An A-Z of the GPO Film Unit

* Scott Anthony
* guardian.co.uk,
* Monday September 22 2008 16:09 BST

Like a weird cinematic version of the Roll Chronicle of British kings, it sometimes seems that the GPO Film Unit stands at the head of the family tree of British film and television. Established in 1933, its ethos and influence can be discerned everywhere, from Coronation Street to reality soaps via Ealing Studios and The Green Cross Code Man. Melvyn Bragg even described the GPO Unit as "the font from which our tradition of arts programmes spring". To celebrate the release of Love Letters and Live Wires, a theatrical tour of GPO curios and classics, here is our own alphabetical introduction to an enduring, and highly unlikely, cultural legacy.

A is for Aboriginal Painted directly on to celluloid, the startling GPO shorts of New Zealander Len Lye were inspired by Aboriginal and Maori art. In the lower case sense of the word, the GPO Film Unit might be the aboriginal form of modern British cinema.

Blackheath In 1933 the unit moved to new sound-equipped studios at Bennett Park Road. As well as frequently appearing in their film's "street" scenes, Blackheath provided one of the pillars of the unit's future success. The second was ...

Alberto "Cav" Cavalcanti The Brazilian made a huge impact on the GPO's films on account of his experience in the commercial industry (ie he actually knew what he was doing) and because of his avant-garde know-how, as evidenced in Rien que les heures.

Documentary If the wider world of British cinema is mentioned at all in a standard film history tome, it's invariably mentioned in conjunction with documentary, several conceptions of which were "invented" by the unit.

Empire Marketing Board The unit was created in embryo at the Empire Marketing Board, unusual origins that ensured it was more attuned to the work of a Commonwealth-wide network of interesting modernists than the petty politics of Whitehall.

Denis Foreman According to the future luminary of Granada TV, the unit much impressed the Italian neorealists.

John Grierson The godfather of the GPO Cosa Nostra. As a critic he coined the term "documentary", as head of the unit Grierson made it his business to keep the family in check.

H is for Harry When not expounding theories about the proper role of film in a democratic society, Grierson tended to appoint a) Scotsmen and b) people who had worked at sea. Harry Watt ticked both of these boxes and, in his strong-willed collectivism and spirited individualism, seemed typically GPO. His Saving of Bill Blewitt was the first "story documentary" ever made.

The Imperial Six The GPO's first package of commercially released shorts - Weather Forecast, Granton Trawler, Cable Ship, 6.30 Collection, Spring on the Farm and Windmill in Barbados.

Humphrey Jennings Writer, painter, designer and in Lindsay Anderson's endlessly quoted estimation "the only true poet of the English cinema".

Kazoo band Controversially featured in Spare Time, Jennings' affectionate, subtle and sly portrait of Britain at play.

Love on the Wing Freewheeling jazz-influenced animation genius from...

Norman McLaren The Scottish animator was just one of the unlikely band of avant gardists that blossomed under Grierson's patronage.

Night Mail The GPO's cinematic testament par excellence. As redolent of the 1930s as a Poirot novel, the Shell guides and Frank Pick's transformation of the Underground, Night Mail is stuffed with bad jokes, cracking poetry and progressive patriotism. The story of a night on the travelling post office (TPO) exemplifies what historian Ross McKibbin has described as one of the key characteristics of the era, "the redistribution of cultural esteem."

Organisational efficiency London Midland Scottish celebrated Night Mail's success by repainting the interiors of the TPO green "to avoid eyestrain" and introducing electric tea urns.

Philatelists It is often argued that the unit's distance from commercial cinema chains limited their influence, but who needs popcorn-munchers when you've got philatelists? For many years William Coldstream's The King's Stamp, which details Barnett Freedman's sketching of the jubilee stamp, was the most watched film ever made.

Q is for Quentin Reynolds, that is. While the US remained neutral during the second world war, American reporters such as Quentin Reynolds and Ed Murrow were invited to provide voiceovers to the unit's footage of the blitz. Their eloquent delivery was engineered to elicit the sympathy of sceptical North American audiences.

Lotte Reiniger The German puppeteer and silhouette animator was one of the many talented emigres who found refuge from the Nazi regime at the unit.

Slavery What the abolition of slavery

"I've been torpedoed!"
Askey replies..
"Well I didn't do it!"

Special delivery of Love Letters and Live Wires
By Nick Curtis, Evening Standard

Bygone era: Night Mail, made in 1936 by Harry Watt and Basil Wright, recalls the good old days when the postal services were both reliable and romantic

As part of its 75th anniversary celebrations, the British Film Institute is screening a selection of the remarkable films made by the GPO Film Unit (also, coincidentally, founded in 1933). A precursor to the commercial, the documentary and the public information film, these shorts were initially aimed at explaining and promoting the
General Post Office

"I've been torpedoed!"
Askey replies..
"Well I didn't do it!"

The old BFI seem to be flogging this one quite a lot, is there nobody investing in a copy, it's been out for quite a while, but most of the British Isles have not even heard of the BFI, let alone the GPO film service of 1933. I am loathe to admit it, but most of our population seem to be like couch potatoes, completely unaware that there is interest out in the wide world for the taking, pass the fried chicken and chips while I change the channel please....

'THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A MISANTHROPE'

Yes but this is always the way...the mass sheep led by the few heroes.....yours sincerely Mr Hero

"I've been torpedoed!"
Askey replies..
"Well I didn't do it!"

Just as an aside, did you know that the sailor on a packet of Players Navy Cut cigarettes, has a hat band that states he belongs to H.M.S. Hero, a little bit of trivia for collectors everywhere, and talking of collecting, I have a stainless steel sink etc etc......

'THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A MISANTHROPE'