Stuart Legg Explained

Stuart Legg
Birth Name:Francis Stuart Legg
Birth Date:31 August 1910
Birth Place:London, England
Death Place:Wiltshire, England
Known For:Filmmaking, Writing
Occupation:Director, Producer, Editor, Writer
Nationality:British
Spouse:Margaret Amos
Awards:Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
Alma Mater:St John's College, Cambridge

Stuart Legg (31 August 1910 – 23 July 1988)[1] was a pioneering English documentary filmmaker. At the 14th Academy Awards in 1941, Legg's National Film Board of Canada film Churchill's Island became the first-ever documentary to win an Oscar.[2] Also in contention for Best Documentary that year was Legg's film Warclouds in the Pacific.

Biography

Francis Stuart Legg was one of three children born to Ethel Green Legg and Arthur Legg, a solicitor. He attended Marlborough College and St John's College, Cambridge, where he read the mechanical sciences (engineering) tripos.[3] While at Cambridge, he made Varsity (1930) with the university's Film Society, which was followed two years later by Cambridge, produced with "some involvement" from British Instructional Films.[4] Following graduation, Legg was hired as an assistant to director Walter Creighton at Publicity Films. For Creighton, he made two films, and met John Grierson, who would become his mentor and life-long friend and colleague.[5]

Grierson had recently returned from studying in the U.S., where he had become very active in the film world. He saw a lack of public engagement and knowledge of events as contributing to threats to democracy, and saw documentary films as an art-form which could also keep the public informed and involved. He founded the Documentary Film Movement, and recruited several young filmmakers, including Legg. At the time, Grierson was a films officer at the Empire Marketing Board, a government agency which had been formed to encourage trade and national unity. Legg's first film for Grierson was The New Generation (1932), which was said to "exemplify an attempt at the Russian technique." In 1933, the Empire Marketing Board was dissolved and the film unit was moved to the General Post Office. Legg would stay with the GPO Film Unit until 1937, when he replaced Paul Rotha as head of the Strand Film Company. At this time, he was commissioned, by the British Film Council, to write the report Money Behind the Screen.[6]

In 1938, the government of Canada invited Grierson to examine the country's film production system. In 1939, he was invited back and became the first Commissioner of the National Film Board. He brought Legg to Canada to make two films whose purpose was to promote the Dominion-Provincial Youth Training Program. The films, The Case of Charlie Gordon and Youth Is Tomorrow, are regarded as milestones in the development of a mature, socially responsible documentary movement in Canada.[7] Legg decided to stay in Canada, and became Director of Production for the Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau. In this role, he was responsible for the training of filmmakers; when the Bureau and the NFB merged in 1941, he was responsible for 55 filmmakers; a year later, it was 293.[8]

With Canada at war, Legg's propagandist style was a perfect fit for the morale-boosting films that the NFB wanted to produce; he was given control of the theatrical shorts program, which included two series: Canada Carries On and The World in Action. Records are incomplete but it is thought that, from 1941 to 1945, he produced and directed most of the films in these series; he is credited with 46. His assistant and researcher was Tom Daly, who would become the NFB's most prolific producer.[9] [10] [11] [12] The World in Action, which began in 1942, appeared each month in 800 Canadian theatres, reaching 4 million viewers; in the U.S., it screened in 6,500 theatres and reached millions.[13] At the end of the war, it was cancelled but Grierson felt that it was commercially viable. He resigned from the NFB and convinced Legg to join him in New York, where he was able to reach a production deal with Universal Pictures. Grierson's reputation was temporarily damaged when he was caught up in the Gouzenko Affair and accused of being a spy; the deal with Universal was cancelled and, in 1946, Legg returned to England.[14]

