
Basil Wright
Basil Wright - was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher. During World War II, Wright worked only as a producer, first at John Grierson's Film Centre before joining The Crown Film Unit between 1945 and 1946 as producer-in-charge. Among the best known films he produced for Crown are Humphrey Jennings' A Diary for Timothy (1946) and A Defeated People (1946) and Instruments of the Orchestra (1946) featuring Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.[1] Returning to direction in the early 1950s, his films included Waters of Time (1951) made for the Festival of Britain, World Without End (1953) directed with Paul Rotha for UNESCO and Greece: The Immortal Land (1958) in collaboration with his friend the artist Michael Ayrton. Writing throughout the 30s and 40s, Basil Wright had contributed to the theoretical development of documentary in the movement's journals Cinema Quarterly, World Film News and Documentary Newsletter. He was the film critic for The Spectator after Graham Greene left. Wright was a regular contributor to the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound during the 1940s and '50s. He published a small book: The Uses of Film (1948) and his personal (extensive) history of cinema The Long View (1974). He taught at the University of Southern California (1962 and 1968), The National Film and Television School in London (1971–73) and Temple University in Philadelphia (1977–78). He was Governor of the British Film Institute, a fellow of the British Film Academy and President of the International Association of Documentary Filmmakers. In his films Wright combined an ability to look closely and carefully at a subject with a poetic and often experimental approach to editing and sound. In Britain he is commemorated with a film prize awarded biennially by the Royal Anthropological Institute.
- Known ForDirecting
- Born12 June 1907 (age 118)
- Place of BirthFrieth, Buckinghamshire, England
Basil Wright

- Known ForDirecting
- Born12 June 1907 (age 118)
- Place of BirthFrieth, Buckinghamshire, England
Omnibus - Cuckoo: A Celebration of Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy
1974

Grierson
1973
The Immortal Land
1958
The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci
1953
World Without End
1953
Waters of Time
1951

It Might Be You
1946

A Diary for Timothy
1945

The Channel Islands 1940-1945
1945

This Is Colour
1942
London Scrapbook
1942
The Green Girdle
1941

Men of Africa
1940
The Face of Scotland
1938

Advance Democracy!
1938

Children at School
1937
Modern Orphans of the Storm: The Story of the Refugee Basque Children
1937

Night Mail
1936

Rainbow Dance
1936

The Song of Ceylon
1934
Pett and Pott: A Fairy Story of the Suburbs
1934

The Country Comes to Town
1933

O'er Hill and Dale
1932
