Learning on ScreenBritish Transport Films
Profile
- Born
- 1949
- Role
- Production Co.
- Newsreels / Cinemagazines
- Cinegazette
- Search
- Search for all stories where British Transport Films is credited
History
In 1949, the British Transport Commission established a films section to to enable it to use film as a tool for internal training and external promotion. Within six years over sixty films had been completed, including many classics such as Elizabethan Express (1954), Farmer Moving South (1952) and Snowdrift at Bleath Gill (1955).
The Commission had found itself the perfect Producer in Charge in the shape of Edgar Anstey [qv] - a disciple of John Grierson at the Empire Marketing Board - and the perfect mode to communicate with its staff and the general public. It took over the work which had been commissioned by the London Transport Executive [qv], in particular, the cinemagazine, Cinegazette.
After the disappearance of support features and documentaries in British cinemas, BTF continued in a less glamorous way, producing internal staff information and training films and the occasional advert for television. In 1985 a video unit continued under a new name with new directives and BTF was no more.
The Commission had found itself the perfect Producer in Charge in the shape of Edgar Anstey [qv] - a disciple of John Grierson at the Empire Marketing Board - and the perfect mode to communicate with its staff and the general public. It took over the work which had been commissioned by the London Transport Executive [qv], in particular, the cinemagazine, Cinegazette.
After the disappearance of support features and documentaries in British cinemas, BTF continued in a less glamorous way, producing internal staff information and training films and the occasional advert for television. In 1985 a video unit continued under a new name with new directives and BTF was no more.
Sources
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/445275/index.html; Accessed 15/5/2006: NoS Number 349273; Cinegazette Number 10; Date released 1952: NoS Number 349281; Cinegazette Number 16; Date released 1957.
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