The British Documentary Film Movement, 1926–1946

The most important and internationally influential development in British cinema was the documentary film movement led by John Grierson in the 1930s and 1940s. Paul Swann's study is a political and social history of this movement, which was characterized by actuality-based films made outside the commercial industry. Based upon new examinations of official government records, this book provides a fascinating picture of how Grierson manipulated the civil service bureaucracy both for his own ends and, in his view, for the good of his country. The documentary movement was both a socially conscious group intent upon raising the consciousness - and consciences - of viewers, and something like a film school, providing opportunities to fledging film-makers. Working in reaction to the escapist Hollywood films that then dominated British screens, the documentary filmmakers drew upon traditions such as Soviet realism and the European avant-garde and used ordinary men and women instead of actors. Swann offers a fresh look at a rare moment in the history of cinema, when a different mode of production, philosophy, and source of funding permitted a determined group to create a distinguished body of work. His book is a provocative examination of the role of the state in Grierson's efforts to forge an indigenous film culture as an alternative to the American feature film.