Discover Movies

9 minute-long short film by Enrico Cocozza from 1956.

A BAFTA award winning documentary looking at post war social, political and religious conditions in Japan.

This film describes the building of the drilling platform ADMA Enterprise in a shipyard on the Kiel Canal, from where it was rowed to the Arabian Gulf.

This film shows the operating procedures necessary for protection on a double track in the event of a mishap affecting the opposite line. We see the safety measures to be taken by station staff in such an emergency, and then how normal working is resumed.

Views of the landscape of the Highlands of Scotland, including Glencoe, Rannoch Moor, Mallaig and the island of Arran.

Colour promotional film with a contemporary music soundtrack made to launch the Ford Anglia.

Nights and days, thoughts and songs, and the places loved in youth are recalled by Robert Louis Stevenson.

An Englishman's children come back home from playing to tell him they've made contact with a flying saucer.

A river symphony and an early example of stereoscopic film made about the River Thames.

Another early experiment in portraiture from Tait. In filming her mother she asks the wider question of how much the camera can reveal of the person.

50s fashion meets carpet kitsch in a futuristic fantasy of domestic bliss - courtesy of versatile, magical Bri-Nylon.

A BAFTA award nominated documentary looking at advances in the treatment of infectious diseases.

Three models from Manchester enjoy a weekend in the Cheshire countryside.

A day-in-the-life of the Square Mile.

A film interpretation of the poem 'The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo' by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Margaret Tait speaks the poem throughout the film.

It's fun and frolics with a pagan tinge from Brighton Beach in the 1950s.

Dramatised documentary, intended for schoolchildren, showing the work of a youth employment officer.

From the West Midlands to West Africa: tour the Phillips bicycle plant in Smethwick and see the products in action overseas.

A nature lover's paradise lays in wait for a mother and daughter enjoying a day's excursion on the North York Moors.

A feature length instructional video for the Admiralty on coastal navigation and pilotage.

Two crime drama tales of plans for a murder gone wrong. In the first story, a man plots to murder his daughter's blackmailer and then himself. In the second story, a doctor hypnotizes a man who's been having an affair with his wife to kill her, or hopefully she will kill him. Originally released to television as individual episodes of "The Vise".

Follows a young boy's adventures at the Festival of Britain, after he acquires one of the free passes sent out attached to a balloon.

In a time of increasing mechanisation, this public information film makes the case for the sturdy farm horse.

A day in the life of the last line fisherman in Aberdeenshire, Norman Grant of Collieston, with a voiceover giving details of his work.

A Saturday morning for a family in a London suburb. An English language teaching aid for the Linguaphone Institute, presumably distributed abroad and for screenings in schools and in English as a Second Language classes.

A historical documentary tracing the development of powered flight from early aviation pioneers to the postwar jet age, focusing on Britain’s role in the evolution of air travel.

If you haven’t already been diverted by the history of John Gilpin, or would like to venture that way again, you couldn’t find a better accompaniment than the drawings of Ronald Searle. The BFI commissioned four films from Halas & Bactchelor to be screened in the “Telekinema” for the Festival of Britain. Pitched as an experiment in combining verse with illustrations, this fourth and last edition was the only one that contained a single work, with plenty of room to breath.

First episode of the television series "The Vise" (1954)

The story of the development of oil tankers during the last hundred years, produced with the co-operation of the British Tanker Shipping Organisation of the British Petroleum Company

A compilation film of 3 episodes of the television series "The Vise" – "Behind The Mask", "The Deception" and "Broken Honeymoon".

Instructional film of creative gymnastics.

A look at London's Soho in the mid-1950s.

An appeal on behalf of the NSPCC.

The story of three scientists who drifted in a small boat across the Atlantic in order to discover facts about the behaviour of the sea and air.

Kids help around the farm on the South Devon coast.

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.

The transporting of a distillation colurm, 137 feet long, 500 miles by road from Greenwich to Grangemouth in Scotland. The commentary, spoken by the rigger in charge and one of the tractor drivers, expresses the humour and resourcefulness with which these transport workers tackle their job; and the camera has captured moments of beauty as well as some amusing episodes in this journey of the longest load to travel by road in Britain.

Early abstract 3D film by animation master Norman McLaren.

A compilation of episodes from the TV series "The Vise" – "Set a Murderer" and "Yellow Robe".

Celebration of self-governance in northern Nigeria, filmed by the english colonial film Unit on behalf of the crown. Formerly lost colonial cinema, currently in restoration.

A ghost of Brighton's Regency past returns to explore his old haunts in a colourful yarn set in 1950s Sussex-by-the-Sea.

Documentary from British Transport Films

Interiors of Margaret Tait's room when she stayed at 21 Via Ancona, Rome, Italy. Brief shots of her belongings (shoes, films, teacup) and then views of the street as seen from a balcony window.

A look at the Grand National horse race at held at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, where we see the winning horse, jockey and trainer.

Bristol's historical buildings, streets, docks, churches, bomb ruins, and industries, her great traditions and associations with famous citizens.

Behold the Man is the film of the Westminster Passion play produced each Easter by Catholic youth organizations with an amateur and anonymous cast. For the first time in Great Britain the censor has permitted the portrayal of Jesus on the screen, to be seen but not heard, the entire film being mimed to narrative.

A bright outlook in Birkenhead for a thriving British enterprise.

Royal Scotland is a 1952 short documentary film directed by Gerard Bryant. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-Reel.

The county of Devon is often known as the English Riviera. It is one of the most magnificent scenic areas in Britain. This film tours all the beauty spots, historical buildings and resorts.

Daniel Farson looks at mixed marriages as part of his People in Trouble programme.

The three portrait sketches of the title are called 'Claudia', 'Fernando Birri' and 'Saulat Rahman'. Presumably made when Margaret Tait was a student at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematographia, Rome.