FourDocs is part of the Channel 4 website and is a library of full length documentaries put together to represent some of the best filmmaking of the past century. The extensive archive of films available on the site includes examples of classic 1920s and ’30s British documentary and Free Cinema of the 1950s, alongside more recent documentary filmmaking. Films include Mike Figgis & Jeremy Deller’s Battle of Orgreave,  John Grierson’s The Drifters, London by Patrick Keiller, films by Humphrey Jennings, Lindsay Anderson, John Schlesinger, Nick Broomfield and many more.

The site also features an Archive Timeline of documentary filmmaking.

UCL Library now has a subscription for the Theatre in Video database. This resource contains more than 100 definitive performances of the world’s leading plays, together with more than 60 film documentaries, in streaming video, dating from the 1930s onwards.  Included are the BBC complete works of Shakespeare, as well as works by Ibsen, Beckett, Pinter and many others. Productions can be searched, or browsed by person, genre, company etc. Users can bookmark specific scenes, monologues and staging.

Access Theatre in Video via Metalib.

BFI Screenonline this month takes a look at British gangsters, from Richard Attenborough’s memorable Pinkie in 1947’s Brighton Rock to equally vivid portrayals from the likes of Stanley Baker, Michael Caine, James Fox, Bob Hoskins, Richard Burton and Ben Kingsley. Meanwhile, focus is also on the centenaries of André Morell, the definitive Professor Quatermass, and Tommy Trinder, music hall star, comic actor and TV entertainer.

Highlights of this month’s updates can be found on the BFI Screenonline home page.

See all 33 new additions and updates on the What’s New page.

The Library has a trial for Pidgeon Digital until the end of September.  Pidgeon Digital is a collection of illustrated talks by architects and related designers. The collection was founded in 1979 by Monica Pidgeon (long-time editor of the magazine Architectural Design).

The trial is only available onsite or if logged into WTS remotely.

VideoSurf is another search engine dedicated to finding moving image content on the web. The results show a still shot along with a ‘highlights’ reel that allows you to jump into the video at a spot that looks interesting or relevant.  Includes, for example, footage of a steel band playing Joy Division as part of Jeremy Deller’s recent Manchester Procession.

Founded in 2004, blinkx claims to be the largest and most advanced video search engine, including over 35 million hours of searchable video from more than 530 media partnerships, including national broadcasters, commercial media giants, and private video libraries. Its search technology was conceived at Cambridge University and the results include an active thumbnail showing the first few seconds of the video. Blinkx is useful for searching for artists’ film on the web.

The BFI National Archive of film and television contains more than 50,000 fiction films, over 100,000 non-fiction titles and around 625,000 television programmes. The archive covers every genre from silent newsreels to CinemaScope epics, from home movies to avant-garde experiments, from classic documentaries to vintage television, from advertisements to 3-D films, soap opera to football.

A selection of films are available to view in the BFI Mediatheque on the South Bank, but the Archive also runs a Research Viewing Service which allows access to rarer items in the collection. While not a free service, it is available to students at a 50% discounted rate of £6.25 + VAT per hour of running time for films and £5 + VAT for video and DVD.

Kiddie Records Weekly is a project devoted to the golden age of American children’s records, spanning the mid forties through the early fifties. This period produced a wealth of all-time classics.  Many of these recordings were extravagant Hollywood productions on major record labels and featured big time celebrities and composers.

Scanned covers are accompanied by the music and stories which can be streamed or downloaded. Audio recordings prior to 1958 are now generally in the public domain in the USA.

The BFI YouTube channel features over 200 films from the archives. Films can be browsed individually or via playlists on topics such as London on film, sport in Britain, and Britain in the 1920s.

Over 1200 other complete films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive can be viewed free of charge in the Mediatheque at BFI Southbank.

Doc Alliance Films is an EU supported project which emerged as a result of the co-operative effort of five key European documentary film festivals. The site features 250 documentaries, mostly from central and eastern Europe, available for streaming or download at various quality levels. 20 new films are added monthly. While not a free service, streaming costs from only €0.5 and download (up to DVD quality) from €1.5 – €5 depending on the length of the film.