This film is part of Free
Miner
Absorbing overview of coalmining in the early years of nationalisation.
Overview
This absorbing coalmining documentary reveals a great industry - and workforce - undergoing great change. The film, sponsored by the then still new National Coal Board, was aimed at schools. Once you get past a rather austere style and deliberate pace (common to educational films of the time), it becomes an interesting longer-form counterpart to the NCB's Mining Review series, which was directed at adult audiences.
The film is of course partly intended to aid recruitment from among its older classroom viewers. Paralleling the division between technology and social stories in Mining Review, it's divided into three rather unequal parts. The first and longest, taking us through a 'typical' miner's shift underground at Hilton Main colliery, Staffordshire, works well as a self-contained documentary and a primer on the technological state of play in 1950 (still early days in the NCB's mechanisation strategy). Then we have a section on miners' leisure emphasising, as in Mining Review, miners as individuals living varied - and cultured - lives above ground. Finally comes 'Mining and the Future', which could almost have wandered in from another film, outlining in urgent tones the reform of the industry that began with nationalisation only three years earlier. In the 1960s, The Miner was withdrawn from circulation as both its content and style were judged outdated - which by then they certainly were.
Related
Thud and Blunder in Knock off Time Thud and Blunder in Knock off Time
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1964 2 mins
Miners' safety training - marked by stylish animation and gallows humour.
Energy Energy
Advert 1935 42 mins Silent Location: Cardiff/Caerdydd
Coal, between the world wars, makes the industrialised world go round and Cory Bros & Co Ltd, with collieries in south Wales and oil refineries across the globe, is a major player.
Big Pit Big Pit
Industry sponsored film 1978 7 mins Location: Blaenavon
Memories of Blaenavon Colliery, Monmouthshire, as it nears its end.
Guilty Chimneys Guilty Chimneys
Documentary 1954 18 mins
Elegiac sponsored film imploring viewers to "allow the sun to penetrate the haze of ignorance" and relieve British cities of pollution.
People Will Always Need Coal People Will Always Need Coal
Advert 1975 1 mins
Deliriously kitsch recruitment ad for the implausibly glamorous world of coalmining.
Adventure of Coal Adventure of Coal
Promotional 1947 10 mins
"Coalmining is now the greatest adventure of all time" according to this recruitment film.
Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 24 mins
Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 30 mins
Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.
Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell
Documentary 2024 42 mins
Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.
Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels
Short documentary 2024 12 mins
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.
New Perspectives: Oldboy New Perspectives: Oldboy
Short documentary 2024 4 mins
Discover why Dan George of Northumbria University believes everyone should experience Oldboy at least once.
New Perspectives: Wings of Desire New Perspectives: Wings of Desire
Short documentary 2024 4 mins
Trixie Parkin-Christie of Northumbria University offers fresh insight into why Wings of Desire remains essential viewing.