We Live in Two Worlds : Gpo Film Unit Volume 2

Synopsis

The second of three double-disc box sets presenting all the key films of the GPO Film Unit produced between 1936-1938. The collection is not just important in cinematic terms, but provides a valuable and fascinating insight into 1930s Britain. Created in 1933 out of the ashes of the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit, the GPO Film Unit was one of the most remarkable creative institutions that Britain has produced. A hotbed of creative energy and talent, it provided a spring board to many of the best-known and critically acclaimed figures in the British Documentary Movement, including John Grierson, Alberto Cavalcanti, Basil Wright and Harry Watt, alongside innovators and experimentalists such as Len Lye and Norman McLaren. Their work embraced public information films, drama-documentary, social reportage, animation, advertising and many points in between.

Contents:Disc One
Rainbow Dance (Len Lye, 1936)
The Saving of Bill Blewitt (Harry Watt, 1936)
Calendar of the Year (Evelyn Spice, 1936)
The Fairy of the Phone (William Coldstream, 1936)
Night Mail (Harry Watt and Basil Wright - uncredited - 1936)
Roadways (William Coldstream, Stuart Legg, 1937)
Trade Tattoo (Len Lye, 1937)
Big Money (Harry Watt, 1937)
We Live in Two Worlds (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1937)
N or NW (Len Lye, 1937)

Disc Two
A Job in a Million (Evelyn Spice, 1937)
Book Bargain (Norman McLaren, 1937)
What’s On Today (R.Q. McNaughton, 1938)
Love on the Wing (Norman McLaren, 1938)
The Horsey Mail (Pat Jackson, 1938)
The H.P.O. (Lotte Reiniger, 1938)
News for the Navy (Norman McLaren, 1938)
Mony a Pickle (Director of Sequence - uncredited - Norman McLaren, Alberto Cavalcanti, Richard Massingham, 1938)
North Sea (Harry Watt, 1938)
Penny Journey - The Story of a Post Card from Manchester to Graffham (Humphrey Jennings, 1938)
The Tocher (A film ballet by Lotte Reiniger, 1938)
God’s Chillun (Words by W.H. Auden, music by Benjamin Britten, 1938)

The discs are presented in a box with a 98-page bound book containing introductory essays, film notes and selected biographies.

Series

General Post Office Film Unit Collection, The: Volume 2

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

2009

Year of production

1936-1938

Notes

Vol 1 is entitled ADDRESSING THE NATION and Vol 3, to be released later in 2009 will be IF WAR SHOULD COME

Subjects

Film studies; History

Keywords

animation films; archive films; GPO

Credits

Director

Alberto Cavalcanti; Basil Wright; Evelyn Spice; Harry Watt; Humphrey Jennings; Len Lye; Lotte Reiniger; Norman McLaren; Pat Jackson; Richard Massingham; Stuart Legg; William Coldstream

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 2 PAL

Price

£24.99

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

257 minutes

Year

2009

Production Company

Name

GPO Film Unit

Distributor

Name

BFI Video

Email

video.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://www.bfi.org.uk External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7957 8957

Fax

020 7957 8968

Address

21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN