Shadows of Progress: Documentary films in post-war Britain 1951-1977 [DVD]

DISC 1: THE ISLAND

David (Paul Dickson, 1951, 38 mins)
To Be A Woman (Jill Craigie, 1951, 18 mins)
The Island (Peter Pickering, 1952, 25 mins)
The Elephant will Never Forget (John Krish, 1953, 10 mins)
Sunday by the Sea (Anthony Simmons, 1953, 13 mins)
Henry (Lindsay Anderson, 1955, 4 mins)
Foot and Mouth (Lindsay Anderson, 1955, 20 mins)
Birthright (Sarah Erulkar, 1958, 25 mins)
They Took Us To The Sea (John Krish, 1961, 26 mins)
Faces of Harlow (Derrick Knight, 1964, 30 mins)

DISC 2: RETURN TO LIFE

Thursday's Children (Lindsay Anderson & Guy Brenton, 1954, 20 mins)
There Was a Door... (Derek Williams, 1957, 30 mins)
People Apart (Guy Brenton, 1957, 36 mins)
Return to Life (John Krish, 1960, 29 mins)
Four People (Guy Brenton, 1962, 41 mins)
A Time to Heal (Derrick Knight, 1963, 40 mins)
Time Out of Mind (Eric Marquis, 1968, 38 mins)

DISC 3: THE SHADOW OF PROGRESS

Three Installations (Lindsay Anderson, 1952, 23 mins)
The Film That Never Was (Paul Dickson, 1957, 30 mins)
Stone into Steel (Paul Dickson, 1960, 37 mins)
From First to Last (Anthony Simmons, 1962, 30 mins)
People, Productivity and Change (Peter Bradford, 1963, 44 mins)
Shellarama (Richard Cawston, 1965, 14 mins)
Picture to Post (Sarah Erulkar, 1969, 23 mins)
The Shadow of Progress (Derek Williams, 1970, 26 mins)

DISC 4: TODAY IN BRITAIN

Today in Britain (Peter Hopkinson, 1964, 19 mins)
I Think They Call Him John (John Krish, 1964, 28 mins)
Portrait of Queenie (Michael Orrom, 1964, 46 mins)
Education for the Future (Derrick Knight, 1967, 10 mins)
Tomorrow's Merseysiders (Eric Marquis, 1974, 25 mins)
Time of Terror (Eric Marquis, 1975, 18 mins)
The Shetland Experience (Derek Williams, 1977, 27 mins)

There's also a new 42-minute documentary, 'Perspectives on Documentary Filmmaking' that interviews half a dozen of the filmmakers mentioned above.

I have to declare an interest in that I was one of the contributors to the accompanying 100-page booklet, but Amazon insists that all reviews have star ratings attached. That said, I'm pretty confident that this won't be the only five-star one when it's released: it really is an extraordinary collection, fully up to the curatorial standards of its predecessor 'Land of Promise'.

The BFI do an incredible job of finding and archiving films which could otherwise just be lost to us.
This set of films covers that crucial period when the war was over but the country seemed uncertain of where it went next.
Social changes were significant and this whole aspect rapidly grew into the seventies when the roots of our new society were growing.
Of course theres propaganda - were new towns ever going to be the utopia that the film offers - but the feel of how life was for so many people does come over strongly in the sharp black and white photography and crisp direction - star directors often cut their teeth on these movies - and the strong social themes.
The film about the deprived children having a day out at the seaside is worth the price alone.
Its hard to believe that the world in these films was our world only a short time ago
For anyone who is interested in modern history and loves film heres the perfect package.

This is an absolutely stunning collection of documentary films, giving a wonderful picture of my childhood years and beyond. It does not give you a Pathe News or "Look at Life" feel good view of Post-War Britain, but digs far deeper into the social world in which I grew up. It is a mixture of entertaining and informative subjects, some of which will be a delight but others quite hard to watch. Most of the films are about 30 minutes in length , a few shorter.
Essential viewing for those who grew up in the 1950s, not so much nostalgia as a truly educational experience about the world around us as children.