Coal Face is a 1935 British documentary film short directed by Alberto Cavalcanti. With a film score by Benjamin Britten[1] and a poem written and narrated by W.H. Auden,[2] the film gives a glimpse into the lives of a Yorkshire mining community and the dangerous working conditions the miners routinely faced. The film largely reuses older footage from Tour of a British Coal Mine (1928), which was shot in Barnsley, Yorkshire.[3]

Coal Face
Opening title card
Directed byAlberto Cavalcanti
Written byW.H. Auden
Produced byJohn Grierson
CinematographyStuart Legg
Edited byWilliam Coldstream
Music byBenjamin Britten
Production
company
Release date
  • 1935 (1935)
Running time
11 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

References

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  1. ^ White, Eric Walter (1970). Benjamin Britten: His Life and Operas. University of California Press. pp. 23–24. ISBN 0-520-01679-3.
  2. ^ Thesing, William B. (2000). Caverns of Night: Coal Mines in Art, Literature, and Film. University of South Carolina Press. p. 120. ISBN 1-57003-352-8.
  3. ^ Aitken (2006). Aitken, Ian (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film. Routledge. pp. 237–238. ISBN 978-1-57958-445-0.
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