John Slater

Good natured comic caper charting the misadventures of a hapless bunch of Brighton based petty crooks dogged with disaster at every turn.

Set in contemporary Bethnal Green in east London, A Place to Go charts the dramatic changes that were happening in the lives of the British working-class at the time.

Penniless Lord Whitebait's plan to save his sinking fortunes is to open stately Whitebait Manor to the public. But the public ignores his gesture, and his fortunes fade even further, with a stream of debts threatening to run into a deluge when his daughter's fiancé demands a plush and costly wedding. Where is the cash to come from? Whitebait and his servant Spankforth's answer is a scam involving the theft of a valuable painting from the Manor. How could such a cunningly original ruse fail?

A young man will inherit a huge fortune--8 million pounds--but to qualify, he must spend a million pounds in just two months. Easy to do? That's what you think!

The epic of the earliest days of Britain's railways and the men who built them. It concentrates on the achievements of George and Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who built the first railway lines in the world in this country. Portraits, paintings, engraving and prints are used together with live shooting to evoke the atmosphere and illustrate the construction of the railways and the locomotives which ran on them.

When an exclusive designer hat blows off the head of the milliner's assistant who borrowed it, the quest to recover it leads her to find love.

The 186th issue of the long running industry cinemagazine. Features the article 'A story from South Wales', about the closure of unproductive pits and the compulsory relocation of workforces.

An impoverished American sailor is fortunate enough to be passing the house of two rich gentlemen who have conceived the crazy idea of distributing a note worth one million pounds. The sailor finds that whenever he tries to use the note to buy something, people treat him like a king and let him have whatever he likes for free. Ultimately, the money proves to be more troublesome than it is worth when it almost costs him his dignity and the woman he loves.

An underhand solicitor receives threatening notes, and the police are called in to protect him.

Squire Pierre St. Laurent returns from wars in India to 17th-century provincial France to find his estate confiscated by governor Narbonne, for back taxes, and resold to Katrina, a Dutch Countess. Katrina offers to return Pierre's property if he will help her get possession of the 'Star of India,' a fabulous sapphire, held at the moment by Narbonne.

Jacko, a respected union man, is fighting for the promotion of a Jamaican colleague to chargehand, but when his daughter brings home her black boyfriend, he realises that racial prejudice is rife within his own home. This powerful drama exposes the deep-seated racial tensions hidden in British family life during the late 1950s. Written for the stage by Unity Theatre's Ted Willis, this television recording was filmed a few weeks after the play's successful West End run, and most of the stage cast repeat their roles here, including the terrific John Slater, Andree Melly and Lloyd Reckord. The drama's interracial kiss is probably the first to be shown on British TV.

A Liverpool juvenile liaison officer struggles with a young and dangerous pyromaniac.

While holidaying in Italy, Nick Morell, son of John Morell, a famous English philosopher and amateur musician, becomes friendly with young Guido, and Morell discovers the boy has an extraordinary instinct for orchestration and a phenomenal music memory. A neighboring couple, Signor and Signora Boudini become aware of the boy's talents, and she appeals to his parents to let her educate him musically. Torn by their love for their son and, they feel,the duty to let the world hear his talent, they consent.

An innocent man is released from prison after 12 years and tracks down the witnesses who lied about him in court.

Returning late to London, Johnny gives a lift to an attractive female hitch-hiker. Some distance on, he stops to make a phone call and buy a coffee, but on returning to his cab finds the woman gone. Assuming she has hitched another ride, he continues on his way. A short time later he is flagged down by another driver, who has come across a woman lying by the roadside. The woman is Johnny's hitchhiker and she's dead.

Account of how Anglo-American police co-operation succeeds in tracking down forgers of $100 bills.

Rescued from a burning house as a child, John Wesley believes the experience marked him for a higher purpose, a 'brand from the burning'. The film follows Wesley's years at Oxford and as a clergyman, his disagreements with the church over the social position of the clergy, his mission to America, the founding of Methodism, and his bringing of the Gospel into the lives of ordinary people.

Bill Buckle has had a dream--he wants to buy back the family fishing boat, the Cascade, which the family had to sell years ago to pay for his father's funeral. However, the boat is now owned by a trio of fishermen, and their plans for the boat don't coincide with Bill's at all.

