GPO Film Unit

1935 documentary about the hard working life of Welsh coal miners.

This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow.

Rainbow Dance is a 1936 British animated film released by the GPO Film Unit. This is Lye's second film. It uses the Gasparcolor process.

A Cockney lad trains to be a messenger boy.

Animated shapes dance to Cuban music. This was one of the first animations to be painted directly onto the film.

An impressionistic portrait of the BBC.

A film made by the British General Post Office (GPO) in 1933, promoting the automation of telephone exchanges.

Ambitious documentary chronicling the cultural life and religious customs of the Sinhalese and the effects of advanced industrialism on such customs.

Documentary following an Edinburgh fishing trawler, the "Isabella Grieg".

This portait of life on the tea plantations is decidedly rosy – clearly, there are no exploited workers here. However, the film provides an intriguing overview of tea production – from the planting of tea seeds to the final shipping of the precious leaves across the globe.

A tribute to the courage and resiliency of Britons during the darkest days of the London Blitz.

The film, made to advertise domestic telephone sets, is based around two very different families. The Petts are conventional, happy and have children; the Potts are unconventional and unhappy, without children.

Short documentary showing the workings of a large London sorting office.

The production of King George V's Silver Jubilee (1910-1935) special postage stamp, and a brief dramatised history of the development of the penny post.

Shows the production of the London telephone directory.

Wartime morale-boosting propaganda short, looking at the greatness of Britain and the efforts of all to preserve her power and integrity.

Correspondence between young lovers nearly ends in disaster through a mistake in postal district. Fortunately the GPO spots the error and all ends well, but with the moral that correspondents should get the address right.

Humphrey Jennings' first film as a director, a brief overview of the British postal service.

The organisation of medical services in Britain during the Second World War.

Documentary short by Humphrey Jennings. The GPO Film Unit was a subdivision of the UK General Post Office. The unit was established in 1933, taking on responsibilities of the Empire Marketing Board Film Unit. Headed by John Grierson, it was set up to produce sponsored documentary films mainly related to the activities of the GPO.