Best Documentary Movies of 1961

Symmetry is one of five shorts featured in the film "Mathematical Peep Shows." The collection was made by Charles and Ray Eames for the IBM Mathematica Exhibit which opened in 1961. The degree to which an object is symmetrical is illustrated by the number of different positions in which it can fit into a box of its shape.

This fly on the wall-style documentary from 1961 won an Oscar for best documentary, and shows the changing patterns of human emotions during 24 hours in the life of Waterloo Station.

A classic NFB documentary about the Golden Gloves boxing tournament, the Canadian amateur's hope for success in the boxing world. This Gilles Groulx film shows three Montreal boxers in training. In behind-the-scenes interviews they talk about their ambitions and what prompted them to take up the sport. - NFB

2? is a story about the exponential growth of numbers raised to powers. Part of the Mathematica Peep Shows, one of five films made to accompany the Mathematica: A World of Numbers and Beyond exhibition at the California Museum of Science and Industry and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Compilation film, tracing the political career of Dr. Hans Globke, allegedly a former Nazi, now Secretary of State in West Germany.

A study of Antoni Gaudí's architecture (especially the Church of the Holy Trinity in Barcelona), his sources of inspiration and his influence on Picasso. (BFI)

Made for the NSPCC by the noted film director John Krish, They Took Us To The Sea follows a group of children taken by Inspectors of the NSPCC on an outing from Birmingham to Weston-Super Mare.

Arthur Lipsett's first film is an avant-garde blend of photography and sound. It looks behind the business-as-usual face we put on life and shows anxieties we want to forget. It is made of dozens of pictures that seem familiar, with fragments of speech heard in passing and, between times, a voice saying, "Very nice, very nice." The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

This U.S. Army training film demonstrates in graphic detail how to perform basic autopsy procedures.

Bruce Baillie's Mr. Hayashi might be thought of as a putative East Coast story transformed by a West Coast sensibility. The narrative, slight as it is, mounts a social critique of sorts, involving the difficulty the title character, a Japanese gardener, has finding work that pays adequately. But the beauty of Baillie's black-and-white photography, the misty lusciousness of the landscapes he chooses to photograph, and the powerful silence of Mr. Hayashi's figure within them make the viewer forget all about economics and ethnicity. The shots remind us of Sung scrolls of fields and mountain peaks, where the human figure is dwarfed in the middle distance. Rather than a study of unemployment, the film becomes a study of nested layers of stillness and serenity.

An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.

A look at the daily business of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, with a focus on some of the political issues he faces six weeks into his term.

New Yorkers watch as Norman McLaren's animated promotional film for Canadian tourism plays on the giant pixelboard overlooking Times Square. The caption below the board reads: "Canada... Wonderful World At Your Doorstep". McLaren himself is a member of the crowd.

Birth footage of one of Brakhage's children.

Documentary short showcasing the genius of jazz greats Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Cozy Cole, and Milt Hinton, among others.

1961 documentary about the history and seedy reality of the sex industry in London's Soho.

Three girls on a tour of the English countryside meet up with two young women who introduce them to the joys of life in a nudist camp.

Various celebrities and news-media figures discuss the polarization of politics between the Western Allies of the United States and the Soviet bloc, pointing out the need for vigilance and action to protect democracy in the U.S. and abroad.

Documents the period 1919-1922 in Ireland's history, covering the war of independence against the British and the civil war that followed using archive footage from the time, including original newsreel footage.

The dangers of speeding and reckless driving are illustrated courtesy of bloody accident footage supplied by the Ohio Highway Patrol.

A harrowing portrait of the struggle for school desegregation in New Orleans against the violent protests of white parents.

A documentary on African Zulu tribes narrated by Vincent Price.

Rooftops of New York is a 1961 English language documentary directed by Robert McCarty. He takes his camera up high to look down on the roof tops of New York, to watch vignettes unfold. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

Rousing tales of the North-West Mounted Police are brought to life through photos and artists' sketches. In 1873, the North-West Mounted Police were established to maintain law and order in the North-West Territories. They undertook a trek from Fort Dufferin, south of Winnipeg, to Fort Whoop-up, near present-day Lethbridge, Alberta. The force raised the flag and proclaimed the Queen's Law, ensuring that the Canadian West would not become a lawless, American-style frontier.

Tania, Primrose and Sandra come to London separately and decide to share a flat together to save money. They find jobs in fashionable industries.

A documentary about the capacity of organized destruction of the Nazi war machine

A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life, and his premature death.

