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The GPO Film Unit: 1937
 

Len Lye's heyday, plus J.B. Priestley on the communications revolution

Main image of The GPO Film Unit: 1937

Films produced by the GPO Film Unit in 1937 include:

Big Money
The work of the Post Office's Accounts General Department.

Book Bargain
How the London telephone directory is printed and bound.

Community Calls
A new housing development is connected to the telephone network.

The Copper Web
The work of the GPO in laying cables underground to protect them from weather and a deep-sea cable to Holland.

Daily Round
A country postman, beset by problems on his daily round, dreams of how things could be improved.

Four Barriers
About Switzerland's economic history, and how the country has been industrialised and modernised to take its place in European trade.

How The Dial Works
The essential principle of the automatic telephone system demonstrated with the help of diagrams.

A Job in a Million
Recruitment film about the training of a post office messenger boy.

Letters to Liners
A Mediterranean cruise showing the special arrangements made for the delivery and despatch of the ship's mail.

Line to the Tschierva Hut
How telephone lines are carried through wild country to an outpost in the Alps.

Men of the Alps
A look at Swiss geography and history.

Messenger Boy
The recruitment and training of Post Office messenger boys.

Modern Post Office Methods
The modern world is full of machines and in every department of the Post Office machines are being used with increasing speed and efficiency.

N or NW
Romantic comedy emphasising the importance of using the correct postal district address.

North of the Border
No information available.

Roadways
A survey of the development of transport and the growth of highways in Britain since 1918 and the effects on industry and communications.

Trade Tattoo
Animated commercial demonstrating how the rhythm of trade is maintained by the postal service. .

We Live In Two Worlds
J.B. Priestley talks about the two worlds of nationalism and internationalism, as exemplified by Switzerland, where new means of communication and industries exist alongside the traditional way of life of the peasantry.

Related Films and TV programmes

Thumbnail image of Big Money (1937)Big Money (1937)

An inside look at how the GPO's finances work

Thumbnail image of Book Bargain (1937)Book Bargain (1937)

The printing and production of the telephone directory

Thumbnail image of Job in a Million, A (1937)Job in a Million, A (1937)

GPO recruitment film about the training of a new messenger boy

Thumbnail image of N or NW (1937)N or NW (1937)

Romantic comedy stressing the importance of correct postcodes

Thumbnail image of Roadways (1937)Roadways (1937)

The development of road traffic in Britain since the end of WWI

Thumbnail image of Trade Tattoo (1937)Trade Tattoo (1937)

Animated promotional film by Len Lye urging us to post our letters earlier

Thumbnail image of We Live in Two Worlds (1937)We Live in Two Worlds (1937)

J.B. Priestley discusses the 1930s communications revolution

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