Shadows of Progress – Documentary Film in Post-War Britain 1951 – 1977 DVD –  

A collection of post-war documentaries offering a revealing portrait of Britain’s social, cultural and industrial development throughout the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. The films comprise: ‘David’ (1951), ‘To Be a Woman’ (1951), ‘The Island’ (1952), ‘The Elephant Will Never Forget’ (1953), ‘Sunday By the Sea’ (1953), ‘Henry’ (1955), ‘Foot and Mouth’ (1955), ‘Birthright’ (1958), ‘They Took Us to the Sea’ (1961), ‘Faces of Harlow’ (1964), ‘Thursday’s Child’ (1954), ‘There Was a Door’ (1957), ‘People Apart’ (1957), ‘Return to Life’ (1960), ‘Four People’ (1962), ‘A Time to Heal’ (1963), ‘Time Out of Mind’ (1968), ‘Three Installations’ (1952), ‘The Film That Never Was’ (1957), ‘Stone Into Steel’ (1960), ‘From First to Last’ (1962), ‘People, Productivity and Change’ (1963), ‘Shellarama’ (1965), ‘Picture to Post’ (1969), ‘The Shadow of Progress’ (1970), ‘Today in Britain’ (1964), ‘I Think They Call Him John’ (1964), ‘Portrait of a Queen’ (1964), ‘Education for the Future’ (1967), ‘Tomorrow’s Merseysiders’ (1974), ‘Time of Terror’ (1975) and ‘The Shetland Experience’ (1977).

Building on the phenomenal success of its 2008 DVD release Land of Promise The British Documentary Movement 1930-1950 the BFI here presents an expansive 4-disc reappraisal of documentary filmmaking in the post-war years. Examining films commissioned by both private industry and government departments this collection provides a fascinating portrait of Britain s social cultural and industrial development throughout the 1950s 1960s and 1970s. The films explore topics more resonant today than ever: the joys of childhood holidays music the place of the dispossessed and the marginalised in a prosperous society; industry processes and landscapes the environment people and places tradition and the future. Presented with a fully illustrated 64 page booklet containing contextualising essays on all of the films and filmmakers. Special Features: All films newly transferred to High-Definition from original film elements Includes fully illustrated 64 page booklet containing essays from Lord David Puttnam historian Dominic Sandbrook and other leading scholars ‘Perspectives on documentary filmmaking’ (2010) – A newly created documentary about the filmmakers and their work