Best Documentary Movies of 1951

The strange and wonderful world that lies beneath our feet, under leaf, log and rock, peopled by millions of weird and fascinating creatures.

Told with authenticity and perception, David looks back on the life of a school caretaker in a Welsh mining town, from the marriage and birth of his son to the trauma of a pit accident. David was the first film produced by the BFI, in 1951, and the Welsh selection for the same year’s Festival of Britain screenings in London.

Two days in the life of priest Father Fred Stadtmuller whose New Mexico parish is so large he can only spread goodness and light among his flock with the aid of a mono-plane. The priestly pilot is seen dashing from one province to the next at the helm of his trusty Piper Club administering guidance (his plane, the Flying Padre) to unruly children, sermonizing at funerals and flying a sickly child and its mother to a hospital.

Experimental, impressionistic documentary of San Francisco with narration based on a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson and narrated by Vincent Price

This Traveltalks visit to Holland spotlights The Hague and two smaller tourist destinations. We learn that the economy of Holland, which for many centuries has been based on fishing and the growing of tulips, is slowly changing to an agricultural base.

Short film documenting children's street games and songs in 1950s Edinburgh.

This Traveltalk series short visit to Argentina includes a look at its capital Buenos Aires.

John Ford's documentary about the early battles of the Korean War, shot in color.

"Our Cities Must Fight" is a civil defense film that was produced for the U.S. government to illustrate the importance of not abandoning urban centers during an atomic bombing. The film cautions that doing so would make it easier for the invading "enemy."