Make Fruitful the Land

About the film

A Technicolor film on the principles and practicalities of crop rotation, illustrated with diagrams and models.

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Details

• Release year - 1945
• Director - Ken Annakin
• Production company - Greenpark Productions
• Producer - Ralph Keene
• Screenplay - Ralph Keene
• Cinematographer - Geoffrey Unsworth
• Composer - David Moule Evans
• Editor - Julian Wintle
• Diagrams - W.M. Larkins & Co.
• Models by - R.T. Roussel
• Running time (minutes) - 15 mins 49 secs

Original description

Crop rotation

'British eighteenth-century farmers were the pioneers of crop rotation. Pre-rotation and rotations methods of farming are contrasted in the this picture, and there are many shots and diagrams of the 'Four Course' system in operation. By a scientific crop rotation and up-to-date machinery British farmers today get the maximum yield from their limited acres.'

(Films of Britain - British Council Film Department Catalogue - 1946)

Did you know?

• The W.M. Larkins studio who provided the diagrams in Make Fruitful The Land would later be commissioned by the British Council to produce two short animations to accompany the folk songs - Lincolnshire Poacher and Widdicombe Fair.
• The stately home shown at the start of the film is Holkham Hall in Norfolk, which has been a popular filming location for many years, most notably in the recent film The Duchess (2008).
• At 11:10, St. Andrew’s Church, Alfriston, East Sussex, can be seen. Known as the ‘Cathedral of the Downs’, this church also appears at the beginning of The People’s Land.

All films are subject to the Creative Commons licence guidelines.

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