One of six films which examine in depth the work involved in this great engineering project. As they are of a technical nature, they were only available for showing to suitable audiences. In preparation for the construction of the new Victoria / Walthamstow line two experimental lengths of tunnels are driven using different lining materials. The film shows in considerable detail the aligning of the cutting equipment, the operation of the shield and cutters and the two techniques of lining.

Les inconnus de la terre starts like a traditional feature film: in the beginning of the film all the leading roles are given a short introduction. This is followed by a number of interviews, in which the makers unashamedly appear themselves. They include an interview with a lonely shepherd and one with three unmarried brothers who try to run the parental farm for better or worse. Notwithstanding the fact that this mode of interviewing has now become classical, les inconnus de la terre works rather refreshingly. The film is more than just an enumeration of problems. In an honest way it shows the ties of those involved to the land and to nature, in addition to being a plea for the modernization of French agriculture.

Henry Fonda hosts this retrospective on the career and films of iconic filmmaker David O. Selznick, who epitomized the era of the auteur producer in the 30s and 40s.

Calm down dear, it's only an apparition! A picturesque travelogue takes a creepy turn in this delightfully kitsch look at famous haunted castles across England, directed by Michael Winner. Filmed in beautiful Eastmancolor, this fun, spooky short sees Anne Boleyn trailing the gardens of Norfolk's Blickley Hall, while Wild Lord Edric, betrayed by William the Conqueror, roams the Stiperstones. Elsewhere, Lord Bath welcomes a clairvoyant to investigate Longleat's Grey Lady.

Cradle of Genius is a 1961 Irish short documentary film directed by Paul Rotha on the history of the Abbey Theatre. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

The flora and fauna of the Scottish highlands, including footage of ospreys, and stags in Argyle.

A National Film Board of Canada production about synchronized swimmers.

A discussion of the rites of betrothal in four separate countries.

Look out for landmarks as you frequent London's steamiest and seamiest 1960s nightspots in this voyeuristic venture deep inside the Big Smoke. See what was showing at La Continentale cinema on Tottenham Court Road, slip into a seedy strip club, cut a rug to some cool jazz, and pay a virtual visit to the birthplace of British rock 'n' roll, legendary Soho music venue The 2i’s Coffee Bar. The 2i's Coffee Bar, established in 1956, was run by two Australian ex-wrestlers, Ray Hunter and Paul Lincoln (aka Doctor Death). The tiny stage downstairs was where many of the first wave of British rock 'n' rollers - including Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard and Adam Faith - gave some of their earliest shows.

Finally! A film that dares to explore the intricate complexities and subtle social structure of Nudist Life in the early sixties!

This short documentary features Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester as she sings at the Festival Casals, a musical event founded by the great Spanish cellist and conductor Pablo Casals and sponsored annually by the Puerto Rican government. Part concert film, part tourism film, Festival in Puerto Rico offers viewers candid glimpses of mid-20th century Puerto Rico intercut with performance footage of Forrester and her husband, violinist-conductor Eugene Kash.

A BAFTA award nominated documentary film about life at Dorton House, a residential school for blind children in the UK.

A BAFTA award winning documentary looking at apartheid in South Africa and the Sharpville massacre.

Approximately 40,000 people use the Waterloo & City Underground line every day. For years they had walked to and from the platforms at the Bank by a steep passage known as the 'Drain'. But know, they can ride up and down on the first moving pavements in Europe - the Travolators. This film shows the construction of the Travolators which was achieved without disrupting normal traffic.

Fata Morgana is the train that arrives in Milan coming from the south of Italy. It is the train of the “southern” migrants. They arrive with packages, luggage, wives, children, in the hope of the economic boom. But there is no place for them and the city pushes them to the periphery. Few manage to find work, but new men keep coming every day.

A BAFTA award nominated documentary looking at the original identification and subsequent uses of oxygen.

The Air Force Thunderbirds present air shows for civilians in Southeast Asia as a gesture of U.S. goodwill.

The Man in Gray is a 1961 Italian short documentary film produced by Benedetto Benedetti. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

During the fertile early years of Drew Associates following the breakthrough of Primary, came this seldom-seen portrait of David Allen, a jazz trumpeter struggling in the Santa Monica drug rehabilitation center Synanon House. Pennebaker’s love of music drew him to David and the film prefigures later portraits such as Dont Look Back. He teamed with Life photographer William Ray and producer Gregory Shuker.

A documentary study of a series of works by Welsh painter, Ceri Richards, inspired by the 1910 piano prelude, La Cathédrale Engloutie, by French impressionist composer Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

A documentary following famed explorer Lewis Cotlow traveling into the heart of New Guinea in search of unknown tribal cultures.