Directing

Ralph Keene

Born — Died

1902-07-07 — 1963-01-01

Place of birth

Mysore, Karnataka, India

Known for

Directing

Credits

29 titles

Ralph Keene was an Indian-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. He is generally known for his work on documentaries. Following the Second World War he shot a number of non-fiction films outside Britain including in Cyprus, Ceylon and Persia.

Known for

Behind the camera

No artwork available
5.0

British Petroleum-produced film. A twenty minute Technicolour film shot during the last few months before the Company's staff left Abadan in October 1951. It gives a vivid impression of the oilfields and the life led by the Company's British and Persian employees.

Persian Story

1952

No artwork available
NR

Christmas, during wartime.

Adeste Fideles

1941

No artwork available
NR

British documentary on how the community of Ulster got converted to war times.

Ulster

1941

No artwork available
NR

A 1944 British documentary showing farming in a rural part of Britain. Produced by Greenpark Productions for the Ministry of Information.

Cornish Valley

1944

Crofters poster
7.5

A look at everyday life in the crofting community of Achriesgill in Sutherland.

Crofters

1944

Crofters poster
7.5

A look at everyday life in the crofting community of Achriesgill in Sutherland.

Crofters

1944

Cyprus Is an Island poster
6.5

A short history of the island is followed by views of the countryside and people in town and village.

Cyprus Is an Island

1946

Cyprus Is an Island poster
6.5

A short history of the island is followed by views of the countryside and people in town and village.

Cyprus Is an Island

1946

A Boy, a Girl and a Bike poster
4.9

The lives of the members of a West Yorkshire cycling club are complicated by romantic entanglements and a series of bike thefts.

A Boy, a Girl and a Bike

1949

Under Night Streets poster
NR

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.

Under Night Streets

1958

No artwork available
NR

A documentary on modern British farming.

Power on the Land: The Story of the Mechanisation of British Farming

1943

No artwork available
NR

A documentary that follows the flight of a BOAC Lancastrian airliner travelling from London to Sydney that offers some observations from the passengers and of the places en route (Sicily, Lydda, Karachi, Singapore and Darwin).

Three Dawns to Sydney

1949

No artwork available
NR

One of four wartime farming films showing the four seasons in 1941 and 1942, Winter on the Farm was made at Upton Manor Farm, Uploders, Dorset, and shows the hard work of winter which must go on in all weathers.

Winter on the Farm

1941

No artwork available
NR

With great optimism Britain re-constructed after World War I but ignored the threat from the Gathering Storm of Nazi aggression.

The New Britain

1940

The Grassy Shires poster
NR

Profile of the Heart of England shires of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, and Warwickshire, and their important roles in feeding the nation.

The Grassy Shires

1944

Between the Tides poster
7.0

Between the Tides is a 1958 short documentary directed by Ralph Keene for British Transport Films.It is a study of the animal and plant life of Britain's shores. The film show the fascinating and colourful marine life of shoreline and rock pool, filmed in the inter-tidal zone of a typical and attractive rocky shore of southwest England. The amazing diversity of creatures must be seen to be believed; periwinkles, top-shells, starfish and lump suckers, the self-concealing flatfish, the gaper and razor fish and the commuting and breeding seabirds. Beautifully photographed in glorious Technicolor by resident cameraman Ron Craigen, the film was awarded fifteen international film honours, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

Between the Tides

1958

No artwork available
10.0

A short documentary about the work of the National Trust in Great Britain

The People's Land

1943

No artwork available
10.0

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.

The Green Girdle

1941

Fully Fitted Freight poster
NR

An express freight train links manufacturers with their customers at the other end of Britain.

Fully Fitted Freight

1957

Journey into Spring poster
6.6

Journey into Spring is a 1958 British short documentary film directed by Ralph Keene, and made by British Transport Films. The film -- partly a tribute to the work of the pioneering naturalist and ornithologist Gilbert White (1720-1793), author of The Natural History of Selborne -- features a commentary by the poet Laurie Lee, and camerawork by the wildlife cinematographer Patrick Carey. The journey suggested by the title is through time rather than space. In fact, two such journeys are made: the first back to the eighteenth century to pay tribute to the work of White, and the second studies the changing natural landscape near White's home town of Selborne in Hampshire between a typical March and May. It was nominated for two Academy Awards -- one for Best Documentary Short, and the other for Best Live Action Short.

Journey into Spring

1957

Five Towns poster
NR

A look at a family living in Stoke-on-Trent in the 1940's and what it's like working in the pottery factories that Stoke is famous for.

Five Towns

1947

Fishermen of Negombo poster
6.0

A BAFTA award nominated documentary looking at the lives of the Negombo fishermen of southern Ceylon.

Fishermen of Negombo

1952

The Proud City: A Plan for London poster
NR

The original LCC project for the replanning and building of London explained by two architects responsible for the plan, Sir Patrick Abercrombie and JH Forshaw.

The Proud City: A Plan for London

1946

The Proud City: A Plan for London poster
NR

The original LCC project for the replanning and building of London explained by two architects responsible for the plan, Sir Patrick Abercrombie and JH Forshaw.

The Proud City: A Plan for London

1946

Summer on the Farm poster
NR

A look at the rural farming community during WW II and how farmers help stop food shortages during the war.

Summer on the Farm

1943

Summer on the Farm poster
NR

A look at the rural farming community during WW II and how farmers help stop food shortages during the war.

Summer on the Farm

1943

Wild Wings poster
6.3

Exploration of the Slimbridge Wild Fowl Trust in Gloucestershire, England, which boasts the largest collection of living wild fowl in the world.

Wild Wings

1966

No artwork available
NR

Sharjah airport in the 1930's showing the airport, town, Emirate and Imperial Airways staff. An early British documentary produced by many pioneers of the medium.

Air Outpost

1937

No artwork available
NR

"Tale in a teacup"- a short documentary on England's love affair with tea.

A Tale in a Teacup

1947