Discover Movies

Exploring every concrete corner of Birmingham's original mega-mall, from planning and construction to the site's official opening, attended by Prince Philip.

A trip through the CWS Biscuit Factory in Harlow, with a detailed look at the production of their biscuits from start to finish.

A BAFTA award nominated looking at methods of increasing food production, including improved strains of crops, the use of pesticides, weedkillers and insecticides and land reclamation.

The theme of this short experiment is that of a problem of communication between two girls.

Members of a school expedition in Tunisia become accidentally involved in industrial espionage.

The crucial nature of not allowing one's driving judgement to be blurred by the need to hurry.

A trip to Eel Pie Island in the River Thames to look at the youth club there and how it is inspiring youngsters.

A look at a typical day in a policeman's life, which uncovers more than expected from the role.

This footage is all that remains of the programme that was first transmitted in 1960. Sgt George Brown demonstrates training exercises in a wooded area is known as the 'trainasium'. The aim is for the recruits to overcome a series of physical obstacles which encourage movements of daring and agility. They are also set team challenges aimed at encouraging initiative.

Documentary profile of The Ship Hotel Public House, Gateshead.

An experimental piece of film-making by Margaret Tait, featuring three children at play in a burn and garden, splashing and having fun playing with water.

Folk traditions of the Scottish Highlands.

The tedium of modern life illustrated in the setting of a self-service laundry.

Report No. 8 in a series of 13 topical films, produced since the far reaching plan for the modernisation and re-equipment of British Railways in 1955 started to take effect, to log the many developments - new services, equipment, techniques - wherever these have been introduced. They provide a unique pictorial record of the progress of British Railways.

Adventure serial about a school girl's search for lost jewels on a small Sicilian island.

A study of the new towns of East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Cumbernauld and Livingston. Considers how each new town has developed and grown in its own way. Aspects of housing, architecture, communications, industry, leisure, education, environmental considerations and health and traffic are all considered.

Tom and Sukie arrive in Malta to spend the holidays with their father, an archae ologist digging for a legendary golden statue of Calypso on the island of Gozo. He fails to meet the children who mke friends with Jiminy, a Maltese boy, and go to the villa where they overhear two crooks threatening their father. The cooks fool the police to whom the child ren have gone. They escape and make their way finally to Gozo to see their father's colleague where they all capture d. Just before the statue is handed over Jiminy arrives with an army of children who rout the crooks and drive them into the arms of the police. Based on the novel. By Jiminy by David Scott Daniel

How the north east of England is adjusting to industrial change.

As a student with negligible funds, and as a flaneur in love with the 'merveilleux quotidien' of pre-revalissage Paris, I used my little cine-camera to record stuff that caught my eye. To keep within my means, most of the shots were ony a second or two long. In retrospect, a still camera would have been more sensible. But I was in love also with film and with the possibilities of fast cutting. So what you get here is a stream of images from my walks: torn posters, shop signs, cinema hoardings, window displays, flea market merchandise. I appreciated the torn posters more in the spirit of Léo Malet's 'décollages' than Rotella's contemporary nouveau réalisme. Some years later, the Events of May 1968 broke out, covering the walls of the Left Bank with posters of protest. Recording them seemed a good way to end my film - just as they announced the beginning of a new cultural epoch.

Dr Beeching, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, sits at a desk addressing workers. Intended to be shown before a programme of other British Transport films.

From Well Dressing to Garland Day and even elephants in Alfreton - a celebration of the traditional customs of Derbyshire.

A man is bemused to see his pipe cleaners come to life!

New law targets discrimination in housing and employment.

A look at the annual tulip parade in Spalding, Lincolnshire.

The Magnificent Six-and-a-Half gang help in the collections for a youth club.

The City of Sheffield is renewing itself, but until recently Sheffield's railway network exemplified the confusion and inefficiency created by competitive railway expansion in Victorian times. Now British Railways has swept away the small depots and the conflicting lines, and has centralised its goods operations in a new Freight Terminal, a Diesel Maintenance Depot, and one of the most modern Marshalling Yards in Europe, thus providing freight services fit for Sheffield's needs.