Johnny Flanagan did not have the privileges of a good education or wealthy background but the streets developed his natural talent to be a great fighter. His enormous potential to reach the top is born out of a string of spectacular successes. All of which is brought to a halt when he develops a physical relationship with his manager's wife, the beautiful but manipulative Lorna. His naive temperament is no match for her callous, dispassionate scheming and he unwittingly becomes a pawn in Lorna's ultimate plan to murder her husband.

The operation of the London Transport central Lost Property Office at Baker Street. Collected in BFI's "London on the Move."

Docudrama recreating events in the Malayan Emergency

A much loved Prison Missioner has died. His replacement struggles to live up to his predecessor's saintly reputation until he receives inspiration from the Holy Spirit.

Suave supercilious Carling (Karel Stepanek) receives several callers to his isolated house, all of whom hold a grudge against him. Next morning a corpse is found, and later identified as his by one of the visitors.

Ronnie Waldman's quiz for British cinema audiences.

The 118th issue of the long running industry cinemagazine. Includes the article 'Hungarians in Britain', 'Double Dutch', 'Pulsed Infusion' and 'Songs of the Coalfields 1: The Sandgate Nursing Man'.

'Strange Stories' consists of two stories, 'The Strange Mr Bartleby' and 'The Strange Journey'. The stories were sometimes shown individually on television.

The 80th issue of the long running industry cinemagazine. Includes the articles: 'Anthracite Field', 'Time Out', 'Bowhill On Top' and 'Ideas Man'.

The Israeli-made Faithful City stars Jamie Smith as an American in Tel Aviv just after World War II. Smith makes the acquaintance of a group of orphans, Jewish refugees of the concentration camps. It takes some doing, but Smith wins the love and trust of these displaced youngsters. Like most government-funded Israeli productions of the early 1950s, Faithful City is designed more to instruct and inform than entertain. That it happens to be entertaining in the bargain is all the more reason to seek out this extremely rare film.

As legal guardian of Kitty Stratton, Sir Hector Benbow arranges for her large country house, Thark, to be sold to the nouveau riche Mrs Frush. Frush reports that the house is haunted and all and sundry investigate.

Another edition of the industry cinemagazine, featuring three film articles. Pipeline to Pimlico: water heating from Battersea Power Station to local housing, includes scenes of building the new flats and opens with scenes from the film Passport to Pimlico featuring the commentator John Slater. Hot Stuff: champion fire brigade at Brodsworth Colliery. The brigade (who are part-time firemen) is seen at practice. Full Support: Tromit gatehead safety device, Wales, at the New Cross Hands Colliery.

Three modern-day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town while on their way to Canterbury.

When an unexploded WWII bomb is accidentally detonated in Pimlico, it reveals a treasure trove and documents proving that the region is in fact part of Burgundy, France and thus foreign territory. The British government attempts to regain control by setting up border controls and cutting off services to the area.

Eccentric Cambridge archaeologist Horatio Smith takes a group of British and American archaeology students to pre-war Nazi Germany to help in his excavations. His research is supported by the Nazis, since he professes to be looking for evidence of the Aryan origins of German civilisation. However, he has a secret agenda: to free inmates of the concentration camps.

The quiet village of Bramley End is taken over by German troops posing as Royal Engineers. Their task is to disrupt England's radar network in preparation for a full scale German invasion. Once the villagers discover the true identity of the troops, they do whatever they can to thwart the Nazis plans.

During a rainy Sunday afternoon, an escaped prisoner tries to hide out at the home of his ex-fiance.

A gripping tale of WWII naval warfare in the Baltics, starring John Mills as Lt. Freddie Taylor, a British submarine Captain. The crew of the Sea Tiger are summoned from leave on shore with their families, and sent on a secret mission to intercept the Nazi battleship Brandenburg. In the ensuing battle the British submarine is damaged by a German destroyer. The submarine is leaking fuel so badly that the crew won't be able to make it back to Britain before running out somewhere along the Danish coast. When it seems that their only option may be to blow up the submarine and try to escape to Denmark, seaman James Hobson hatches a plan...

