The March of Time in Britain and the International History of Documentary Film

This article explores the historical formation of news cinemagazines through the international production of the US series The March of Time. Established in 1935, the series quickly achieved success by dealing with current affairs through a blend of actual footage plus reenacted and dramatized scenes. The American producers set up an office in London with which John Grierson and other British filmmakers from the General Post Office (GPO) film unit were associated. To date, this key relationship in the history of documentary film remains underexplored. Here, I trace US and UK interactions between 1935 and 1946 in order to illuminate the institutionalization of documentary filmmaking across countries during a critical period.