ABSTRACT
The main facts of the documentary movement in Britain in the thirties arc so well known that they are in danger of becoming a modern legend, a sort of “Grierson Story”. The creation in January 1930 of the E.M.B. Film Unit by Grierson and Tallents itself suggests an interesting partnership. These two practical men made use of each other over a period of years in the pursuit of quite different aims. Grierson’s contribution was the idea of clarifying the workings of society by dramatising them on film. The most interesting of the productions when the unit was still officially under the E.M.B., however, are Grierson’s only other personally made film, Granton Trawler, and some films made by Basil Wright. Granton Trawler, made in 1933 but not trade shown until the end of 1934, was a companion piece in sound to Drifters and also about deep-sea fishing.