The WW II romance set in Grosvenor square aka Eisenhower's home where the GIs stayed in London. Neagle loves Harrison. There arrives patriot GI Dean Jagger to rouse things up in the square. Snotty British Neagle and Jagger clash and fall for each other. What will Harrison have to say or do about these? What will the consequences be? Will the three finally become two and which two in this extremely patriotic love and war story.

Depressing and realistic family drama about the struggles of unemployment and poverty in 1930s Lancashire. The 20-year-old Kerr gives an emotionally charged performance as Hardcastle, one of the cotton workers trying to make life better. Interlaced with humour that brings a ray of sunshine to the pervasive bleakness, this remains a powerful social study of life between the wars, and was a rare problem picture to come out of Britain at the time.

A disparate group of volunteers are trained as saboteurs and parachuted into Belgium to blow up an office containing important Nazi records and to rescue a prominent S.O.E. agent, who is being interrogated by the Germans for vital information.

In 1783 England, King George III appoints William Pitt only 24 years old, as PM. When members of Parliament refuse to take Pitt seriously, he calls for a general election and wins. Pitt works to reform England, focusing on rebuilding the navy while across the sea in France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his conquest of Europe.

A concert pianist with amnesia fights to regain her memory.

Occupied Yugoslavia. With organised resistance shattered by the Nazi onslaught it is only the activity of small guerrilla bands that bring fresh hope to the people. But quislings and infiltrators are everywhere – and trusting the wrong person could easily get you killed...

Morale-boosting story released in the middle of World War II. A journalist uncovers a peace organisation at the centre of disreputable dealings.

Tom Masterick, a dock worker, is wrongfully convicted of a murder charge. His death sentence is commuted to a long prison term. When released as an old man, he vows to find the real killer.

A WWII flyer fails to join the RAF so he joins the Air - Sea Rescue instead. His boat is out in all conditions picking up downed pilots and taking them to safety.

A convict sentenced to three years for killing a detective escapes and goes on the lam, aided by a local girl.

The story of flyer Amy Johnson the girl from Yorkshire who won the hearts of the British public in the 1930s with her record-breaking solo flights around the world. Her marriage to fellow aviator Jim Mallison was less noteworthy.

When Celia Crowson is called up for war service, she hopes for a glamorous job in one of the services, but as a single girl, she is directed into a factory making aircraft parts. Here she meets other girls from all different walks of life and begins a relationship with a young airman.

Set in post Second World War Britain, Noose is the story of black market racketeers who face attempts to bring them to justice by an American fashion journalist, her ex-army fiancée and a gang of honest toughs from a local gym. When a corpse turns up at black market front The Blue Moon Club, Yank reporter Carole Landis starts snooping, much to gang boss Joseph Calleia’s annoyance. And soon there’s a hit man on the way...

During the Nazi occupation of Belgium during World War II, a Belgian resistance group revives the newspaper "La Libre Belgique" to expose and counter Nazi propaganda efforts to deceive the people. They are so effective that the Nazis offer a reward for the capture of the paper's staff, although they don't know their identities. One of them is a well-known entertainer, and when his jealous partner hears of the reward, he turns him in. The paper's publishers escape capture, but their staff doesn't. The paper's founders must find not only a way to keep from getting captured by the Nazis but keep their newspaper going and get their staff released.

On the death of his father, an eighteen-year old leaves school to take over the family firm in the City of London. Realising the other directors want to keep him in the dark he starts asking questions, and is soon undercover as a down-and-out in a hostel which will disappear if a company building project goes ahead.

An account of the technique of reading the tabloid press in an intelligent manor via differing editorial techniques that leads to three styles of newspapers giving varying accounts of a strip-tease act.

A new batch of Army recruits, from diverse backgrounds and with varying degrees of commitment, is shaped into an efficient fighting unit.

The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony.

Short war time film about the daily activities of Shunter Trains in British Railway Yards and their importance and contribution to the war effort.

No synopsis available yet.

Instructional film to encourage seamen to join the Submarine Detection Service, using actors in main roles, but genuine training situations.

A British factory is inefficient because of pre-war rules and red tape. A Soviet trades union representative shows workers and management the value of unity.

The 22nd issue of the long running industry cinemagazine, unusually featuring a single article: 'Replanning a Coalfield'.

A murderous twin gets his comeuppance.