fierce boldness in bringing the camera to rugged locations such as a small boat in the middle of a gale, while leaving relatively less of the action staged. The choice of topic was chosen less from Grierson's curiosity than the fact that he discovered that the Financial Secretary had made the herring industry his hobbyhorse. It premiered in a private film club in London on a double-bill with Eisenstein's
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
then controversial film The Battleship Potemkin
The Battleship Potemkin
The Battleship Potemkin , sometimes rendered as The Battleship Potyomkin, is a 1925 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm...
(which was banned from general release in Britain until 1954), and received high praise from both its sponsors and the press.
After this success, Grierson moved away from film direction into a greater focus on production and administration within the EMB. He became a tireless organizer and recruiter for the EMB, enlisting a stable of energetic young filmmakers into the film unit between 1930 and 1933. Those enlisted included filmmakers Basil Wright
Basil Wright
Basil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
, Edgar Anstey
Edgar Anstey
Edgar Anstey OBE, , was a leading British documentary film-maker....
, Stuart Legg
Stuart Legg
Stuart Legg was a documentary film-maker.As part of the British Documentary Film Movement, he worked with the General Post Office film unit from 1933, before replacing Paul Rotha as head of Strand Films in 1937...
, Paul Rotha
Paul Rotha
Paul Rotha was a British documentary film-maker, film historian and critic. He was educated at Highgate School....
, Arthur Elton, Humphrey Jennings
Humphrey Jennings
Frank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organization...
, Harry Watt
Harry Watt (director)
Harry Watt was a Scottish documentary and feature film director, who began his career working for John Grierson and Robert Flaherty. His 1959 film The Siege of Pinchgut was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival...
, and Alberto Cavalcanti
Alberto Cavalcanti
Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born film director and producer.-Early life:Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician. He was a precociously intelligent child, and by the age of 15 was studying law at university. Following an argument with a...
. This group formed the core of what was to become known as the British Documentary Film Movement
Documentary Film Movement
The Documentary Film Movement is the name given to the group of British film-makers, led by John Grierson, who were influential in British film culture in the 1930s and 1940s.-Principles:...
. Robert Flaherty himself also worked briefly for the unit.
In 1933 the EMB Film Unit was disbanded, a casualty of Depression era economics. Grierson's boss at the EMB moved to the General Post Office (GPO) as its first public relations officer, with the stipulation that he could bring the EMB film unit with him. Grierson's crew were charged with demonstrating the ways in which the Post Office facilitated modern communication and brought the nation together, a task aimed as much at GPO workers as the general public. During Grierson's administration, the GPO Film Unit
GPO Film Unit
The GPO Film Unit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. The unit was established in 1933, taking on responsibilities of the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit...
produced a series of groundbreaking films, including Night Mail
Night Mail
Night Mail is a 1936 documentary film about a London, Midland and Scottish Railway mail train from London to Scotland, produced by the GPO Film Unit. A poem by English poet W. H. Auden was written for it, used in the closing few minutes, as was music by Benjamin Britten...
(dir. Basil Wright
Basil Wright
Basil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
and Harry Watt
Harry Watt (director)
Harry Watt was a Scottish documentary and feature film director, who began his career working for John Grierson and Robert Flaherty. His 1959 film The Siege of Pinchgut was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival...
, 1936) and Coal Face (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti
Alberto Cavalcanti
Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born film director and producer.-Early life:Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician. He was a precociously intelligent child, and by the age of 15 was studying law at university. Following an argument with a...
, 1935). In 1934 he produced at the GPO Film Unit the award winning The Song of Ceylon (dir. Basil Wright
Basil Wright
Basil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
) which was sponsored jointly by the Ceylon Tea Propagands Bureau and the EMB.
Grierson eventually grew restless with having to work within the bureaucratic and budgetary confines of government sponsorship. In response, he sought out private industry sponsorship for film production. He was finally successful in getting the British gas industry to underwrite an annual film program. Perhaps the most significant works produced during this time were Housing Problems (dir. Arthur Elton, Edgar Anstey
Edgar Anstey
Edgar Anstey OBE, , was a leading British documentary film-maker....
