[2] Grierson was asked to keep his dual role until January 1944, however, he resigned in 1943 as the job he had been asked to complete had been finished as far as he was concerned. , London and New York, 1990. Film Quarterly [2] Recommendations for the future running were made for the National Film Board, and Grierson was persuaded to stay for a further six months to oversee the changes. This is reflected in his first documentary, Drifters., In a talk show interview decades later, Grierson told the host, Let it be noted that it took this long to get a working man on the screen other than as a comic figure.. [2] This Wonderful World changed the title to John Grierson Presents. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. In late 1929 Grierson and his cameraman, Basil Emmott completed his first film, Drifters, which he wrote, produced and directed. Drifters, Industrial Britain, Granton Trawler, Song of Ceylon, Coal Face (Watt) (pr); "Art is not a mirror," he said, "but a hammer. Grierson took the term and his evolving conception of a new kind and use This idea arose in Great Britain and spread to the United States. More than 100 films made Key films - Song of Ceylon 1934 Coal Face 1935 . (exec pr); "The Symphonic Film II," in [2] Grierson entered the University of Glasgow in 1916;[4] however, he was unhappy that his efforts to help in World War I were only through his work at the munitions. of the British Empire. (Paris), no. (pr); [2] Only one copy of the film was made, it was sent to the Swiss Red Cross who deliberately let it fall into German hands. [8] When Canada entered World War II in 1939, the NFB focused on the production of propaganda films, many of which Grierson directed. possible solutions. On February 26, 1942, National Film Board of Canada Commissioner John Grierson accepted the Academy Award for documentary short for the film Churchill's Island.Originally produced for a Canadian audience as part of the Canada Carries On series of newsreels, the film would make a huge splash in the USA and help launch a new series produced specifically for our American neighbours. with in this new kind of documentary included unemployment ( He may have been involved in arranging to bring Sergei Eisenstein's groundbreaking film The Battleship Potemkin (1925) to US audiences for the first time. . [2] On 23 January 1917, he became a telegraphist on the minesweeper H.M.S Surf and served there until 13 October 1917. interest for a wider public. His final feature, Louisiana Story (1948), is beautifully photographed, but its message about the harmlessness of oil-drilling has been somewhat undermined by, among other disasters, the recent BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Inter-War Britain," in (New York), January/February 1977. In 1934, Grierson sailed on the Isabella Greig out of Granton to film Granton Trawler on Viking Bank which is between Shetland and the Norwegian coast. (Wright) (pr); [2] At the start of 1948 he resigned from his position as director for Mass Communications and Public Information, he left in April to return to Britain. [2] In 1961, Grierson was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours. 1977 University of Illinois Press Corrections? Current issues are available through the Scholarly Publishing Collective. Died February 19, 1972 (73) Add to list Awards It also has a special obligation to the people of Texas to publish authoritative books on the Glasgow University, degree in philosophy, 1923. Like many social critics of the time, Grierson was profoundly concerned about what he perceived to be clear threats to democracy. Beveridge, J.A., Workers and Jobs This is reflected in his first documentary, Drifters.[/caption]. 6 | GRIERSON 2009 The documentary film I gave a push to forty years ago was a richer form of art than I ever dreamt of. Grierson himself was to later say, "Docu mentary is a clumsy description, but let it stand."1 Other film theorists such as Richard Barsam have Omissions? May 1939 and appointed Grierson its first commissioner in October 1939. (Watt) (pr); The 25-minute short experiments with sound design, and dynamic editing to produce an energetic audio-visual style that matches the energy of the dedicated postal workers aboard the Nightmail train. Ordinary life could now be heard as well as seen. Introducing the Dial It was Flahertys 1926 docufiction film Moana about Samoan culture that prompted Grierson to coin the term. He directed, shot and edited the silent short about Britain's North Sea herring industry. [2] The New University Labour Club was initiated by John as well as the Critic's Club; he also had poetry published in the Glasgow University magazine from November 1920 until February 