Drifters (film)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Drifters
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1929
length 61 minutes
Rod
Director John Grierson
script John Grierson
production John Grierson
camera Basil Emmott
cut John Grierson

Drifters is a British documentary and non-fiction feature film by John Grierson from the year 1929 . It deals with the commercial herring fishery in the North Sea and is considered the initial work of the British documentary film movement .

action

The men leave their old Scottish fishing village and go to the harbor, where they load and heat one of the numerous steamships with coal. The fishing trawlers cast off towards the North Sea. Forty miles at sea the fishermen cast the two mile driftnet . Other everyday work is carried out on board. While the men sleep, the pegs get caught in the net at night.

The next day the men hauled in the net with their catch. You have to prove yourself against the stormy sea. After eight hours the work is done and the herring stowed in the ship's hull. It goes back to the port at full steam to bring the fish to the market quickly and fresh. Baskets are unloaded, the auctioneers take over the sale. The fish is immediately prepared for distribution around the world: stored on ice and packed in boxes or gutted and salted in barrels. Onward transport takes place by ship and rail.

background

Drifters premiered on November 10, 1929 at a London Film Society event. It was shown as a supporting film; The main event was the British premiere of Sergei Eisenstein's armored cruiser Potemkin (1925). Grierson, who was enthusiastic about poetic documentaries about modern cities like Manhatta (1921) and Berlin: The Symphony of the Big City (1927), had contributed to the English premiere of Eisenstein's film. From this he adopted Eisenstein's emphasis on montage for his own film and repeatedly cut shots of the engine drives of the steamships into the action, as well as nature shots of seagulls , the sea and fish.

Web links