The National Film Board: Part One

Working as an artist in Canadian film in the last century, it was difficult not to be aware of the National Film Board's achievements, let alone grow up in Canada and not be taught lessons from the various films it produced. 

Former Canadian students of the 1990s have vivid memories of an 80lb knee cap shattering unit of a television being wheeled into the classroom, the teacher leaning over to shove in a VHS of Hinterland’s Who's Who, Documentaries on WW1, or The Halifax Explosion into the video player, and the whirring of tape being rewound. The documentaries were fabulous in terms of presenting information about Canadian history. Still, they missed the audience they desperately tried to appeal to: the childhood brain's developing and shortening attention span. NFB documentaries were and still are informative but were also traditionally slow, repetitive, and lacked pizazz.

Nowadays, Spiders on Drugs—a mashup parody of the previously mentioned Hinterland’s Who's Who and a study undertaken by the Government of Canada,  is one of the more memorable twisted moments of The Film Board now available on YouTube. It’s probably the most well-known gateway parody video on how the younger generations tend to remember it.  If you wish to watch a video on the hilariously exaggerated, unrealistic effects of drugs on spiders, this is the optimal one. If you want to learn more information on the main character, the crack cocaine spider, you can try to contact the National Film Board. However, they will ignore your emails or be unable to comment on the spiders' whereabouts.

Our film board's legacy is more culturally resounding than a film about a group of spiders and their substance abuse issues. Instead, it is the backbone of every single post-production, animation, and film studio across Canada. It’s the reason animation has developed the way it has in Canada, and it's the reason the animation technology we have enjoyed has developed and how it has stayed in the country. It's why film studio owners and filmmakers founded their companies in Canada and chose to stay here. The board is the epitome of what Canadians dreamed of for the future in terms of achievements.  However, The glory days of cooperation have passed, even though the organization still exists. 

This is not meant to downplay the significance of the NFB in the modern era, either. Modern-day directors such as Guillermo del Toro, George Lucus, and many others have used the film board as inspiration to kickstart their imaginations. The NFB also still participates in film festivals globally, including TIFF(Toronto International Film Festival), where some of the most spectacular animated shorts and documentaries on subjects of interest are created. 

If we start at the beginning, the NFB has produced over 13,000 films since its creation. In 1939, it was founded to supersede the Canadian Government’s Motion Picture Bureau(MPB), also known as the Exhibits and Publicity Bureau. This was a new era for the average Canadian mouthpiece to speak on the politics and culture of their country.

Previously, the MPB was created in 1918 to promote trade and the Canadian film industry. The organization's first main movie series was Living Canada. These shorts were released in 1919, and no surviving copies of these films exist. By 1920, the Exhibits and Publicity Bureau had gained so much popularity that it became Canada's most notable film and post-production studio during that decade. 

In the late 20s, the Bureau needed help matching and keeping up with the increasing film quality. One of the flaws of the MPB was that it was set up as a theatrical business enterprise centered around the documentary format and pandered to USA distributors. Under the leadership of Raymond Peck, who benefited heavily in assisting America’s entry into the Canadian film market, the MPB emphasized sales of its films to theatrical markets. However, one of several issues holding the organization back was its unwillingness to transfer prints to the most popular film formats of the time, 16mm and 28mm nontheatrical formats. 16mm would become quite a standard print format for films, and it also existed as a popular amateur or home movie-making format for several decades. This meant MPB films were unplayable for audiences outside mainstream theatre chains. This led various other government departments to break off and distribute their independent non-theatrical films in regular theatres, which started to siphon off money and resources from the MPB. 

Another blow was the introduction of sound to film in the late 1920s and the Canadian government's hesitation in purchasing new sound equipment. Soon, the MPB was struggling, and by 1933, it still had yet to make a sound film, and its theatrical markets had dried up. 

By the 1930s, sound films were beyond the Bureau’s reach. During this time, American films started to overtake Canadian cinema, which panicked the Canadian government. A commission was established to investigate how the government produced films, and a new filmmaker was recommended to the Bureau. 

In 1924, this man arrived on a ship loaded with thirty thousand cases of Scotch whiskey en route from Glasgow, Scotland, destined for the thirsty shores of Prohibition America. He would step foot on the shores of New York, swavely dressed and with camera equipment in hand. This 26-year-old passenger would forever change the film industry in North America, not just Canada. If this man were was looking to make a dramatic entrance into his new home and country, he delivered it. His name was John Grierson. 

