Basil Wright

A narrator recounts the state of Great Britain near the end of WWII via a visual diary for the titular baby boy born in September 1944.

A housewife galvanises her docker husband to take an interest in more important matters than the football pools.

A Defeated People is a 1946 British documentary short film made by the Crown Film Unit, directed by Humphrey Jennings and narrated by William Hartnell. The film depicts the shattered state of Germany, both physically and as a society, in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The narration explains what is being done – and what needs to be done – both by the occupying Allied forces and the German people themselves to build a better Germany from the ruins.

Ambitious documentary chronicling the cultural life and religious customs of the Sinhalese and the effects of advanced industrialism on such customs.

A portrait of John Grierson, the first Canadian Government Film Commissioner and founder of the National Film Board in 1939. Interweaving archival footage, interviews with people who knew him and footage of Grierson himself, this film is a sensitive and informative portrait of a dynamic man of vision. Grierson believed that the filmmaker had a social responsibility, and that film could help a society realize democratic ideals. His absolute faith in the value of capturing the drama of everyday life was to influence generations of filmmakers all over the world. In fact, he coined the term 'documentary film'.

Peter and his friends find unexpected and exciting adventures when all their wishes are granted by a magic marble.

A narrator recounts the state of Great Britain near the end of WWII via a visual diary for the titular baby boy born in September 1944.

A housewife galvanises her docker husband to take an interest in more important matters than the football pools.

A Defeated People is a 1946 British documentary short film made by the Crown Film Unit, directed by Humphrey Jennings and narrated by William Hartnell. The film depicts the shattered state of Germany, both physically and as a society, in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The narration explains what is being done – and what needs to be done – both by the occupying Allied forces and the German people themselves to build a better Germany from the ruins.

Ambitious documentary chronicling the cultural life and religious customs of the Sinhalese and the effects of advanced industrialism on such customs.

Peter and his friends find unexpected and exciting adventures when all their wishes are granted by a magic marble.

A 1940 black and white film, production sponsored by the Colonial Empire Marketing Board. 'The East African colonies are introduced as representative examples of the Colonial Empire. A tribal dance hints at the "life of fear and uncertainty" replaced by British rule, a village's "squalor" the need for continued war on "ignorance, poverty and disease." "Much can be achieved by money and the initiative of the White Man:" film hints at hydro-electric schemes, modern harbours (Mombasa), roads, bridges etc and illustrates in more detail hospital expansion; tsetse fly research and control; relieving malnutrition; agricultural improvement; education (primary school; Makerere College)." - Abridged version of synopsis on colonialfilm.org

Ancient Greece, contrasted with modern Greece.

Ancient Greece, contrasted with modern Greece.

The history of Scotland and the factors that have shaped the character of its people.

A doctor talks about the number of injuries and deaths resulting from automobile accidents.

Focuses upon the journey of child refugees from the Basque Country to temporary accommodation near Southampton, Hampshire [England].

In a bid to encourage city-dwellers to leave behind the restrictions of war, 'The Green Girdle' escapes from the austere urban landscape of inner-city London and savours the natural delights of the capital’s rural surroundings.

Weiss’s classic B&W agitprop short made after his escape to London just ahead of the Nazis. He carried with him three reels of material for his unrealized film ‘Dvacet Let Svobody’ (‘Twenty Years of Freedom’) i.e. 20 years of the existence of independent Czechoslovakia from its 1918 founding to 1938 when the Munich Agreement dissolved it. In English with poetic narration written by C. Day-Lewis (father of Daniel Day-Lewis).

A short documentary to demonstrate what can be done with Technicolor film and to show various other colourful products.

A celebration of the importance of the British countryside.

A BAFTA award nominated documentary looking at an exhibition of Da Vinci's drawings at Burlington House in London, marking the quincentenary of his birth.

Propaganda short showing how London is coping with World War II.

The occupation of the Channel Islands.

This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow.

This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow.

An overview of the shepherd's life during the lambing season.

UNESCO-funded "one world" documentary by Paul Rotha and Basil Wright.

Deals with Britain's treatment of mental health in wartime. Shows a specialized hospital for military and civilian patients and gives a picture of its organization and operation, including diagnostic and therapeutic methods, occupational therapy, recreation, and rehabilitation.

The story of a ship's arrival, unloading and departure from the Port of London in 1951, and all the life of the docklands and the river. Made for the Festival of Britain.

Short documentary about British education in the late 1930s.