Director: Various

UK 1936-1938 | Black & white | Documentary

Avaliable on: DVD

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. Their work embraced public information drama-documentary, social reportage, animation, advertising and many points in between. The BFI National Archive, in partnership with the British Postal Heritage Museum, Royal Mail and British Telecom, has preserved and curated the legendary output of short films produced by the GPO Film Unit. 

The second volume covers 1936-1938 and represents the Unit at its creative height. It includes much-loved classics such as Night Mail, the experimental animations of Len Lye and Norman McLaren, and Harry Watts' first forays into drama-documentary with The Saving of Bill Blewitt and North Sea as well as other neglected works, many of which will be available for the first time since their original release.

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