Grierson was a Scottish filmmaker. He is considered the founder of British and Canadian documentary films and is credited with coining the term “documentaries.” His father was a schoolmaster, and his mother was a teacher, a socialist, and a suffragette. His early life at home was intensely involved in moral, religious, and political debates. He also had four sisters, three of whom survived until adulthood. 

When World War One broke out, Grierson served aboard a British minesweeper and mainly worked as a telegraphist. After the armistice, he entered the University of Glasgow. During his service, he achieved the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Here, he became active with the Fabian Socialists before graduating with distinctions in English and Moral Philosophy.

Grierson claimed to have been an activist from age sixteen. Several local companies in Scotland arrested him several times for making speeches. Grierson dabbled in revolutionary politics, and his motivations were deemed “too intellectual for his time,” and his ideas were “too complex” for any current social movement. This is a fancy way of saying that Grierson was a passionately driven man with a lot of spice to his personality.  The man was angry and knew what to use his anger for, even if other people didn’t appreciate it. 

The Fabian Socialists greatly impacted Grierson's life. These were figures such as George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells, who were anti-Marxists and believed that man's economic activities were best preserved in socialism, like his political rights were best preserved in a democracy. The Fabians supported class warfare, revolution, reform, progressive legislation, and gradual improvement of social services.

When Grierson first stepped foot in North America, he attended the University of Chicago on a year-long Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship immersion program. During his four-year visit, he would experience the films of Robert Flaherty and Eisenstein. In 1925, Grierson worked as an international film critic for American Films, the first place he developed contacts that would help him in his career and familiarize him with different editing styles. While reviewing Flaherty's Moana in 1926, Grierson invented the word "documentary." He became convinced that mass media, particularly film, could educate and influence the masses. He also realized that he would have to go outside the motion picture industry to find support and sponsorship for his ideas. 

Author’s note: Many historians maintain that Grierson first used the term “documentary.” However, Scholar Carl Plantinga has shown that variations of the term circulated in France as early as 1914. 

In 1924, Grierson visited Canada for the first time before returning to Great Britain in 1928. He then approached the British government with his film theories and launched a new documentary film movement.  Post-World War, John Grierson mainly worked as a social critic. He started to believe that the best way to preserve and maintain democracy's legacy was to record it through film. He also saw film as a way to educate the public on significant issues and to promote spirituality. The man was ahead of his time. 

In 1929, Grierson completed his first film, Drifters, about the lives of North Sea herring fishermen. It was groundbreaking for the time, as no other British or American film documentary had focused on this subject. Grierson's life was a constant battle against the idea of the "self" in art. For him, an artist had to commit to something outside himself before his art could achieve significance. You could say power and money meant nothing to Grierson; purpose guided him.

Grierson’s morals revolved around observing and making choices about life, including how each individual would develop his aesthetic or morality. These philosophies grew from Grierson's experiences and family life in Glasgow and permeated the rest of his life while he developed the organization known as the NFB.  

After returning to Great Britain in 1928, Grierson worked at the General Post Office. The post office wasn’t just for delivering the daily mail but also for producing propaganda and films showcasing the nation of Great Britain. He assisted in groundbreaking films such as Night Mail(1936) and Coal Face(1935). 

In Grierson’s view, the documentary did not simply describe what the filmmaker chose to observe—it creatively shaped the observed material toward new ends. Grierson’s mindset was that the creation of the documentary genre “indicated not the making of things but the making of virtues.” 

After he visited Hollywood, Grierson knew there was a market for documentary film formats and wanted to appeal to that market. At the time, the genre was being more than downplayed. Columbia Pictures Harry Cohn openly stated and described the documentary genre at this time by defining it as "a film without women, " which was a fanciful way of explaining a film without sex appeal.

While building the Empire Marketing Board (EMB) film unit, Grierson traveled to the Motion Picture Bureau (MPB) in Ottawa the same year he returned to England. There were two reasons for this. The first was to report on the activities of the MPB to build support for and improve the EMB. Grierson realized that if the EMB was ever to achieve a wide circulation of its films, non-theatrical outlets had to be set up, and the MPB had more of a reach into this market than the EMB, as small as it was. To do this, he had to convince schools, churches, clubs, and other organizations to buy projectors. And, before this could happen, he would have to promise a supply of content to watch. Grierson used these trips to Canada to bring large amounts of MPB films back to England, and this process became the basis for England's first central non-theatrical film library.