1923. The movement began at the Film Unit of the Empire Marketing Board in 1930. (Evanston), Spring 1973. involve them emotionally with the workings of their government. . [1][6] (Cavalcanti) (pr); Quarterly of Film, Radio, Television As the war came to a close, Grierson grew weary of Canadian bureaucrats and resigned. The Smoke Menace (co-pr); Grierson made his first film, Drifters (1929), out of his one-bedroom apartment using the kitchen table as an editing bench and the bathroom as a projection booth.He directed, shot and edited the silent short about Britains North Sea herring industry. Grierson, meanwhile, carried his ideas Orders Are Orders Although Flaherty and Grierson remained life-long friends and sometime collaborators, the Scot didnt always think his American colleague was putting film to its best uses. throughout the world. He admired the work of avant-garde filmmakers in the 1920s who made European Symphonies, impressionistic films of panoramic urban landscapes and reality scenes from daily metropolitan life. I must have been on a soapbox by the time I was 16, says Grierson in the NFB film. Cinema Quarterly [2] Granton Trawler was a favourite film of Grierson's, he saw it as a homage to the Isabella Greig that was sunk in 1941 by German bombs when it went out to fish and was never seen again. [2], Grierson was appointed to the position of executive producer of Group 3 at the end of 1950; it was a film production enterprise that received loans of government money through the National Film Finance Corporation. Died: [2] During his time in hospital he spent time dictating letters to his wife, Margaret, and received visitors; however, he fell unconscious on 18 February and died on the 19th. John Grierson's 'minor manifesto of beliefs', 'First principles of documentary' (1932-34), is one such text, 2 a short work that John Corner describes as the foundational text of documentary theory. Winston, Brian, in the employ of a government or Telephone Workers church basements. Donald, J., "Machines of Democracy: Education and Entertainment in the interrelatedness of the modern world, and of our dependency on each problems needed to be solved, and suggestions about their causes and Grierson Movement," in As Grierson wrote in his diaries: "Beware the ends of the earth and the exotic: the drama is on your doorstep wherever the slums are, wherever there is malnutrition, wherever there is exploitation and cruelty." [2], Grierson joined the newly revived Films of Scotland Committee in 1955. In this regard, Grierson's views align with the Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov's contempt for dramatic fiction as "bourgeois excess", though with considerably more subtlety. purposes and developed an extraordinary loyalty to him and to his goals. returns from the box office, was a key innovation in the development of first phase in Grierson's lifelong activity on behalf of Cinema Journal Children at School Later he was an executive producer in Britain for television and motion pictures and acted as an adviser to makers of informational films. f. ," in other, will develop and everyone will want to contribute his or her share Auden, composer Benjamin Britten and sound designer Alberto Cavalcanti to bring a creative treatment to the actuality of mail delivery. Peter Biesterfeld is a non-fiction storyteller specializing in documentary, current affairs, reality television and educational production. This feature film is a portrait of John Grierson, the first Canadian Government Film Commissioner and founder of the National Film Board in 1939. in relation to film, applying it to Robert Flaherty's Sick with cancer, he returned home to England, where he died at Bath. [2][10], Grierson was appointed as a foreign adviser to the Commission on Freedom of the Press in December 1943, which had been set up by the University of Chicago. [2] Grierson returned to Britain but was invited back to Canada on 14 October 1938; he returned in November.[2]. Cinema Journal Documentary," in [2] Grierson was able to make a large contribution to the committee which included Robert M. Hutchins, William E. Hocking, Harold D. Lasswell, Archibald McLeish and Charles Merriam. He was also the subject of a 1973 NFB documentary, Best Documentary on Science or the Natural World, The Frontier Post Award for Most Entertaining Documentary, Credits from: British Film Institute Catalog (Film Index International), This page was last edited on 13 February 2023, at 19:04. (pr); "The Prospect for Cultural Cinema," in Films and Filming [5] Grierson was particularly interested in the popular appeal and influence of the "yellow" (tabloid) press, and the influence and role of these journals on the