Empire Marketing Board

Story of salmon fishers and the methods they use; captures the migration of salmon up a Highland river for spawning.

A silent film by John Grierson. It tells the story of Britain's North Sea herring fishery.

Propaganda - advertising. Animated titles spelling out the message - "Australian wines:- In the sunlit vineyards of Australia grow luscious grapes for wines, pressed and bottled into sweet, dry, or sparkling vintages. Stock your cellar with Australian wines because they are cheaper and best".

Early documentary, slung together from footage depicting the first invasion of North America by Europeans, designed to show industrial technology's role in the development of North America. Used footage from the 1923 feature "The Covered Wagon" as though it were history. Produced by the Empire Marketing Board, which was established by the Conservative Party in 1926 to promote inter-imperial trade.

A young boy dreams he's on a guided tour of Buckingham Palace and various countries in the British Empire.

A short, silent documentary by Robert J. Flaherty about pottery in England.

Grierson set out to make "propaganda," and this film--with it's voice-over proclaiming the great value of the British industrial worker, without a hint of ambiguity or doubt--fits that category well. The authoritatarian narrator feels out-of-date and unsophisticated, but the footage is well shot and interesting, and the transparency of the propaganda aspect is almost a reflief at a time when so many films have hidden agendas.

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

Life on a farm at springtime, including blossom, piglets and ducklings.

A documentary taking a journey down the Thames from Tower Bridge to the Shellhaven refinery near London.

An intricate and richly detailed observation of every step in the making of an aircraft engine.