English Harvest

First came across this rare pre WW2 UK colour documentary a couple of years ago . The background music , The Pastoral Symphony by Beethoven , is a perfect choice . The commentary contains some fine dialogue including " Ploughing .The King of jobs . The most charming disguise that work can wear ". Made in a time long past and now nearly lost . Every year I see ploughing taking place in the fields all around where I live but no longer at the leisurely pace captured in the film .

English Harvest is a documentary short, made by the legendary Humphrey Jennings, to show off the then-new Dufaycolour process. Little known, and seldom seen, It's a lyrical evocation of traditional agriculture in England before the war, and before the mechanisation and efficiencies that wartime production hastened; the opening sequence is of the ageing harvester, scything the wheat at the gateway, to allow the horse-drawn harvester into the field. A boy brings an enamel jug of beer for the lunching workers; a wife and daughters bring tea to the father, and picnic in the stubble. A sure-fire subject, beautifully handled by the artist Jennings...I defy anyone not to think of paintings when watching this film - a Constable, or a pre-Rapaelite perhaps. The colour process, which didn't catch on, renders a slightly faded colour (well,after nearly 70 years, not surprising) and is slightly grainy in the way of old-fashioned colour printing, but somehow that just adds to the effect of a view into a lost past. Massively recommended, if you are lucky enough to get the chance to see it.

EDIT; as of April 2009, this mini-masterpiece has been added, by the BFI, to their Youtube channel; watch it there !! Search for English Harvest on Youtube....IMDb won't let me post the link.