GPO Film Unit

Animated shapes dance to Cuban music. This was one of the first animations to be painted directly onto the film.

An impressionistic portrait of the BBC.

1935 documentary about the hard working life of Welsh coal miners.

This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow.

Documentary following an Edinburgh fishing trawler, the "Isabella Grieg".

Rainbow Dance is a 1936 British animated film released by the GPO Film Unit. This is Lye's second film. It uses the Gasparcolor process.

Ambitious documentary chronicling the cultural life and religious customs of the Sinhalese and the effects of advanced industrialism on such customs.

A tribute to the courage and resiliency of Britons during the darkest days of the London Blitz.

How news of a general reduction in GPO charges was finally brought to parliament and the people, despite attempts by the country's enemies to prevent the announcement...

Humphrey Jennings' first film as a director, a brief overview of the British postal service.

Combining a whimsical romantic tale, practical information about the Post Office Savings Bank, and a gently experimental film-making technique, this film entertainingly depicts some of the prospects opened up by having a savings account.

The film, made to advertise domestic telephone sets, is based around two very different families. The Petts are conventional, happy and have children; the Potts are unconventional and unhappy, without children.

Correspondence between young lovers nearly ends in disaster through a mistake in postal district. Fortunately the GPO spots the error and all ends well, but with the moral that correspondents should get the address right.

Short documentary showing the workings of a large London sorting office.

A film made by the British General Post Office (GPO) in 1933, promoting the automation of telephone exchanges.

This portait of life on the tea plantations is decidedly rosy – clearly, there are no exploited workers here. However, the film provides an intriguing overview of tea production – from the planting of tea seeds to the final shipping of the precious leaves across the globe.

Shows the workings of Britain's Air Post service.

Animation featuring dancing black and white shadows.

As the subtitle of the film suggests - The Story of a Post Card from Manchester to Graffham - this journey is very much focused on the process of sorting, transporting and delivering the postcard in question.

Police work during World War II in Britain.