A Day in the Life: Four Portraits of Post-War Britain by John Krish

Our School (1962)

A key figure in post-war documentary, John Krish made films notable for their clarity of purpose and an understated, unsentimental but profoundly engaged humanism. This award-winning collection of four of his finest achievements finds him dealing with a Britain in transition. The Elephant Will Never Forget (1953, 10min) bids farewell to a way of life represented by London’s trams; They Took us to the Sea (1961, 26min) and Our School (1962, 28min) look at the opportunities offered, respectively, to young children and school-leavers by a nation slowly emerging from years of austerity; While I Think They Call Him John (1964, 28min) is a deeply affecting account of the decidedly un-swinging life of an elderly widower. Poignant, to the point, and still all too relevant.

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