education of new American citizens from abroad. [2], After the war, the National Film Board focused on producing documentaries that reflected the lives of Canadians. (London), April/June 1952. Granton Trawler John GriersonFilm Master Hood, Stuart, 'John Grierson and the documentary film movement', in James Curran and Vincent Porter (eds. 1, 1990. In his review of Robert Flaherty's film Moana (1926) in the New York Sun (8 February 1926), Grierson wrote that it had 'documentary' value. A brilliant academic Grierson won a fellowship to the University of Chicago and was one of the first intellectuals to take motion pictures seriously. (London), Spring 1934. In 1938 the Canadian government invited Grierson to come to Canada to counsel on the use of film. [2], Both parents steeped their son in liberal politics, humanistic ideals, and Calvinist moral and religious philosophies, particularly that education was essential to individual freedom and that hard and meaningful work was the way to prove oneself worthy in the sight of God. Its also one early example of sound accompanying actuallity footage. MacGann, R.D., "Subsidy for the Screen: Grierson and Group Drifters demonstrated new possibilities for the use of film by heralding the cinematic power of unstaged actuality. This Wonderful World [2] He had the idea for the Unesco Courier which was published in several languages across the world, first as a tabloid and later as a magazine. "I look on cinema as a pulpit, and use it as a propagandist. Request Permissions. In 1923 Grierson had received an M.A. Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand Governments, 193740; Film John Grierson, the Scottish film pioneer who turned government film bureaucrat when he was asked to institute the National Film Board of Canada in 1939, is credited with coining the word "documentary." Grierson's definition of the form still holds up today. (pr); Budgets and staff were reduced and the NFB came under attack for allegedly harbouring left-wing subversives and as holding a monopoly that threatened the livelihoods of commercial producers. Sight and Sound , Toronto, 1984. Joint Executive Producer of Group 3, established by National Finance 9, no. ("In the profounder kind of way", wrote Grierson of Flaherty, "we live and prosper each of us by denouncing the other"). He returned to England in 1928, and the next year the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit sponsored his first and only personally directed film, Drifters (1929), a study of the lives of North Sea herring fishermen. Aitken, Ian, Grierson grieved the death of his sister Ruby in 1940; she was on the SS City of Benares while it was evacuating one hundred children to Canada. "The Front Page," in Married Margaret Taylor, 1930. (pr); A "Professional Notes" section informs Society for Cinema and Media Studies members about upcoming events, research opportunities, and the latest published research. [2], In December 1943 Grierson was elected by the Permanent Film Committee of the National Council for Canadian-Soviet Friendship to become honorary chairman. (treatment). (Cavalcanti) (pr); Four Barriers [2] Grierson also presented the award for the best documentary, the first time that this award was given by the Academy. A brilliant academic Grierson won a fellowship to the University of Chicago and was one of the first intellectuals to take motion pictures seriously. He was soon almost forgotten in Canada. He was finally successful in getting the British gas industry to underwrite an annual film program. Sight and Sound (Montreal), September 1985. Dickinson, T., "The Rise and Fall of the British Laxdale Hall ), founder of the British documentary-film movement and its leader for almost 40 years. [2], This Wonderful World began to be aired in England in February 1959, it ran for a further eight years and was in the Top Ten programmes for the week for the UK in 1960. [1] Early life [ edit] He imported Forsyth, S., "The Failures of Nationalism and Democracy: Grierson Weegy: 15 ? attention to pressing problems faced by the nation, insistence that these (pr); , edited by Forsyth Hardy, revised edition, London, 1966. (exec pr), Man of Africa His ancestors were lighthouse keepers and his father was a school teacher. His ancestors were lighthouse keepers and his father was a school teacher. John Grierson: Life, Contributions, Influence (Berkeley), Fall 1972. Cinma Qubec He served as an ordinary seaman in the First World War and completed a brilliant academic career after the war, graduating with distinction . Cinema that documentary film is a mere public report of the activities of daily life but a visual art that can convey a sense of beauty about the ordinary world. of film back to Britain with him in 1927. Dire economic and fragile social conditions in the 1930s and the threat of war moved Grierson to steer British documentary away from poetic towards journalistic storytelling that called attention to pressing problems facing the nation.. The Young Grierson in America, 1924-1927 Jack C. Ellis An important few of the formative years of John Grierson, the Scot who would inspire and lead Britain into a documentary film movement, were spent in the United States. During this time, Grierson was also involved in scrutinizing the film industries of other countries. The film was shown from 9 December 1929, in the Stoll in Kingsway and then was later screened throughout Britain.