Seawards the Great Ships

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Seawards the Great Ships
Seawards the Great Ships film Opening titles (1961).png
Directed by Hilary Harris
Written by John Grierson
Cliff Hanley
Narrated by Kenneth Kendall
Bryden Murdoch
Production
company
Templar Films
Distributed by Central Office of Information
Release date
  • 1961 (1961)
Running time
28 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Seawards the Great Ships is a 1961 British short documentary film directed by Hilary Harris. [1] [2] It was written by John Grierson and Cliff Hanley, and produced by Glasgow-based Templar Films for the Clyde Shipbuilders' Association and the Central Office of Information (COI).

Contents

Synopsis

The film chronicles the shipbuilding industry of the River Clyde during the early 1960s, featuring footage from the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, John Brown & Company and Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company.

It includes dialogue between shipyard workers, but this is scripted. The intention had been to use genuine dialogue, but this included too many swearwords to be usable. [3] [4]

Cast

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The chief merit of Seawards the Great Ships is that it tries to give its subject, the life and work of the Clyde shipbuilders, a fresh look and a smart turn-out. Visually, it often succeeds. ... Its American director, Hilary Harris ...has also given it a surface of fashionable editing effects and clever sound-mixing. If this were the extent of the film's ambition, there might be little cause for complaint, but it tries to be human and intimate and here it goes sadly astray. Part of the fault lies with the commentary, an over-written mélange of highflown phrases delivered in a deep, earnest voice. ... More seriously, the tentative attempt to make the men themselves spring to life through disjointed, casual scraps of conversation suggests a miscalculation in feeling rather than technique." [5]

Boxoffice wrote: "A magnificently filmed documentary produced for the British government and the Clyde Shipbuilders Ass'n in Scotland, this will make a strong supporting subject for any art house feature. The camerawork in Eastman Color has rarely been surpassed as regards exciting camera angles of the craftsmanship and effort that go into the construction of ships of all sizes. The finale, as the last wooden supports are removed and a giant ship goes down the ways into the River Clyde towards the sea, is a breath-taking moment." [6]

Accolades

Home media

The film was released onto Blu-ray by Panamint in 2010 as part of their 'Faces of Scotland' compilation. [10]

References

  1. ↑ "Seawards the Great Ships". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Seawards the Great Ships". National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive – catalogue. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  3. ↑ Mair, George (18 December 2010). "Curse of the ShipbuildersL Clyde workers too blue for film". Daily Record . p. 33. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  4. ↑ "Films of Scotland. Episode 4: Ships and Steel (BBC One Scotland, 22 Dec 2010)". BBC Programme Index. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  5. ↑ "Seawards the Great Ships". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 27 (312): 118. 1 January 1960. ProQuest   1305821900.
  6. ↑ "Seawards the Great Ships". Boxoffice . 81 (7): b10. 4 June 1962. ProQuest   1670979069.
  7. ↑ "Seawards the Great Ships". Kine Weekly . 521 (2766): 9. 6 October 1960. ProQuest   2594669525.
  8. ↑ "The 34th Academy Awards (1962) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  9. ↑ "New York Times: Seawards the Great Ships". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2009. Archived from the original on 19 April 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
  10. ↑ Nield, Anthony (11 February 2011). "Faces of Scotland". The Digital Fix. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
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