In 1938, John entered the world of Canadian filmmaking and traveled to the country to judge how the current Canadian film board was operating. He recommended his changes to the Prime Minister and noted that most Canadian films focused on the country as a holiday destination and did not produce actual films. Frank Bagdley, the head of the Motion Picture Bureau for Canada, did not appreciate this assessment, which solidified his overall impression of Grierson as a young and tenacious foreigner stirring up trouble. In John’s 66-page report to the Canadian government, he recommended a new board be formed to preserve Canada’s culture and blamed many of its mistakes on Bagdley. This organization was formed in 1939 and would be named The National Film Board of Canada. Badgley was furious. 

The idea of a National Film Board was revolutionary. In Canada, there was nothing to compare to it. Grierson's idea was to get the government to pay for filmmaking and good filmmaking. This included socially relevant, controversial films while appealing to a large general public. Grierson would successfully get the Canadian Government to agree due to the oncoming World War II wartime emergency in Canada, where national morale was vital to survival.

America hated the idea of The National Film Board (NFB). Up until now, all film production, the topics of films, the exploitation of the Canadian wilderness, and the country’s filmmaking resources were all controlled by The United States. Through the Canadian Government’s Motion Picture Bureau(MPB), Hollywood and various other American film companies had taken control of the Canadian film industry by bribing and lobbying Canadian filmmakers and executives. With the MPB’s disillusionment and removal and the arrival of a filmmaker (Grierson) who could not care less about America's “best” interests, The National Film Board of Canada was seen as a threat that would remove American interference in Canada. It was here that Grierson would land on the radar of the American government. 

In his efforts to get things done throughout the film board's initial development, Grierson also stepped on the toes of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant members of society and became their target. He had idealism and believed in a Canada that could become a force for change in the world. They saw him as everything that could undermine their moral beliefs. He was the equivalent of Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider sitting in the middle of a congressional hearing. 

The organization's formation verged on the start of The Second World War. Grierson was at the height of his career and loved every second.  He lived in an office in the West Bloc of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, where Stuart Legg was the production supervisor and Ross Mclean was his assistant.  Grierson started hiring filmmakers. Stanley Hawes, Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart, and hired Raymond Spottiswoode from the GPO film unit to train the Canadians Grierson had recruited. Spottiswoode was a British producer and director known for Proudly She Marches (1943), Wings of Youth (1940), and Coupe des Alpes: The Story of the 1958 Alpine Rally (1958).

Grierson also hired Sydney Newman(the future co-founder of the Directors Guild of Canada), Tom Daly, Michael Spencer, James Beveridge, Don Frasier, and Guy Glover(Norman Mclaren’s partner). Grierson's group was predominantly young, college-educated, and non-conformist men and women.

In 1939, at 41 years of age, John Grierson was at his peak. Everything he had learned in England at the Empire Marketing Board and General Post Office about integrating filmmaking and bureaucratic structures, he was applying again at the National Film Board.

During World War Two, He produced several films to document the war and assisted in producing several propaganda films. During the war, the National Film Board's principal mandate was to communicate Canada's wartime policies and achievements to itself and the world. Thus, the "Canada Carries On" (CCO)  and "World In Action" (WIA) series were created. The French versions were En Avant Canada and Les Reportages. These were group efforts and lacked individual credits. Both series were similar in style to the "March Of Time" newsreels and were narrated in "A Voice of Doom" by a young CBC broadcaster named Lome Green. 

CCO was begun in 1940 as a monthly, one-reel series designed to dramatize to Canadians their participation in the war.  The series concentrated heavily on themes of transport and communication. By playing up communications and transportation issues and showing Canada's strategic positions, it attempted to undercut isolationism and regional loyalties at home. The techniques of the widely popular American newsreel, The March of Time, heavily influenced Canadian propaganda. The series' emphasis on integrating all national forces implied Canada could be totalitarian for good. With few exceptions, these films avoided hate-mongering, parochialism, and vilification of the enemy. They stressed the importance of a broad military strategy and described convincingly the tremendous power behind the nation's cooperative and corporate energies. 

This series was more popular outside of Canada than at home. It was seen in 6,000 theaters in the U.S., Latin America, and the British Commonwealth countries. The films were generally twenty minutes long. 