[2]. "The BBC and All That," in John Grierson was especially interested in the power of film to reveal the issues plaguing society and to provoke social change. Updates? In 1933, the film unit was transferred to the General Post Office. Moana [2] In 1946 Grierson was asked to testify as part of the investigation of the Gouzenko Affair regarding communist spies in the National Film Board and the Wartime Information Board, rumours spread that he had been a leader of a spy ring during his offices with the Canadian government, a rumour he denied. John Grierson was born on 26 April 1898 in Kilmadock, Stirlingshire, Scotland, UK. In 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in a review of Robert J. Flaherty's Moana. (pr), BBC: The Voice of Britain another for thousands of films, and he played a decisive creative role in Ellis, Jack C., "The Young Grierson in America," in [2] Grierson was appointed the first Commissioner of the National Film Board in October 1939. hundred films. (It has been suggested[by whom?] Drifters Rotha, Paul, "Flaherty as Innovator," in [2] At Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh on 8 July 1969, Grierson received an Honorary Doctorate of Literature. [2], In February 1948, Grierson was appointed the controller of the Central Office of Information's film operations to co-ordinate the work of the Crown Film Unit and Films Division, and to take overall charge of the planning, production and distribution of government films. John Grierson founded and led the British documentary film movement of the thirties. Grierson resigned from the G.P.O. (North York, Ontario), vol. Also according to his wishes, his urn was placed in the sea off the Old Head in Kinsale, and his brother Anthony, who had died in August 1971, had his ashes placed at the same time. Paul Rotha, one of Grierson's principal Sight and Sound The conversations of postal workers sorting mail aboard the Nightmail train had to be recreated in a studio on the set of a sorting station and recorded inside an audio truck in the parking lot. Born: = 45/20 Later he was an executive producer in Britain for television and motion pictures and acted as an adviser to makers of informational films. He was at the same time general manager of Canada's Wartime Information Board and thus had extraordinary control over how Canadians perceived the war. Grierson wrote the script for, Seawards the Great Ships, which was directed by Hilary Harris and awarded an Academy Award in 1961, a feat for the Films of Scotland Committee. [2] Before he finished with the Wartime Information Bureau Grierson was also offered the role of chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation but turned it down as he believed that this would give him too much power. (New York), Winter 1982. Heres a Cliffs Notes version of how Grierson, the godfather of documentary, earned that distinction. His view of Hollywood movie-making was considerably less sanguine: Grierson's emerging and outspoken film philosophies caught the attention of New York film critics at the time. You're Only Young Twice (Montreal), May 1972. [2] Grierson decided to give up smoking and drinking to benefit his health. [2] His mother, a suffragette and ardent Labour Party activist, often took the chair at Tom Johnston's election meetings. Company to produce feature films, 195154; became member of Films 60, July 1991. , Carbondale, Illinois, 2000. [2] The head of the Motion Picture Bureau for Canada, Frank Bagdley, did not appreciate Grierson's assessment and criticism of the films made by the Bureau which was that they focused too much on Canada as a place to holiday. The five-foot something Scotsman with an orators voice single-handedly birthed the documentary form when cinema itself was still in its infancy. that some of Grierson's notions regarding the social and political uses of film were influenced by reading Lenin's writing about film as education and propaganda.). [2], Grierson returned to university in 1919; he joined the