Gaumont-British Instructional Movies

The Secrets of Life series (1934-50) may not conform to modern expectations of nature filmmaking, inclined as it is towards giving cute fluffy creatures human names and characteristics. But it couldn't be accused of shielding kiddies from the harsher realities of the food chain, as this exercise in...

Documentary highlighting how land has been reclaimed for agriculture in Scotland.

Story of how two youngsters round up crooks planning to blow up the British fleet off Gibraltar.

In Australia, five children pursue horse thieves through the mountains.

A dramatization to promote the Territorial Army.

A retired Major's efforts to hone his golf skills are thwarted by the diminutive but defiant common daisy.

A party of children take an eye-opening tour of John Brown's Shipyard in Clydebank.

The Case of The Missing Scene is a children's crime thriller that has been designed in the tradition of classic British children's films. A camera team takes pictures of rare birds from a hide when a poacher happens to get into the picture. The evidence (namely shot 63) disappears under mysterious...

A Secrets of Life short.

Explore London Zoo with one of its greediest residents, Sally the sparrow.

Poetic tribute to Mrs Turner's vegetable growing prowess, plus the delights of "wartime steaks".

Part two of two teaching films about human anatomy which is devoted to the action of the skeletal muscles in producing movement of the bones at the joints of the human skeleton. It uses live action and animated medical illustrations as well as an actual skeleton with commentary. A man, naked to the...

The film tkes us to the North of England to follow the migration of the black-headed gull down to London. There, the narrator asks viewers to "listen to their gossip", before demonstrating the bird’s flight in slow motion. We see a polecat feasting on gull eggs, and then a man collecting the eggs...

This promotional film bills the market town of Newark as central to the farming industry, with an array of regional produce and livestock. It was sponsored by the British Council and intended for an international audience.

A teaching film about the human skeleton with animated medical illustrations as well as an actual skeleton with commentary. A man, naked to the waist, also demonstrates the relevant anatomy. X-ray cineradiography illustrates the movement of the arm.

A film based on a story by Leo Tolstoy about a cabinet maker, his wife and an angel punished by God.

Documentary about the building of ships at Barrow-in-Furness.

Claustrophobic train-set comedy-thriller (produced by H.G. Wells son) with an ace reporter coming up against crooks intent on stealing a gold shipment on the Scotland to London express. A scatterbrained scientist, a gun-toting dame with revenge on her mind and a pair of eccentric spinster crime...

Young girls attend ballet school and make debut performances

Part of the archive's Junior Biology series, this study of maize is aided by diagrammatic, time-lapse, and microscopic footage.