Report on Steel

Forging, casting, rolling, pressing, welding - men work around the clock to keep the furnaces ablaze: "steel is wanted everywhere!"

"Steel is wanted everywhere". The spectacle of steel production is beautifully captured in this industrial short, commissioned by the Central Office of Information as part of a wider campaign to set the wheels of industry turning in the aftermath of World War Two. Men are shown working around the clock in Corby, Northamptonshire, in a concerted effort to meet the high demand for steel at home and abroad.

This was the directorial debut of Michael Orrom, an underrated figure in postwar documentary, and prefigures his later triumphs in the industrial film genre. It was produced by the Documentary and Technicians Alliance (DATA), and bears many of the hallmarks of the pithy industry-themed Mining Reviews that became the mainstay of that unit's output. Malcolm Arnold's syncopated score and cinema atographer Wolfgang Suschitzky's arresting visuals heighten the sense of drama. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.