Fabian Society in 1919 and dissolved it in 1921. Eisenstein's editing techniques and film theories, particularly the use of montage, would have a significant influence on Grierson's own work. Film Unit was ideological as well as technical and aesthetic. In 1938, at the invitation of the Canadian Government, he drafted the legisla-tion that created its National Film Board. Sight and Sound Interesting technical sidebar: Night Mail was the first film to show actuality images with accompanying sounds. Films Division of Central Office of Information, London, 194850; (Flaherty) (pr, co-ed), King Log Our publication program covers a wide range of disciplines including psychology, philosophy, Black studies, women's studies, cultural studies, music, immigration, and more. ", In the US Grierson had met pioneering documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty. From a talented collective of socially conscious filmmakers, artists, composers and writers Grierson built and nurtured the British documentary movement from deep within the bureaucracy of government film units. [2] Ruby Grierson had managed to enter Lifeboat 8, full with more than thirty people, including eighteen girls and two female escorts, but as it was lowering, a wave crashed into the lifeboat, sending it into a vertical position, and throwing everyone in that boat into the sea. Grierson persuaded the British Commercial Gas Association to sponsor a film about living conditions in the industrial slums of the nation. Cinema Thanks for contributing to The Canadian Encyclopedia. Canadian and British filmmaker John Grierson (1898-1972) used documentaries to build the National Film Board of Canada into one of the world's largest studios. (pr); (pr), The Face of Scotland ), smog ( (Watt and Wright) (pr, co-sc); The film revolutionized the way working people were represented in films.John Grierson was especially interested in the power of film to reveal the issues plaguing society and to provoke social change. Children at School He served as an ordinary seaman in the First World War The audience were members of the London Film Society, Cinema Canada Docuseries vs. documentary: What is a docuseries? Indira Gandhi called him to India to find ways to spread the principles of birth control "One Hundred Percent Cinema," in Scottish. documentary Canadian Grierson's use of institutional sponsorshippublic and Spring on the Farm The choice of topic was chosen less from Grierson's curiosity than the fact that he discovered that the Financial Secretary had made the herring industry his hobbyhorse. Sussex, Elizabeth, Sight and Sound Claiming the Real: The Griersonian Documentary We Live in Two Worlds He read and agreed with the journalist and political philosopher Walter Lippmann's book Public Opinion which blamed the erosion of democracy in part on the fact that the political and social complexities of contemporary society made it difficult if not impossible for the public to comprehend and respond to issues vital to the maintenance of democratic society. Filmography as producer/creative contributor: The Grierson Documentary Film Awards were established in 1972 to commemorate John Grierson and From Historica Canada. (London), November 1939. The New Operator Canadian and British filmmaker John Grierson (1898-1972) used documentaries to build the National Film Board of Canada into one of the world's largest studios. documentary today. Grierson was born in 1898 when going to the movies still meant going to a Kinetoscope parlour peeping into a flickering projection box; but screen projection technology, so important to Griersons social education enterprise, was just around the corner. The aim of the awards is to recognise outstanding films that demonstrate integrity, originality and technical excellence, together with social or cultural significance.[13]. (Wright) (pr, co-sc); Grierson's crew were charged with demonstrating how the Post Office facilitated modern communication and brought the nation together, a task aimed as much at GPO workers as the general public. Money made on films was discussed. talented filmmakers such as Norman McLaren. Ellis, Jack C., "The Final Years of British Documentary as the He himself spent a lifetime seeing to it that movies were made and used in ways no man before him had imagined.. Housing Problems Acland, C.R., "National Dreams, International Encounters: The 16/9 = Weegy: Whenever an individual stops drinking, the BAL will decrease slowly. [1], Grierson was born in the old schoolhouse in Deanston, near Doune, Scotland, to schoolmaster Robert Morrison Grierson from Boddam, near Peterhead, and Jane Anthony, a teacher from Ayrshire.
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