Diverging Jurisdictions: The Influence of ‘Griersonian’ and ‘Civil Service’ Traditions of Official Film-making on the Malayan Film Unit (1946–57) and Hong Kong Film Unit (1959–73)

Abstract

This chapter explores two types of British official film, the first emanating from the tradition of the British documentary film movement, led by John Grierson; and the second from a tradition of ‘civil service’ film-making which pre-existed the birth of the documentary film movement, and ran parallel to it during the 1930s and 1940s, and up to the 1950s. The chapter also explores how these two traditions influenced the two main British official film units operating in British South-East Asia: the Malayan Film Unit and the Hong Kong Film Unit; showing that, whilst the Griersonian tradition fared well elsewhere within the Dominions of the Commonwealth, it fared less well than did the civil service tradition in South-East Asia.