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
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
Christmas, during wartime.
Adeste Fideles
1941
British documentary on how the community of Ulster got converted to war times.
Ulster
1941
A 1944 British documentary showing farming in a rural part of Britain. Produced by Greenpark Productions for the Ministry of Information.
Cornish Valley
1944
7.5A look at everyday life in the crofting community of Achriesgill in Sutherland.
Crofters
1944
6.5A short history of the island is followed by views of the countryside and people in town and village.
Cyprus Is an Island
1946
Behind the camera
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
Christmas, during wartime.
Adeste Fideles
1941
British documentary on how the community of Ulster got converted to war times.
Ulster
1941
A 1944 British documentary showing farming in a rural part of Britain. Produced by Greenpark Productions for the Ministry of Information.
Cornish Valley
1944
7.5A look at everyday life in the crofting community of Achriesgill in Sutherland.
Crofters
1944
7.5A look at everyday life in the crofting community of Achriesgill in Sutherland.
Crofters
1944
6.5A short history of the island is followed by views of the countryside and people in town and village.
Cyprus Is an Island
1946
6.5A short history of the island is followed by views of the countryside and people in town and village.
Cyprus Is an Island
1946
4.9The 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
NRAfter 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
A documentary on modern British farming.
Power on the Land: The Story of the Mechanisation of British Farming
1943
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
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
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
NRProfile 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
7.0Between 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
A short documentary about the work of the National Trust in Great Britain
The People's Land
1943
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
NRAn express freight train links manufacturers with their customers at the other end of Britain.
Fully Fitted Freight
1957
6.6Journey 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
NRA 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
6.0A BAFTA award nominated documentary looking at the lives of the Negombo fishermen of southern Ceylon.
Fishermen of Negombo
1952
NRThe 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
NRThe 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
NRA look at the rural farming community during WW II and how farmers help stop food shortages during the war.
Summer on the Farm
1943
NRA look at the rural farming community during WW II and how farmers help stop food shortages during the war.
Summer on the Farm
1943
6.3Exploration of the Slimbridge Wild Fowl Trust in Gloucestershire, England, which boasts the largest collection of living wild fowl in the world.
Wild Wings
1966
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
"Tale in a teacup"- a short documentary on England's love affair with tea.
A Tale in a Teacup
1947
