A Scottish-born pioneer in the field of documentary filmmaking, Grierson was active in both Britain and Canada, serving as the lat-ter’s wartime minister of information. While studying in Chicago in the early 1920s, Gri-erson developed an interest in propaganda and public opinion. In an article written in 1926, he developed the notion of what he called “documentary” film, which he defined as “the creative treatment of actuality.” Beginning in 1928, he applied these ideas in Britain as a member of the Empire Marketing Board, promoting awareness of empire-related products. His first film, Drifters (1929), was a documentary about herring fishing. Beginning in 1933, he headed the General Post Office (GPO) film unit, commissioning documentaries that he hoped would educate the British public about the working classes. His most famous GPO film, Night Mail (1936), which followed a mail train from London to Scotland, was directed by Harry Watt (19061987) and Basil Wright (1907-1987).
In 1938 Grierson quarreled with the British government over the sorts of films it wished to show at the New York World’s Fair of 1939. He accepted a mission to Canada to consult on the foundation of a National Film Board to promote national cohesion through film. With the coming of World War II Gri-erson agreed to remain as director of the board. A string of powerful documentaries followed. His activities also included feeding captured German newsreel to filmmakers in the then neutral United States to ensure that U.S. audiences understood the German way of war. In 1943 Grierson’s responsibilities expanded to include all Canadian propaganda activity. Grierson had the ear of William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874-1950), the prime minister of Canada, and his War Information Board. At the end of the war he resigned his post in order to develop documentary film production and distribution in New York, but this scheme foundered. Grierson then fell under suspicion during Canada’s early Cold War witch-hunts. From 1946 to 1948 he served as director of mass communications for UNESCO, and from 1948 to 1950 he worked as controller of films for Britain’s peacetime government information bureau, the Central Office of Information. Although the nature of his legacy has been questioned, his views of documentary film and propaganda have remained a starting point for scholars as well as filmmakers.