The story of John G Stein & Co., MANUFACTURER of INDUSTRIAL REFRACTORIES.

A BAFTA award nominated travelogue of Egypt, Iran, Lebanon and Greece.

A frenzied anarchist slapstick in the best traditions, with the complete destruction of the scenery, and with a sarcastic mockery of the creative intelligentsia.

Experimental short directed by Jeff Keen.

Members of the Netherlands Dance Theatre perform the ballet ‘The Anatomy Lesson’, which was inspired by Rembrandt’s famous painting.

A look at the Women's Voluntary Service, informally known as the women in green.

From the village green to Lord's, this film takes a look at the world of cricket and considers the problems it faces.

A look to the future with the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers, a cavalry regiment of the British Army which was formed in 1715.

The story of a journey from the Yorkshire Dales to Switzerland via Dover and France, made by a party of schoolgirls showing how British rail contributes to a smooth, comfortable journey.

The Runcorn and Widnes Bridge is opened by Princess Alexandra.

A real labour of love, this film is a fine demonstration of how amateur filmmakers could play a part in campaigning for local services. With the impending Beeching Report of 1963 there could hardly have been a better plea for the retention of the Settle to Carlisle railway and all its services than this traversing of the whole length of the line by train and by foot, stopping off to reveal its many wonders and recording the fascinating history of the line and of those who built it.

The Maestro brings a world of emotions to life interpreted by the orchestra and the animation.

Electrification, and the raiIway men of Rugby adopt new methods and use new machines. In this film they tell in their own words of the great technological changes and the human problems of adapting which each has to face. As with seamen and farmers, railwaymen even today remain curiously close to nature; and gain flexibility of mind from the relationship.

Adventure serial about a school girl's search for lost jewels on a small Sicilian island.

A small boy inherits a steam road roller. A film fantasy by Edward McConnell.

About the development scheme for a residential area in the City. Barbican, which will be largely completed by 1973, will provide about 7,000 people with not only flats and houses but shops, schools and a wide range of cultural and other amenities.

A look at the phenomenon of Saturday football through the eyes of fans watching Tottenham Hotspur. The film looks at the men who are the chief actors in the Saturday football drama, both off duty and in training.

A look at all the various practised religions in India

BBC documentary on the long and flamboyant career of French filmmaker Abel Gance.

The Ghost of Monk's Island Part One Unhappy Birthday

Adventure serial about a school girl's search for lost jewels on a small Sicilian island.

Animated stop-motion version of the Day-O song featuring Bugs Bunny and Speedy Gonzales.

Reg Harcourt conducts street interviews in the Midlands about a controversial issue: ethnicity within the police force. When this was filmed in February 1966 was zero, when the total number of paid black and Asian police officers in Britain.

When a business tycoon allows himself to be 'snared' into seeing some films in a railway traffic manager's office, there must be a reason for it. In this case, it's a particularly giant-sized transport problem. But before he's convinced that the railways can help him solve it, there is an atmosphere of battle in the room, and some interesting and unexpected facts are hurled about in the course of the argument. Made to promote the use of railways to transport raw materials and finished products.

Directed by John Latham.

A film about the Solent with a look at the steam trains operating across the Isle of Wight.

The building of a hydro electric station in Scotland.

A BAFTA award nominated documentary investigating how bad behaviour affects colleagues and the public and the correct way to act towards others.

Part of BFI collection "London on the Move". Informational film about the London Underground’s ticket machines and automatic barriers.

January 1963 was the coldest English month of the entire twentieth century. A news item in the typical vox pop style finds Tim Downes asking a group of railway workers how they're coping. But all the interviewees are West Indian and the questions assume that they are unused to cold weather. The monosyllabic response and lack of interest in Downes' questions from one of the workers is a highlight. This item is likely to have been filmed in the Birmingham area although the exact location has not been recorded. The opening section is silent.