Grierson enlisted the help of Stuart Legg, one of the pioneers of the British documentary movement, who came to Canada in the winter of 1939 to make two films for the Government Motion Picture Bureau. When Grierson became the first Film Commissioner of the National Film Board, he asked Legg to join him in organizing theatrical documentary production. He and Grierson competed with their nemesis, Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, whose weekly theatrical newsreel, Wochenschauen, emphasized triumphant battle scenes and themes of victory, underscored by morale-building music. Legg and his team replied by cutting captured German and Allied footage into a monthly analysis of strategic plans to defeat German world domination.

**You could say that Grierson had legged up his filmmaking team. 

Grierson prioritized the “art of propaganda,” which, for him, lay in “the ultimate truth, that truth will ultimately conquer.” He championed a realist mode of documentary that was coherent and authoritative, and between the war years of 1939 and 1944, Grierson, Stuart Legg, and Daly perfected such techniques as the authoritative off-screen narration, or “voice of God” that became a staple of the Griersonian documentary movement. The other characteristics of the NFB documentary that were perfected during this time included rapid cutting and “a close alliance of image and text.” Canada’s sheer size and geographic and cultural diversity made it a perfect testing ground for the Griersonian documentary format, which expanded rapidly across the country. 

A famous film of the CCO series was War Clouds In the Pacific (I941), which predicted war between Japan and the U.S. and was released a few weeks before Pearl Harbor. Like many of these series, United Artists distributed them widely throughout America. When Legg took over responsibility for the WIA series, Sydney Newman and Guy Glover produced the CCO series. However, they were concerned about the lack of Canadian material in the series and complained to Grierson, but they continued the series until 1951. 

The "Peoples of Canada" series, made from 1941 to 43, portrayed significant ethnic groups at work and play building the nation. Porayals of Natives, Inuit, Polish, Scottish, and Ukrainian communities went far in interpreting Canada to Canadians and encouraging respect and tolerance for others in the present era. How well these films conveyed their message remains to be seen, and their messages have not aged well. 

The World In Action series started in June 1942; its two main goals were to relate local strategies to world ones and to influence and direct the politics of North American audiences toward a postwar ethic. The series concentrated on inspiration. The New York Times praised these films, which attempted to give people hope and faith in themselves.

One of Grierson's favorite films of the series was The War For Men's Minds(1943), which he called a film on the Lincoln theme: "When the ordinary people rise to find their liberty, not the gates of hell will prevail against them. "  The film described the war as a gigantic mobilization of men's minds through the press, motion picture, and radio propaganda media.

In 1940, tragedy struck. John’s sister, Ruby, would die aboard the SS City of Benares during the Second World War. Ruby Grierson was also a pioneer in the documentary film movement. She, too, inherited a passion for social change and pacifism from their mother and worked side by side with her brother at the GPO film unit. 

During World War Two, Britain attempted to relocate children to Canada to protect them from the threat of war. Ruby was assisting in these efforts and filmed documentaries on the effort to comfort families and show that their children would be safe. John Grierson hired her to work for the NFB, seeing this as an opportunity for propaganda films and for his family to join him in his efforts. Ruby Grierson’s directorial debut for the NFB was released in 1940 for The Canada Carries On series and entitled The Children from Overseas (Les Jeunes Réfugiés). 

In what would have been her second documentary and a “sequel” to the previously released The Children from Overseas, Ruby would board the Benares to join her brother in Canada. When the SS City of Benares made its final crossing, it was carrying 406 people. Late in the evening of 17 September 1940, the City of Benares was sighted by the German U-boat U-48. U-48 fired two torpedoes at 10:00 PM, but they missed. A minute later, the U-boat fired another torpedo. The torpedo struck the Benares in the stern at 10:03 PM, causing her to sink within 31 minutes. Two hundred fifty-eight people died, including 77 children.

In a tragic swing of fate, Ruby almost escaped the sinking in a lifeboat. In the mad rush to safety, a wave crashed into the lifeboat, and Ruby Grierson and the remaining 30 people died instantly.

John Grierson could not recover from this loss. Ruby died a hero, but John lost his most important family member. To say that her death impacted him significantly would be an understatement. This was when history records started documenting Grierson’s anger and driven ideals beyond other humans' concerns. He resigned in 1941 and held onto his post for another six months until the proper replacement was selected. He would not stop fighting in the war effort. Fighting was now about recovering the loss of Ruby, not Canada.  

