Edgar Anstey

The problem of slum dwellings in the 1930s.

A look at the transport system in the South Wales Valleys and how it effects peoples livelihoods and everyday lives.

SELNEC is the largest public transport system in Britain, outside London, covering South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire. The film shows some of the things which go on during a typical SELNEC DAY, from daily bus operation to parcel delivery and bus/coach hire.

Newsreels from the '30s constitute the bulk of this fascinating documentary, clearly illustrating that the public was fed an extremely biased view of events: straight propaganda, the stricture to provide entertainment, and the attempt to be objective all contributing to this. Lewis and producer Elizabeth Taylor-Mead have constructed their argument well, but it is Jonathan Dimbleby's brief comments towards the end that contain the crucial lesson: forty years on, the same forces work to distort our view of Northern Ireland. The film only indicates this to be the case, but it is precise and coherent enough to make the point with considerable force.

Donald Houston plays a Welshman who tells the story of what it's like to live in small town Wales and how the train service helps.

Comprising train and track footage quickly shot just before a heavy winter's snowfall was melting, the multi-award-winning classic that emerged from the cutting-room compresses British Rail's dedication to blizzard-battling into a thrilling eight-minute montage cut to music. Tough-as-boots workers struggling to keep the line clear are counterpointed with passengers' buffet-car comforts.

The problem of slum dwellings in the 1930s.

The problem of slum dwellings in the 1930s.

A look at the transport system in the South Wales Valleys and how it effects peoples livelihoods and everyday lives.

SELNEC is the largest public transport system in Britain, outside London, covering South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire. The film shows some of the things which go on during a typical SELNEC DAY, from daily bus operation to parcel delivery and bus/coach hire.

Donald Houston plays a Welshman who tells the story of what it's like to live in small town Wales and how the train service helps.

Comprising train and track footage quickly shot just before a heavy winter's snowfall was melting, the multi-award-winning classic that emerged from the cutting-room compresses British Rail's dedication to blizzard-battling into a thrilling eight-minute montage cut to music. Tough-as-boots workers struggling to keep the line clear are counterpointed with passengers' buffet-car comforts.

Two keen hostelling youths, Ken Moody and Brian Cotton, convert a boat in their native Selby into a youth hostel, and get the chance to air their views on the direction that hostelling is taking in the mid-1960s.

Packaged holidays for the elderly: a party of 'senior citizens' (60-plus) on a holiday which includes a special train from Newcastle to the Isle of Wight.

Two visitors enjoying Scotland, an enthusiastic but inexperienced golfer improving on the world's greatest courses; his wife exploring spectacular places visited by the first known lady golfer in history - Mary, Queen of Scots. The commentary of Scot's actor Andrew Crawford links romantic past with sporting present in a film which captures the flavour of the country and its national game.

A documentary looking at a day at Croydon Airport south of London.

An Englishman has just got off the train at St. Enoch Station and is asking a cab driver to show him around Glasgow. Naturally, the cab driver is happy to oblige and the visitor gets to see the City first hand.

In the Hull Docks, the steamer S.S. Bravo arrives from Gothenburg with cargo.

When Joe Miller breaks his ankle on the shop floor, he is sent with some trepidation to the British Railways rehab centre, a cross between a modern gym and an old-school metalwork classroom.

A fond farewell to London's trams - whose peculiarly endearing qualities were discovered only at the threat of their disappearance.

An illustrated lecture given by Dr. Beeching on the development and improvement of Britain's major railway trunk routes. Offers a forecast of the requirements of 1984 outlined in his 1964 report.

Captures the consumption of gas by various large kitchens in London, during a particular dinner hour.

Sets out to persuade businesspeople of the advantages of going from city to city by train. How it gives them time to relax, work or sleep in comfort.

A film about one of the most responsible and professional jobs on British Railways. Practical work in shop and signal box, on gantry and trackside, coupled with instruction in mechanics, electricity, electronics and draughtsmanship, lead the apprentice intro the intricacies of design, the excitement of research and experiment, and the intense satisfaction of being in on a big changeover from old-style semaphore signalling to a new coloured light system.

The challenge of what to feed her family weighs on the mind of hard-pressed Mrs Bond in this surreal wartime film made for the Ministry of Food.