, John Taylor
John Taylor (documentary filmmaker)
John Elston Taylor was a British documentary filmmaker.Born in Kentish Town, London, on 5 October 1914, John Taylor had originally set his sights on a career in carpentry, however shortly after finishing school he was offered a job by his sister's husband, documentary filmmaker John...
, and Grierson's sister Ruby Grierson, 1935).
In 1938, Grierson was invited by the Canadian government to study the country's film production. He proposed that the government create a national coordinating body for the production of films. In 1939, Canada created the National Film Commission, which would later become the National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
. Grierson was the first Commissioner of the Board. When Canada entered World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1939, the NFB focused on the production of propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
films, many of which Grierson directed. After the war, it focused on producing documentaries that reflected the lives of Canadians. The NFB is recognized around the world for producing quality films, many of which have won Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
.
In 1945 Grierson was dismissed from his post as Commissioner of the NFB after allegations of communist sympathy regarding several of the films the Board had produced during the war. Following his dismissal, and that of three of his coworkers, Grierson returned to Scotland.
During the 1950s he worked at Southall Studios
Southall Studios
Southall Studios was a film studio located in Southall, Middlesex in West London which operated between 1924 and 1958.The studio was constructed on the site of a former air hanger by the silent film director and producer G.B. Samuelson. The original buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1936, but...
in West London
West London
West London generally refers to the western portions of London, and may refer specifically to:*West *West End of London*W postcode area...
.
From 1957 to 1967 Grierson hosted a successful weekly television program on Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
television, This Wonderful World, which showed excerpts from outstanding documentaries. In 1957 he received a special Canadian Film Award
Canadian Film Award
The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually except in 1974 when Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation that year....
.
Grierson Documentary Film Awards
The Grierson Documentary Film Awards were established in 1972 to commemorate John Grierson andare currently supervised by The Grierson Trust. The aim of the awards is to recognise outstanding films that demonstrate integrity, originality and technical excellence, together with social or cultural significance.http://www.griersontrust.org/past_awards.htm
Grierson Awards are presented annually in nine categories:
- Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue
- Best Documentary on the Arts
- Best Historical Documentary
- Best Documentary on Science or the Natural World
- The Frontier Post Award for Most Entertaining Documentary
- Best Drama Documentary
- Best International Cinema Documentary
- Best Newcomer
- Trustees' Award
Filmography
Filmography as director:- DriftersDrifters (1929 film)Drifters is silent documentary film by John Grierson, his first and only personal film. It tells the story of Britain's North Sea herring fishery...
(1929; first screened at the British premiere of Battleship Potemkin) - Granton Trawler (1934)
Filmography as producer/creative contributor:
- O'er Hll and Dale (dir. Basil WrightBasil WrightBasil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
1932) - UP-STREAM: A Story of the Scottish Salmon Fisheries (dir. Arthur Elton 1932)
- Cargo from Jamaica (dir. Basil WrightBasil WrightBasil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
1933) - Industrial Britain (dir. Robert Flaherty 1933)
- Cable Ship (dir. (Alexander Shaw and Stuart LeggStuart LeggStuart Legg was a documentary film-maker.As part of the British Documentary Film Movement, he worked with the General Post Office film unit from 1933, before replacing Paul Rotha as head of Strand Films in 1937...
1933) - Coming of the Dial (dir. Stuart LeggStuart LeggStuart Legg was a documentary film-maker.As part of the British Documentary Film Movement, he worked with the General Post Office film unit from 1933, before replacing Paul Rotha as head of Strand Films in 1937...
1933) - Liner Cruising South (dir. Basil WrightBasil WrightBasil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
1933) - Man of AranMan of AranMan of Aran is a fictional documentary by Robert J. Flaherty about life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. It portrays characters living in premodern conditions, documenting their daily routines such as fishing off high cliffs, farming potatoes where there is little soil, and...
(dir. Robert Flaherty 1934) - New Operator (dir. Stuart LeggStuart LeggStuart Legg was a documentary film-maker.As part of the British Documentary Film Movement, he worked with the General Post Office film unit from 1933, before replacing Paul Rotha as head of Strand Films in 1937...
1934) - Pett and Pott: A Fairy Story of the Suburbs (dir. Alberto CavalcantiAlberto CavalcantiAlberto de Almeida Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born film director and producer.-Early life:Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician. He was a precociously intelligent child, and by the age of 15 was studying law at university. Following an argument with a...
