Drifters

“The herring fishing...”

A day’s work to let out the nets, another to draw them in.

The voyage out and back, racing to market through heavy seas.

The quayside auction, buyers for the world.

Salted and shipped abroad or sent by train across the country.

Dogfish and conger prey on the night between.

“Unfortunately, it now seems extremely dull” (Halliwell’s Film Guide).

An extremely high opinion of this film and all of Grierson’s work can be found in a 1965 Scottish Television program called Hitchcock on Grierson (dir. Douglas Moodie).

Granton Trawler

Catching the fish in nets, gutting and sorting them, the sea rough outbound, calm at the task, home in the setting sun.

A constantly detailed and observant documentary of a day’s fishing, adducing the subjective experience simply by making a record of it.

The sounds, the sea, the fishermen’s talk, “their gear and tackle and trim,” the sea gulls, the sky, the Isabella Greig.