In 1940 the GPO Film Unit had become the Crown Film Unit and Legg spent three years there as a producer. In 1952, the British government dissolved the Crown Film Unit and Legg became chairman of Film Centre International, a production coordination company which Grierson had founded in 1937. Through Film Centre, Legg produced films for Gaumont-British Instructional and the Shell Film Unit. Records are incomplete, but it is thought that, between 1952 and 1962, he also produced promotional films for Shell-Mex and BP, Imperial Airways, Anglo-Scottish Pictures and the Australian National Film Board. He retired in 1962.[15]

Writing

After retiring from filmmaking, Legg published four books: Trafalgar : An Eye-Witness Account of a Great Battle (1966),[16] Jutland: An Eye-witness Account of a Great Battle (1967),[17] The Heartland (1970, dedicated to Grierson and re-issued in 1991 as The Barbarians of Asia),[18] and The Railway Book: An Anthology (1988).[19]

Personal life and death

Legg was married to Margaret Amos (1910–2002), daughter of Sir Percy Maurice Amos. They lived at Shooter's Hill, London and had a farm in Lamberhurst, Kent, which may have been Legg's studio. They had three children, including Sir Thomas Legg.[20] [21] Legg died in Wiltshire in 1988.

Filmography

First Films

GPO Film Unit

Strand Film Company

National Film Board of Canada[50] [51]

Crown Film Unit

Film Centre International

Legacy

Legg's film Churchill's Island was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.[69]

