Drifters

1929

Action / Documentary

4
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 43% · 3 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 43%
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 515 515

fishing north sea british history fishermen

Plot summary

A silent film by John Grierson. It tells the story of Britain's North Sea herring fishery.

Director

John Grierson Photo
John Grierson

Top cast

720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
341.73 MB
968*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
12 hr 49 min
Seeds 1
661.95 MB
1440*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
12 hr 49 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by JoeytheBrit 7 / 10

Pure Documentary

If this film was made today it would be shortened to a one hour (or 50 minutes to allow for adverts) TV programme sponsored by a furniture store and be saddled with some past-it comedian attempting to develop a second career so that the programme would be as much about their reactions and experiences as it would the subject matter at hand. The documentary film, like all genres, has undergone so many changes as to be virtually unrecognisable from John Grierson's silent study of a fishing expedition from the 20s. Thanks to the fact of its silence, the film stands as an example of pure documentary-making, free of any personalities or voices explaining to the viewer what, more often or not, they can see for themselves. The fact that we can't hear the sound of the sea, the call of the sea birds, or the noise of the men at work doesn't detract from the film but concentrates the viewers' senses on the visual and also adds a certain romanticism to what, in truth, must have been a back-breaking and unpleasant job. The editing is superb, showing us everything we need to see in a natural and logical order, but with a rhythm that prevents it from becoming mechanical. The fishermen go about their duties with little hint of self-consciousness or awareness of the camera – other than that stoker, of course, who casually lights his cigarette from a flaming shovelful of coals before he throws them into the furnace. If, like me, you don't watch many documentaries, give this one a chance – it might just change your opinion of them.
Reviewed by springfieldrental 7 / 10

Documentary on Fishing Showing Man's Relationship With Machines

He was the writer who termed the genre "documentary" after reviewing Robert J. Flaherty's 1926 film "Moana." Scottish-born John Grierson wrote in the New York Sun newspaper his critique of the movie on native Samoans at work and play, stating Flaherty's movie is more of a purveyor of truth than any fictional films on exotic subjects. He explained in his New York Sun review that "'Moana,' being a visual account of events in the daily life of a Polynesian youth and his family, has documentary value."It was natural Grierson, so versed in early film documentaries, would produce one of his own. In his 1929 "Drifters," he captured on film a two-day journey of a fishing trawler leaving an English seaport to the North Sea to catch herring. Movie historian Roger Manvell noticed, "The film grasped an ordinary phenomenon of current life and analyzed it, not with the object of making it appear extraordinary, but with the idea of integrating the dramatic elements of its very ordinariness."One reviewer called Grierson's piece a 'Productionist" film, which seeks to show workers in relation to the machines they operate. In this case, the fishermen are the laborers employed with sophisticated nets and other gear as they catch as many herring as humanly possible. Just as in 'City Symphonies' films, Grierson's documentary shows workers alongside huge mechanisms similar to those found in factories and transports such as trains and ships. "Drifters,' however, also contains elements of the natural world, from seagulls to the vulnerable herring, reflecting human's relationship with the environment.The uniqueness in "Drifters" was Basil Emmott's camerawork. He went where no cameraman had gone before, setting up shop in a small dingy to capture the trawler at work, filming while a rollicking storm churned up high waves. Grierson, who was involved in bringing Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 "Battleship Potemkin" to the United States, adopted the montage from the Soviet filmmakers and inserted a number of sequences using quick edits. Critic Paul Rotha noticed, "'Drifters' is the only film produced in this country (England) that reveals any real evidence of construction, montage of material, or senses of cinema."Grierson played "Drifters" at a private London club along with "Battleship Potemkin" (it was illegal to project the Soviet film in United Kingdom's public movie theaters) in November 1929, and was later shown throughout Britain. He received a job with England's Empire Marketing Board, a branch of the government promoting trade through films and exhibits. He personally directed only one other film, preferring to produce other filmmakers' works.
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