Shell Film Unit

A BAFTA award winning documentary. Locations for the film range from Alaska and the southwest of the USA to the Eastern woodlands. It depicts geologists, archaeologists, anthropologists and scientists from other disciplines piecing together the clues to man's rise from ice age hunter to builder of complex societies more than 2000 years before Columbus set sail for the New World.

1958 Shell trade test film following the progress of the 1958 Alpine Cup rally across southern Europe. First showing: 22nd October 1959 (Experimental BBC London Local Tests). Final showing: 7th November 1968.

A BAFTA award nominated short feature studying river pollution in Europe and how it can be overcome by the treatment of urban and industrial wastes.

An overview of the 1955 Belgian Grand Prix by Shell Oil. Watch the racing heroes of the 1950's conquer the tarmac in one of the picturesque racing circuits of Europe.

A BAFTA award winning documentary looking at bilharzia - a disease that affects some 200 million people worldwide.

A documentary concerned with engineering projects connected with developing North Sea oilfields, specifically the Auk and Brent fields.

A BAFTA award nominated documentary showing highlights from the Le Mans 24 hour race won by Mercedes-Benz.

This final in the three part documentary series looks at the capabilities of modern commercial aircraft to regularly travel faster than the speed of sound.

A short documentary looking at the science of life itself and at the international collaboration involved in it's study.

Highlights from the 1951 race from Monaco.

Listen up, apprentices! Learn how to smooth and shape metal – an important wartime skill.

A documentary investigating the science, aerodynamics and technologies involved in enabling aircraft to travel at speeds approaching or surpassing that of sound.

The main industrial processes concerned with the shaping of metal under pressure.

A BAFTA award nominated documentary showing highlights from the Farnborough International Air Show.

Highlights from the 1949 British Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Geoffrey Bell’s Shell Film Unit short (produced by Arthur Elton) turns the history and physics of power transmission—from lever and pulley to the toothed gear—into a crisp lesson, blending live action with Francis Rodker’s animated diagrams to show how gearing underpins modern industry. Often cited as a model of clear scientific exposition.

Highlights of the Belgian Grand Prix from Spa-Francorchamps on June 5th, 1955.

A documentary tracing the development of the helicopter from the original Da Vinci drawings to the modern versions actually in service in 1951.

A celebration of Shell Petroleum, tracing its manufacture from discovery in oil fields to its eventual use as fuel for modern living across the globe.

Short World War II documentary showing examples of how skilled craftsmen of peacetime apply their skills to essential wartime production.