1934) - Post Haste (dir. Humphrey JenningsHumphrey JenningsFrank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organization...
1934) - Spring Comes to England dir. Donald Taylor 1934)
- Six-thirty Collection (dir. Harry WattHarry Watt (director)Harry Watt was a Scottish documentary and feature film director, who began his career working for John Grierson and Robert Flaherty. His 1959 film The Siege of Pinchgut was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival...
and Edgar AnsteyEdgar AnsteyEdgar Anstey OBE, , was a leading British documentary film-maker....
1934) - Song of CeylonSong of CeylonThe Song of Ceylon is a 1934 British documentary film directed by Basil Wright and produced by John Grierson for the Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board....
(dir. Basil WrightBasil WrightBasil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
1934) - BBC: The Voice of Britain (dir. Stuart LeggStuart LeggStuart Legg was a documentary film-maker.As part of the British Documentary Film Movement, he worked with the General Post Office film unit from 1933, before replacing Paul Rotha as head of Strand Films in 1937...
1935) - A Colour Box (dir. Len LyeLen LyeLen Lye, born Leonard Charles Huia Lye , was a Christchurch, New Zealand-born artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives such as the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Pacific...
1935) - Housing Problems (dir. Edgar AnsteyEdgar AnsteyEdgar Anstey OBE, , was a leading British documentary film-maker....
, Arthur Elton 1935) - Introducing the Dial (dir. Stuart LeggStuart LeggStuart Legg was a documentary film-maker.As part of the British Documentary Film Movement, he worked with the General Post Office film unit from 1933, before replacing Paul Rotha as head of Strand Films in 1937...
1935) - Coal Face (dir. Alberto CavalcantiAlberto CavalcantiAlberto de Almeida Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born film director and producer.-Early life:Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician. He was a precociously intelligent child, and by the age of 15 was studying law at university. Following an argument with a...
1935) - B.B.C. Droitwich (dir. Harry WattHarry Watt (director)Harry Watt was a Scottish documentary and feature film director, who began his career working for John Grierson and Robert Flaherty. His 1959 film The Siege of Pinchgut was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival...
1935) - Night MailNight MailNight Mail is a 1936 documentary film about a London, Midland and Scottish Railway mail train from London to Scotland, produced by the GPO Film Unit. A poem by English poet W. H. Auden was written for it, used in the closing few minutes, as was music by Benjamin Britten...
( dir. (Basil WrightBasil WrightBasil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
, and Harry WattHarry Watt (director)Harry Watt was a Scottish documentary and feature film director, who began his career working for John Grierson and Robert Flaherty. His 1959 film The Siege of Pinchgut was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival...
1936) - Saving of Bill Blewitt (dir. Basil WrightBasil WrightBasil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
1936) - Line To The Tschierva Hut (dir. Alberto CavalcantiAlberto CavalcantiAlberto de Almeida Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born film director and producer.-Early life:Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician. He was a precociously intelligent child, and by the age of 15 was studying law at university. Following an argument with a...
1937) - Children At School (dir. Basil WrightBasil WrightBasil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
1937) - We Live In Two Worlds (dir. Alberto CavalcantiAlberto CavalcantiAlberto de Almeida Cavalcanti was a Brazilian-born film director and producer.-Early life:Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician. He was a precociously intelligent child, and by the age of 15 was studying law at university. Following an argument with a...
1937) - Daily Round (dir. Richard MassinghamRichard MassinghamRichard Massingham was a British actor who is principally noted for starring in public information films made in the 1940s and early 1950s.-Life:...
, Karl Urbahn 1937) - Trade Tattoo (dir. Len LyeLen LyeLen Lye, born Leonard Charles Huia Lye , was a Christchurch, New Zealand-born artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives such as the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Pacific...
1937) - The Face of Scotland (dir. Basil WrightBasil WrightBasil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
1938) - The Children's StoryThe Children's StoryThe Children's Story is a short story written by James Clavell in 1963 and published in 1981. It is also the title of a 1982 short film based upon the story. As of April 2010, this book is still in print.-Plot summary:...
