North Sea (1938) Harry Watt

At the planning stage, Carl Dreyer was approached to direct North Sea, he was brought to 21 Soho Square and introduced to John Grierson who decided that he should direct North Sea. Dreyer was given the log of the incident on which the film was to be based and wrote a script which Alberto Cavalcanti summarily rejected. The film was given to Harry Watt who wrote the script and brought to the direction of the film a real understanding of character and situation. By the time it was completed and shown Grierson and several of the senior documentary directors had left the . Film Unit and North Sea in more than one sense marked a division. Paul Rotha later wrote: ‘North Sea sets a lead to the whole industry and there are some of us in documentary who are just ready to take the step into the semi-story semi-documentary film. Harry Watt‘s films for the GPO and Crown Film Units are perhaps the key examples of the story documentary tendency, and the making of narrative features such as North Sea (GPO, 1938) can be seen in terms of this move between documentary and narrative modes. North Sea deals with the difficulties faced by the men on a fishing boat caught in a storm on the North Sea, in order, finally, to demonstrate the work of the land-sea radio network run by the GPO in securing the safety of these men.