Information
- BFI identifier14933
- Date1934 (Release)
- Production countryUnited Kingdom
- Production company
- Synopsisr.1 Part 1 - the Buddha. Scenes of dark jungle with glimpses of animals, ruined temples and tropical vegetation (180), devil dancers perform (270), commentary explains that then came Buddha. Pilgrims traversing the slopes of Adam's Peak from where it is believed that Buddha departed from Earth. The pilgrims reach the summit and sit down to rest, celebrating with chants and recitations in Buddha's honour (575), carving and statues of Buddha (646), the pilgrims greet the first light and watch the shadow of the Peak as it forms (732), the pilgrims go in procession round the shrine chanting (826), sacred bells ring (852), shots of statues of Buddha (866), shots of lakes and birds in flight (939). Part 2 - the Virgin Island. Villagers draw water from a well, women fill their water pots from the river (1052), elephant with her young standing in the river (1058), a priest, debarred from doing any manner of work, begs for food from a householder (1131), boy mounting and riding an elephant (1163), fishermen set out to sea in their outrigger canoes (1210), other fishermen cast their nets inshore (1312), washerwomen at work (1345), pottery making (1392), tree sawing (1420), latheworking (1454), man aided by his son builds a wattle-and-daub house (1520), fishing nets laid out on the beach (1554), women harvesting rice, rice beaten (1707), village children attend a dancing class (1930), villagers gossip and laugh (2032). r.2 Part 3 - the Voices of Commerce. View from a moving train of the countryside, railway track (56), elephants used for clearing trees for new roadways, elephants carrying granite stones (138), native boy prays in front of a cocoanut tree and climbs it (193), ship at sea (222), the native throws cocoanuts down from the tree, the cocoanuts are loaded onto a bullock cart, the nuts are taken and split open (327), wireless mast (342), details of steamers due for arrival posted up in shipping office (374), tea picking in a field (448), factory machines working (507), ships and tugs (513), tea crates loaded onto ships, liner pulls out of harbour (540), streets of Colombo, carts and lorries, people carrying goods, modern buildings (597). Part 4 - the Apparel of a God (618). Elephant riders return to the village (659), father chasing his child (679), fishing canoes return to the shore (709), tea plantation workers file back home (749), a native approaches some huge statues of Buddha and makes an offering of flowers to Buddha (1005), shots of the Buddha and other statues (1047), men and women walking along path to the ceremonial dancing floor (1060), a drummer begins beating his drum with his hands and dancing, dancers perform accompanied by the drumming and singing, the dancing becomes more frenzied (1377), shots of the dancers and statue of Buddha interposed (1433), final shots of tropical foliage (1475). The End (3507). (Shotlist)
- Work historyShown at the 1935 International Film Festival (Brussels) - first place in the Documentary Class and the Prix du Gouvernement for the Best Film in All Classes.
- Genre
- Subject
- CreditsDirected by: Basil Charles Wright
Production Company: GPO Film Unit
Presented by: Denning Films
view all - CastLionel Wendt (voice [i.e. narrator])
Alberto Cavalcanti ([voice of commerce])
John Grierson ([voice of commerce])
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Title
The Song of Ceylon (Original)
EIDR identifier
10.5240/A28F-9349-5D0C-9365-9BC4-ICategory
Non Fiction (Public Record)This work is included in the BFI Filmography.
This work is available to view in the Mediatheque at BFI Southbank.
- Collections
- Film / Video
Hard Disk - Video - MP4 - Viewing
35mm BW Positive - Safety - Combined - Viewing
16mm BW Positive - Safety - Combined - Viewing
35mm BW Positive - CTA - Combined - Viewing
35mm BW Positive - CTA - Combined - Viewing
16mm BW Positive - Safety - Combined - Viewing
35mm BW Positive - Polyester - Combined - Viewing
VHS cassette - Video - Viewing
Digital Betacam - Video - Viewing
view all - Scripts / DocumentsSong of Ceylon (1934) - Documentation - Material relating to Basil Wright's GPO film The Song of Ceylon - BCW/1/1
Document: educational - Lecture delivered by Thomas Baird on Saturday February 21, at 2:30, to the joint meeting of the Royal Photographic Society and the Birmingham Photographic Society, on the relation of documentary film makers to the Ministry of Information. - HFO-1-1-7
See The FILM SOCIETY Collection: Item 15, and for example of programme see CINEMA EPHEMERA: LONDON (The Curzon).
view all - StillsPhotograph: print - Landscape - Black and White - bfi-00n-xfr
Photograph: print - Landscape - Black and White - bfi-00n-xfq
Photograph: print - Landscape - Black and White - bfi-00n-xfo
Photograph: print - Landscape - Black and White - bfi-00n-f4n
Photograph: print - Portrait - Black and White - bfi-00m-q1a
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- +The Song of Ceylon
Work - 14933 - 1934 (Release)
United Kingdom - Film - Non Fiction
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