A dramatization to promote the Territorial Army.

Story of how two youngsters round up crooks planning to blow up the British fleet off Gibraltar.

The Secrets of Life series (1934-50) may not conform to modern expectations of nature filmmaking, inclined as it is towards giving cute fluffy creatures human names and characteristics. But it couldn't be accused of shielding kiddies from the harsher realities of the food chain, as this exercise in ruthless Darwinism demonstrates to unintentionally hilarious effect. A more than usually eccentric narrator introduces us to the newborn bunny quartet of Donald, James, Charles and Clifford, but as the film's title gives away, "the boys" aren't all long for this world as they face an assault course of hungry owls, predatory badgers, shotgun-happy gardeners and aerial bombardment (no harm in a little anti-Nazi detour, this is 1942 after all). (from http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-once-we-were-four-1942/)

A Secrets of Life short.

E.V.H. Emmett narrates this propaganda short about how sacrifices on the home front support the war effort.

This film shows how and why the animals which inhabit a pond are dependent one on another for their survival. We see the minnow in pursuit of water fleas and a stickleback seeking worms to satisfy his need of fuel. Carbon-dioxide, we are reminded, is essential for the growth of the green plants and the oxygen they release for the breathing of the animal population of the pond.

Go with the flow: to gentle but spellbinding effect this innovative natural history film glimpses marine life astride rising tides at Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae. Urchins, lugworm, weaver-fish and crabs are the shy-but-elegant stars coaxed onto the screen (with the assistance of Millport’s local research station) for this archetypal edition of Gaumont-British Instructional’s 1930s cinema series Secrets of Life.

A Secrets of Life short about the Sparrow Hawk.

Captures the lives, habits and habitats of London’s pigeon population.

Documentary highlighting how land has been reclaimed for agriculture in Scotland.

"A study of how plants obtain the elements necessary for their existence."

A retired Major's efforts to hone his golf skills are thwarted by the diminutive but defiant common daisy.

A Secrets of Life short about the production of seeds.

A Secrets of Life short about waterfowl.

A Secrets of Life short.

A Secrets of Life short about the swan.

A Secrets of Life short to which the BFI gave this description: "The film falls into two related sections: the first part shows, by fast motion... the germination, growth-characteristic and fertilisation of the wild cabbage; the second part shows how the varied forms of cultivated cabbage - Savoys, Brussels sprouts, cauliflowers, sprouting broccoli - are related to the wild form, by illustrating the particular feature of the wild form that is present to an exaggerated degree in the cultivated variety... A very good example of how to deal with familiar gardening knowledge in an interesting manner, while at the same time using everyday facts to bring home the scientific lessons that can be drawn therefrom... Perhaps the most striking portions of the whole film are the sections showing which parts of the wild form have been greatly developed to produce the Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, or the Savoy cabbage."

The film begins with threshing using a steam engine to drive the drum and elevator, described as "old fashioned". The film explains how the machine works. This takes place at Upper Abbey Farm. Hand feeding of poultry in the farmyard is shown as well as feeding silage to cattle and the preparation of root crops for cattle feed by Head Stockman, Lacey Smith. The farmyard scenes show a dog curled up on sacks in the barn and the farm cat investigating proceedings. The film moves on to show hedging and ditching by hand, and then the laying of brushwood drains on Wood Farm, Sibton and ends showing winter ploughing by a horse team.

This promotional film bills the market town of Newark as central to the farming industry, with an array of regional produce and livestock. It was sponsored by the British Council and intended for an international audience.

History - and natural history - filmed on location in Selborne, East Hampshire. This unusual edition of the long-running series Secrets of Life tells the story of the village's famous son, Rev Gilbert White, whose 1789 book The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne is a classic of natural history. The film follows in his footsteps, with camera rather than quill in hand, focusing on nature but also taking in views of the village and its human inhabitants. The ingenious close coverage of bird, reptile and other wildlife was the stock-in-trade of the filmmakers at Gaumont-British Instructional, producers of the series. Under the direction of the redoubtable Mary Field, the behind-screen talent here includes legendary 'cine-biologists' Percy Smith and Oliver Pike. A tribute by one generation of pioneering naturalists to another, it's a quietly moving film in spite of its clipped English reserve - or perhaps partly because of it.