The GPO Film Unit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. The unit was established in 1933, taking on responsibilities of the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit. Headed by John Grierson,[1] it was set up to produce sponsored documentary films mainly related to the activities of the GPO.
Among the films it produced were Harry Watt's and Basil Wright's Night Mail (1936), featuring music by Benjamin Britten and poetry by W. H. Auden, which is the best known. Directors who worked for the unit included Humphrey Jennings, Alberto Cavalcanti, Paul Rotha, Harry Watt, Basil Wright and a young Norman McLaren.[1] Poet and memoirist Laurie Lee also worked as a scriptwriter in the unit from 1939–1940.
In 1940 the GPO Film Unit became the Crown Film Unit, under the control of the Ministry of Information.
In late 2008 the British Film Institute issued a first collection of selected films from the Unit. Titled Addressing the Nation, it comprises fifteen titles from the years 1933 to 1935, including Song of Ceylon. A second volume, We Live in Two Worlds was released in February 2009, with 22 films covering the period 1936 to 1938, and includes Night Mail. A third (and final) volume, If War Should Come, appeared in July 2009 and includes London Can Take It!
^ abLiz Faber; Helen Walters (2003). Animation Unlimited: Innovative Short Films Since 1940. Laurence King Publishing. p. 1929. ISBN 1-85669-346-5.
The GPOFilmUnit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. The unit was established in 1933, taking on responsibilities of the Empire Marketing...
designed and built by GPO engineer Tommy Flowers and his team at the Post Office Research Station in Dollis Hill. GPOFilmUnitGPO telephones Post Office...
documentary film directed and produced by Harry Watt and Basil Wright, and produced by the General Post Office (GPO) FilmUnit. The 24-minute film documents...
BFI, these used notable figures to explore British Film history: Derek Jacobi on the GPOFilmUnit (2007, UK) – Webby Award Honoree. A Conversation with...
Grierson to make a direct animation for the GPOFilmUnit. Lye was paid £30, with his materials paid for by the GPO. Lye and sound editor Jack Ellitt went...
work at the GPO was uncredited, he acted as a mentor to many new film makers. In 1937, he was appointed acting head of the GPOFilmUnit when Grierson...
1936 British animated film, created by New Zealand-born animation pioneer Len Lye and released by the GPOFilmUnit. Lye's second film to be viewed by the...
filmunit, saw another of his movies at an amateur film festival and hired McLaren. McLaren worked at the GPO from 1936 to 1939, making eight films including...
Fairy Story of the Suburbs) is a 1934 short film produced by John Grierson under the auspices of the GPOFilmUnit and directed by Alberto Cavalcanti. Made...
documentary film short directed by Alberto Cavalcanti. With a film score by Benjamin Britten and a poem written and narrated by W.H. Auden, the film gives a...
the home front. The Crown FilmUnit, part of the Ministry of Information took over the responsibilities of the GPOFilmUnit in 1940. Paul Rotha and Alberto...
to Cairo, Egypt to form AFPU's Number 1 Unit. This group, led by Major David MacDonald (a former GPOFilmUnit member) first recorded (using Canadian-made...
was one of the only films that John Grierson directed himself for the Empire Marketing Board/GPOFilmUnit. The documentary style film was made in 1934,...
possibilities for developing documentary film. By 1937, the movement was spread across four different production units: GPO, Shell (headed by Anstey), Strand...
Spare Time is a 1939 British film directed by Humphrey Jennings for the GPOFilmUnit, and made for the 1939 New York World's Fair. It is 15 minutes long...
including photographer, painter and theatre designer. He joined the GPOFilmUnit, then under John Grierson, in 1934, largely it is thought because Jennings...
location in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) at the start of 1934 and completed at the GPOfilm studios in Blackheath, London. Ambitious documentary chronicling the cultural...
effects. In the United Kingdom, the Crown FilmUnit supersedes the GPOFilmUnit in the production of documentary films. Best Picture: Rebecca – David O. Selznick...
Crown FilmUnit was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during the Second World War; until 1940, it was the GPOFilm Unit...
The Saving of Bill Blewitt is a 1936 documentary film produced by Alberto Cavalcanti of the GPOFilmUnit and directed by Harry Watt. Intended as a celebration...
During the Second World War he made documentary films for the GPOFilmUnit (1939–40) and the Crown FilmUnit (1941–1943). From 1944 to 1946 he worked as...
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