(dir. Alexander Shaw 1938) - Scotland for Fitness (dir. Brian Salt 1938)
- They Made the Land (dir. Mary FieldMary FieldMary Field was an American film actress who primarily appeared in supporting roles.- Early life :She was born in New York City, New York. As a child she never knew her biological parents. During her infancy she was left outside the doors of a church with a note pinned to her saying that her name...
1938) - Sport in ScotlandSport in ScotlandSport plays a central role in Scottish culture. The temperate, oceanic climate has played a key part in the evolution of sport in Scotland, with all-weather sports like association football, rugby union and golf dominating the national sporting consciousness...
(dir. Stanley L. Russell 1938) - Wealth of a Nation (dir. Donald AlexanderDonald AlexanderDonald Crichton Alexander was a tax lawyer and Nixon administration official.Alexander was appointed Commissioner of Internal Revenue by President Richard Nixon in May 1973, and was replaced in February 1977, early in the Jimmy Carter administration.Alexander resisted attempts by Nixon to use the...
1938) - Sea Food (1938)
- The Londoners (dir. John Taylor (director) 1939)
- Judgement Deferred (dir. John BaxterJohn Baxter (director)John Philip Baxter was a somewhat prolific British film-maker active from the 1930s to the late 1950s. During that time he produced, wrote, or directed dozens of films...
1951) - Brandy for the ParsonBrandy for the ParsonBrandy for the Parson is a 1952 British comedy film directed by John Eldridge and starring Kenneth More, Charles Hawtrey, James Donald and Jean Lodge. A young couple get mixed up in a smuggling ring. It was based on a novel by Geoffrey Household...
(dir. John EldridgeJohn EldridgeJohn Eldridge , Australian politician, was the Member for the Division of Martin in the Australian House of Representatives from 12 October 1929 to 19 December 1931....
1952) - The Brave Don't CryThe Brave Don't CryThe Brave Don't Cry is a 1952 British drama film directed by Philip Leacock and starring John Gregson, Meg Buchanan and John Rae. The film depitcts the events of September 1950 at the Knockshinnoch Castle colliery in Scotland, where 129 men were trapped by a landslide...
(dir. Philip LeacockPhilip LeacockPhilip David Charles Leacock was an English television and film director and producer. His brother was documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock.-Career:...
1952) - Miss Robin HoodMiss Robin HoodMiss Robin Hood is a 1952 British film directed by John Guillermin. It falls neatly within the genre of post-war British fantasy, and there are strong correlations with a number of films within this genre such as e.g...
(dir. John Guillermin 1952) - Time Gentlemen, Please!Time Gentlemen, Please!Time Gentlemen, Please! is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Eddie Byrne, Hermione Baddeley, Raymond Lovell and Sid James.-Cast:* Eddie Byrne as Dan Dance* Jane Barrett as Sally* Robert Brown as Bill Jordan...
(dir. Lewis GilbertLewis GilbertLewis Gilbert CBE is an English film director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:He was the son of music hall performers, and spent his early years travelling with his parents, and watching the shows from the side of the stage. He first performed on-stage at the age of 5, when asked to drive a...
1952) - You're Only Young Twice (dir. Terry BishopTerry BishopTerry Bishop was a British screenwriter, television and film director.-Selected filmography:Director* Western Isles - Documentary* - Scenario* Model for Murder * The Unstoppable Man...
1952) - Man of AfricaMan of AfricaMan of Africa is a 1953 British drama film directed by Cyril Frankel. It was entered into the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Frederick Bijuerenda - Jonathan* Gordon Heath - Narrator * Violet Mukabuerza - Violet...
(dir. Cyril FrankelCyril FrankelCyril Frankel is a British film and television director, now retired. His career in television began in 1953 and he directed for over 30 TV programmes until 1990....
1953) - BackgroundBackground (1953 film)Background is a 1953 British domestic drama film dealing with the effects of divorce, directed by Daniel Birt and starring Valerie Hobson, Philip Friend and Norman Wooland...
(dir. Daniel BirtDaniel BirtDaniel Birt was an English film director and editor. Birt began his career as an editor in 1932 with an assistant credit on The Lucky Number, and went on to edit twelve films during the 1930s....
1953) - Laxdale HallLaxdale HallLaxdale Hall is a 1953 British comedy film directed by John Elridge and starring Ronald Squire, Kathleen Ryan, Raymond Huntley, Prunella Scales, Fulton Mackay, and Jean Colin....
