Trunk Conveyor

A promotional film documenting the design, assembly and maintenance of a conveyor system in a West Yorkshire coal mine.

Early in his filmmaking career, Lindsay Anderson made a series of promotional films for Richard Sutcliffe Ltd, a conveyor belt manufacturer based near Wakefield. In Trunk Conveyor we see Sutcliffe employees constructing a Super Goliath conveyor in the factory, along with coal miners operating the machinery at the colliery. The use of miners’ songs, performed by popular folk musician and collector Bert Lloyd, adds a kinetic and dynamic energy to the detailed and instructional voiceover.

Anderson's incomplete 1955 film 50th Anniversary Open Day of Sutcliffe Ltd is also available to view on BFI Player.