Intended as a sales tool for manufacturers, this short film details the production installation and maintenance for long welded track in use on British Railways.

Time lapse photography shows the swarm of commuters at London Waterloo station racing about at top speed.

Whether it is a paddle in the sea or a visit to some Roman remains, a day spent watching the countryside go by or an afternoon's inspection of a famous house, a party outing by hired coach can be a real day out. Away For The Day is the story of some coach parties enjoying a wide variety of trips all over England and Wales, and an impression of the places they visit.

Part of BFI collection "Running a Railway."

A random selection of housewives around the UK take a day off from their traditional domestic chores.

How the London Transport Board, with the aid of modern technology, is tackling the problems brought about by an ever increasing volume of traffic. Collected in BFI's "London on the Move."

A BAFTA award winning documentary focussing on how drivers are trained to drive new electric trains in the UK.

The Yorkshire Dales - 'from which no traveller wishes to return'. Sheltering under the Pennines, the Dales have escaped the human ravages of time. There is magic here; skysweeping hillsides and weirdly weathered rocks; Wensleydale cheese; ruined abbeys and castles and standing drystone walls; fellracing and potholing, photography, traditional songs and a commentary spoken by Robert Shaw.

Replacing a century-old rail tunnel at Woodhead, co-ordinated road haulage services in Argyllshire, Whitemoor freight marshalling yeard, Bristol bus services and the Calais to Dover cross-channel ferry: these are the subjects of this early BTF production covering a world of transport co-ordination now largely vanished.

A freight train travelling between Kirkby and Barnard Castle has become snowbound in the Westmoreland hills. The Motive Power, Operating and Engineering Departments go to work with snowploughs to reach the trapped train.

Industrial film showcasing Hull’s status as a thriving international port.

A film looking at the first 100 years of the Underground Railway in London from 1863 to 1963. A range of well known people and senior managers speak alongside some excellent archive film.

Impressions of a great city from daybreak to dusk. A roving camera and smooth theme music say more than words. London's traditional sights - Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the Royal Parks, the Zoo, etc., await their visitors in the early morning. While a young motor-cyclist hurries by, to work on the pleasure boat he conducts along the Thames; a Beefeater goes on duty at the Tower; and the visitors hurry into London by bus and coach. The film conjures up the mood of a variety of London scenes and events throughout the day until a sightseeing-bus tour gives the visitor a last chance to catch up by night on anything he may have missed during the day.

Short documentary hymning the wonders of 'modernisation' on the railways.

A day in the life of London and the Home Counties in 1962, seen from the perspective of the use of London Transport facilities from buses and tubes to long distance coach routes, accompanied by extracts from BBC radio.

Edgar Anstey and Arthur Elton’s sponsored documentary on Britain’s malnutrition crisis, blending expert testimony (Julian Huxley, J. B. Orr, A. V. Hill/Gowland Hopkins) with school-meal scenes and simple charts to link low income to poor diets and argue for “protective” foods and public provision. Commissioned by the gas industry, it plays like a brisk scientific lecture-film that helped push nutrition into public debate.

This fly on the wall-style documentary from 1961 won an Oscar for best documentary, and shows the changing patterns of human emotions during 24 hours in the life of Waterloo Station.

Three short films from the Fifties, offering an insight into day to day life amongst the beautiful scenery of the Scottish Highlands. 'Heart Is Highland' (1951) calls in on the local gamekeeper, nurse, newspaper editor and bus driver as it tours from Inverness to Kinloch Rannoch. 'Wild Highlands' (1959) discovers the wildlife populating the Ardnamurchan peninsula on the Argyll coast, and 'Highland Journey' (1957) journeys by coach and steam train from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye.

Report No. 11 in a series of 13 topical films. Because 1970 was European Conservation Year, this issue of the Rail Report Series was devoted to examples of what railways in Britain are doing to help conserve and improve the national environment.

A British documentary on tunneling if a building falls in ruins.

After the last train at night and before the first in the morning, 800 people are hard at work behind the scenes making London's Underground fit to travel on. Including brushing dust from ventilation ducts, ‘fluffers’ cleaning up rubbish, routine rail replacement and fixing a broken rail discovered at 3.30am.