(dir. John EldridgeJohn EldridgeJohn Eldridge , Australian politician, was the Member for the Division of Martin in the Australian House of Representatives from 12 October 1929 to 19 December 1931....
1953) - The OracleThe Oracle (film)The Oracle is a 1953 British comedy film directed by C.M. Pennington-Richards and starring Robert Beatty, Michael Medwin and Virginia McKenna. A journalist goes on holiday to Ireland where he encounters a fortune-teller...
(dir. C.M. Pennington-RichardsC.M. Pennington-RichardsCyril Montague Pennington Richards was a British film director and cinematographer.-Selected filmography:Director* The Oracle * Double Bunk * Dentist on the Job * Ladies Who Do...
1953) - Child's Play (dir. Margaret Thomson 1954)
- Devil on HorsebackDevil on HorsebackDevil on Horseback is a 1954 British drama film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Googie Withers, John McCallum and Jeremy Spenser. Its plot involves a boy who pursues his ambition to be a jockey...
(dir. Cyril FrankelCyril FrankelCyril Frankel is a British film and television director, now retired. His career in television began in 1953 and he directed for over 30 TV programmes until 1990....
1954) - Rivers at Work (dir. Lew Davidson 1958)
- This Wonderful World (dir. various 1957-67)
- Seawards the Great ShipsSeawards the Great ShipsSeawards the Great Ships is a 1961 short documentary film directed by Hilary Harris. It won an Academy Award in 1962 for Best Short Live Action Subject, the first Scottish film to win an Oscar...
(dir. Hilary HarrisHilary HarrisHilary Harris was a documentary filmmaker, one of the pioneers of time-lapse photography. The documentary, Seawards the Great Ships, directed by Harris, won the Academy Award for best short subject in 1962....
1960) - The Heart of Scotland (dir. Laurence Henson 1961)
- The Creative Process (dir. Donald McWilliams 1961)
- Health of a City (dir. Derek WilliamsDerek WilliamsDerek Williams is a British documentary film director and writer who was active from the 1950s until 1990...
1965) - I Remember, I Remember (dir. James SutherlandJames SutherlandJames Sutherland may refer to:*James Sutherland , the first professor of botany at the University of Edinburgh, from 1676-1705*James Sutherland , Liberal minister...
1968)
Bibliographies
- Grierson Bibliography at UC Berkeley
- Gary Evans, John Grierson and the National Film Board: The Politics of Wartime Propaganda (University of Toronto Press, 1984)
- Joyce Nelson, The Colonized Eye: Rethinking the Grierson Legend (Between the Lines, 1988)
Documentaries About Grierson
In a short film John Grierson at the NFT (1959) he recalls the British documentary film movement. This is included in the Land of Promise Region 2 DVD set (BFI 2008).Grierson.http://www.nfb.ca/trouverunfilm/fichefilm.php?id=10466&v=h&lg=en&exp=${grierson} Produced and directed by Roger Blais
Roger Blais
Roger A. Blais, was a Canadian geological engineer and academic. He helped develop a number of prospecting and exploration technologies....
. Montreal, Que.: National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
, c. 1973. 59 min.
See also
- Edgar AnsteyEdgar AnsteyEdgar Anstey OBE, , was a leading British documentary film-maker....
- Arthur Elton
- Robert Flaherty
- Humphrey JenningsHumphrey JenningsFrank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organization...
- Stuart LeggStuart LeggStuart Legg was a documentary film-maker.As part of the British Documentary Film Movement, he worked with the General Post Office film unit from 1933, before replacing Paul Rotha as head of Strand Films in 1937...
- Paul RothaPaul RothaPaul Rotha was a British documentary film-maker, film historian and critic. He was educated at Highgate School....
- Basil WrightBasil WrightBasil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
Sources
- Credits from: British Film Institute Catalog (Film Index International)
External links
- The Grierson Trust
- The John Grierson Archive at The University of Stirling
- Bfi Screenonline entry.
- John Grierson in South Africa: Afrikaaner nationalism and the National Film Board
- John Grierson's NFB biography
- Online essay about Grierson and Flaherty from the University of Glasgow (no link)
- Literature on John Grierson
- National Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE (selection of archive films relating to John Grierson)