References

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Boon . Tim . Legg, Stuart (1910-1988) . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 9 February 2023.
  2. Khouri 2007, p. 92.
  3. "Mr Stuart Legg", The Times, 27 July 1988, p. 12.
  4. Web site: Boon . Tim . Legg, Stuart (1910-1988) . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 9 February 2023.
  5. McInnes 2004, p. 27.
  6. Web site: Legg . Stuart . Money Behind the Screen: A Report Prepared on Behalf of the Film Council . gooks.google.ca . 1937 . 9 February 2023.
  7. Web site: Stuart Legg . cfe.tiff.net . Canadian Film Encyclopedia . 9 February 2023.
  8. Web site: Stuart Legg . cfe.tiff.net . Canadian Film Encyclopedia . 9 February 2023.
  9. Jones . D.B. . Tom Daly's Apprenticeship . Film History . 1989 . 3 . 3 . 259–273 . JSTOR . 3814981 . 9 February 2023.
  10. Web site: Stuart Legg . cfe.tiff.net . Canadian Film Encyclopedia . 9 February 2023.
  11. Evans 1984, pp. 128, 296.
  12. Ellis 2000, p. 152.
  13. Web site: John Grierson, Father of the Documentary Film . cpcml.ca . Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada . 9 February 2023.
  14. James . C. Rodney . John Grierson: England, Canada, the World . Journal of the University Film Association . 1972 . 24 . 3 . 52–55 . JSTOR . 20687172 . 9 February 2023.
  15. Web site: Boon . Tim . Legg, Stuart (1910-1988) . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 9 February 2023.
  16. Web site: Legg . Stuart . Trafalgar : An Eye-Witness Account of a Great Battle . catalogue.nla.gov.au . National Library of Australia . 9 February 2023.
  17. Web site: Legg . Stuart . Jutland: An Eye-witness Account of a Great Battle . 1966 . 9 February 2023.
  18. Alford, Mark. "The Heartland (Stuart Legg)." and Mark Alford, 1999. Retrieved: 2 May 2016.
  19. Book: Legg . Stuart . The Railway Book: An Anthology . .
  20. Web site: Legg . Thomas Stuart and Marie-Louise . Amos, Sir (Percy) Maurice Maclardie Sheldonlocked (1872–1940) . oxforddnb.com . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . 6 February 2023.
  21. Book: Mansell . James G. . The Projection of Britain: A History of the GPO Film Unit . 25 July 2019 . 9781839020438 . 6 February 2023.
  22. Web site: Varsity 1930 . letterboxd.com . Letterboxd . 7 February 2023.
  23. Web site: Cambridge . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105144308/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69be02c5 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  24. Tallents . Stephen . The Birth of the British Documentary (Part III) . Journal of the University Film Association . 1968 . 20 . 3 . 61–66 . JSTOR . 20686996 . 7 February 2023.
  25. Web site: Telephone Workers . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105151203/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69be9ffb . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  26. Web site: Pett and Pott . bfi-org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  27. Web site: Conquering Space The Story of Modern Communications (1934) . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105151350/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b70377d1e . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  28. Web site: The New Operator . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105145026/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69c057b6 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  29. Web site: Savings Bank . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105152120/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69c0d7d6 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  30. Web site: C.T.O.: The Story of the Central Telegraph Office (1935) . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105152150/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69ea6d49 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  31. Web site: The Coming of the Dial . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 7 February 2023.
  32. Web site: Yugoslavia . avclub.com . AV Club . 7 February 2023.
  33. Web site: BBC: The Voice of Britain . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 7 February 2023.
  34. Web site: Daisy Comes to Town . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105144320/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69d28ddf . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  35. Web site: Roadways . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  36. Web site: Eastern Valley . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 7 February 2023.
  37. Web site: Today We Live . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 7 February 2023.
  38. Web site: Watch and Ward in the Air . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105151220/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69d1d3f4 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  39. Web site: Children's Story . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 7 February 2023.
  40. Web site: Monkey into Man . archive.org . 7 February 2023.
  41. Web site: Mites and Monsters . cam.ac.uk . Cambridge University Library . 7 February 2023.
  42. Web site: Mites and Monsters . cam.ac.uk . Cambridge University Library . 7 February 2023.
  43. Web site: Mites and Monsters . cam.ac.uk . Cambridge University Library . 7 February 2023.
  44. Web site: Mites and Monsters . cam.ac.uk . Cambridge University Library . 7 February 2023.
  45. Web site: Free to Roam . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105151214/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69d0b892 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute.
  46. Web site: Mites and Monsters . cam.ac.uk . Cambridge University Library . 7 February 2023.
  47. Web site: The Duchy of Cornwall . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105144314/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69d0f927 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  48. Web site: Wealth of a Nation . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 7 February 2023.
  49. Web site: Wings Over Empire . colonialfilm.org.uk . Colonial Film . 7 February 2023.
  50. Web site: Directors: Stuart Legg . onf-nfb.gc.ca . National Film Board of Canada . 7 February 2023.
  51. Web site: Producers: Stuart Legg . onf-nfb.gc.ca . National Film Board of Canada . 7 February 2023.
  52. Web site: Invasion of North Africa . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105152312/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b72eb3eef . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  53. Web site: From the Ground Up . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 7 February 2023.
  54. Web site: Men of the World . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105144338/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a1580fc . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  55. Web site: Eagles of the Fleet . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105151331/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6c28205a . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  56. Web site: Underwater Story . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105145136/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7141d841 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  57. Web site: Spotlight on the Colonies . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105144344/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a166aa8 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  58. Web site: Forward a Century . https://web.archive.org/web/20160720185246/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a122889 . dead . 20 July 2016 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  59. Web site: Operation Hurricane . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105144332/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a12f9fd . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  60. Web site: Plan for Coal . screeonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 7 February 2023.
  61. Web site: Powered Flight: The Story of the Century . avclub.com . AV Club.
  62. Web site: Focus on India . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105152249/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6c29e393 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  63. Web site: Focus on Pakistan . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105151338/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6c2a3e75 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  64. Web site: Focus on Flying Boats . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105145049/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69dddf03 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  65. Web site: Golden Reef . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105152306/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b71fdf501 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  66. Web site: The Rival World . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 7 February 2023.
  67. Web site: Song of the Clouds . https://web.archive.org/web/20180105151243/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69fa6514 . dead . 5 January 2018 . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 7 February 2023.
  68. Web site: Food or Famine . screenonline.org.uk . BFI Screenonline . 7 February 2023.
  69. Web site: Preserved Projects. Academy Film Archive.