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VISIONS OF CHANGE VOLUME ONE: THE BBC (3-disc DVD set)

This three-disc collection brings together a carefully curated selection of rarely-seen BBC TV productions by the leading documentary filmmakers of their day to create an essential survey of early British TV documentaries.

Collecting together nearly 10 hours worth of material, this long-overdue collection brings together works by such influential directors as Philip Donnellan, Ken Russell and Dennis Potter, and provides a fascinating insight into the cultural and social historical landscape of two of the most formative decades in post-war Britain.

Titles
Henry Moore (1951, John Read) | The World is Ours: The Waiting People (1954, Norman Swallow) | Eye to Eye: Night in the City (1957, Denis Mitchell) | Song of the Valley (1957, John Schlesinger) | Joe the Chainsmith (1958, Philip Donnellan) | Eye on Research: Test Flight (1959, Philip Daly) | Morning in the Streets (1959, Denis Mitchell) | This Is the BBC (1959, Richard Cawston) | Between Two Rivers (1960, Dennis Potter) | The Prizewinners (1962, Philip Daly) | Monitor: Pop Goes the Easel (1962, Ken Russell) | The Colony (1964, Philip Donnellan) | Landmarks: The Last Refuge (1965, Richard Marquand) | Dispute (Round 1; Round 2) (1967, Jack Gold, Ken Ashton, Paul Watson)

VISIONS OF CHANGE VOLUME TWO: ITV (2-disc DVD set)

This indispensable two disc collection contains over 6 hours worth of programmes made during the 1950s and 60s for the independent TV channels by leading documentary filmmakers of their day.

Bringing together work by award winning directors such as Peter Morley (director of the shocking Fan Fever), Philip Donnelly (whose motto was giving a voice to the people) and Michael Grigsby (whose career spanned six decades in which he explored a great many subjects in a uniquely humane way), this collection provides access to an era of great change in Britain.

Titles
Fan Fever (1958, Peter Morley) | This Week 416: The Satire Boom (1963, Randal Beattie) | This Week: The Negro Next Door (1965, Peter Robinson) | Walk Down Any Street (1965, Charlie squires) | Inside the Foreign Office (1967, James Butler) | A Wedding on Saturday (1964, Norman Swallow) | The Entertainers (1964, John McGrath) | The Dream Machine (1964, Denis Mitchell) | Deckie Learner (1965, Michael Grigsby)

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:And also It's great to finally get some Denis Mitchell in prisitine nick.

Visions of Change
The Evolution of the British TV Documentary
Volume 1: BBC 1951-1967

After the Land of Promise and Shadows of Progress DVD box sets, the BFI continues its re-evaluation of the British documentary tradition with Visions of Change, an extensive collection of television films made during the 1950s and 1960s, released on 14 December 2015.

Produced by the BBC, these now rarely-seen documentaries reveal how the medium of television allowed filmmakers to approach their subjects in new and exciting ways, creating work which was deeply personal, socially engaged and formally innovative.

Covering a range of topics, and including films by such influential directors as Denis Mitchell, Philip Donnellan, Ken Russell, Dennis Potter and John Schlesinger, Visions of Change provides a fascinating insight into the socio-cultural landscape of two of the most formative decades in the history of post-war Britain.

The programme makers were inspired by the changing face of city streets to capture portraits of life in Britain in different ways, while arts and sciences provided the subject matter for an explosion of factual series in a time of social, cultural and technological upheaval. These programmes were watched by millions of people and made household names of their filmmakers and presenters.

This 2-disc set collects together over 6 hours of material and will appeal as much to anyone with an interest in British social history and 50s/60s culture as to those with an interest in the history of television itself.

Disc One

• Henry Moore (1951, John Read)
• Eye to Eye: Night in the City (1957, Denis Mitchell)
• Tonight: Song of the Valley (1957, John Schlesinger)
• Joe the Chainsmith (1958, Philip Donnellan)
• Eye on Research: Test Flight (1959, Philip Daly, Tom Millett)
• Morning in the Streets (1959, Denis Mitchell, Roy Harris)
• Between Two Rivers (1960, Dennis Potter)

Disc Two

• Monitor: Pop Goes the Easel (1962, Ken Russell)
• The Colony (1964, Philip Donnellan)
• Dispute: Round 1 (1967, Jack Gold, Ken Ashton, Paul Watson)
• Dispute: Round 2 (1967, Jack Gold, Ken Ashton, Paul Watson)

Product details

RRP: £34.99/ Cat. no. BFIV2068 / Cert E

UK / 1951 – 1967 / black and white / English language, with hard-of-hearing subtitles / DVD9 x 2 / 182 mins + 200 mins / Ratio 1.33:1 / Dolby Digital audio (192kbps)