After the departure of Grierson, there was a recalibration of production standards and practices at the Board of its founder; there was a period of instability. As a result of Conservative Member of Parliament G. K. Fraser’s recriminations, the Board was subjected to three governmental investigations in 1944 addressing waste, purpose, and loyalty to the government of Canada. Fraser did not fan the National Film Board and thought these investigations would be a clever way to lead to its demise. However, As it turns out, the three investigations led to legislation constituting a new film Act that improved working conditions and permitted the growth of creative freedom. 

One department that would evolve Grierson’s documentary style would be Unit B. Their films would carry a less authoritative tone and emphasize marginal groups and unusual practices in art and lives around the nation. Unit B films often involved rigorous scripting and conveyed a closeness to their subjects that was often unfound in older documentaries from The Film Board, which selectively focused on the “bigger pictures of society.”  The Living Machine (1958) and Lonely Boy (1961) were some stand-out films produced by the unit.

Unit B created a sense of characteristic self-awareness, unscripted feeling, and fascination with the everyday lives of Canadians and public figures. The Unit also worked alongside filmmakers such as Colin Low, Roman Kroiter, and Tom Daly. These filmmakers helped the unit develop its cinéma vérité style, which emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In 1941, Churchill's Island won the NFB's first Academy Award for best documentary film. The film was a variation of the 'Britain can take it' theme; it was aggressive. Narrator Lorne Greene, now recognized as Canada's 'voice of democracy,' concluded that Britain had an inner strength, a stubborn calm that iron, steel, and bombs could never pierce. The Women Are Warriors series was next and compared the vital war work of women in England and Russia to that of Canada. It asserted that Canada profited from these two allied examples. In an attempt to compliment Canadian women, the narration would have statements such as: “The women of Canada had learned to turn the domestic needle and thread into the tools of war!” 

In 1942, there were reports that Canadians were captured as POWs in the Dieppe Raid. Grierson proposed that to protect Canadian Soldiers in the camps, the NFB should film how the German POWs were treated in Canadian camps. Supposedly, only one film was made, showing German soldiers playing sports and eating healthy meals. This film was given to the Red Cross to strategically fall into German hands. Legend has it that Hilter himself watched the movie and ordered better treatment of Canadian prisoners of war. This is all speculation, though propaganda.

By 1943, Grierson had turned his eyes to peacetime information. He hoped to get government departments to support themes such as conservation and nutrition, such as the NFB.

In 1945, Grierson resigned as Film Commissioner and finished his filmmaking activities in Canada. During the war, his MPB takeover and tactics to build up the NFB had created a few political enemies, and he needed to keep a low profile. He was tired of fighting with cabinet ministers and bureaucrats, and with peace coming, he decided it was time to move on. He would return to Canada to tour the West in 1957 and again in 1964 to celebrate the Board's 25th anniversary.

Grierson also encouraged the establishment of non-theatrical circuits across Canada. Under the direction of Donald Buchanan, in the Central Government Distribution Service, he expanded the non-theatrical distribution system to 43 traveling circuits, serving up to one-quarter of a million viewers per month by mid-1942. Each circuit reached 20 rural communities per month. 

The NFB also attempted to integrate film into the national trade union movement's branch activity. The National Trade Union film circuit was sponsored by the Canadian Congress of Labour, the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada, the Workers' Education Association, and the National Film Board. Monthly showings were held in union halls across the country. Film themes included unemployment, recreational programs, rehabilitation, labor-management committees, and international relations. There were also non-theatrical industrial films geared both to the needs of the war and to describe the growth of Canadian industries and the development of the nation's natural resources. 

By November 5, 1945, Grierson had organized the non-profit International Film Associates Inc. in Ottawa and Washington with Stuart Legg and Mary Losey Mapes to promote the use of documentary film. Five months later, on March 20, 1946, Grierson incorporated the World Today Inc. in New York. This became his next legacy in film and his passion project. Grierson was president and chairman of the board, Stuart Legg was vice president, and Raymond Spottiswoode was treasurer. The company's main asset was a four-year contract with United Artists to produce 156 short documentary films, or 39 yearly. Two series, World Wise and One Fact, dealt with world affairs and discoveries in science and nature. Grierson told prospective investors he expected to make $300,000 to $400,000 profit on the contract, but World Today never seemed to have enough money. Many former and current NFB artists, including Lou Applebaum, Guy Glover, and Gordon Weisenborn, worked at World Today in New York.

Grierson’s life significantly changed after he left the film board. During this time, many flaws and hidden personality traits became more apparent through the treatment of his legacy that was to follow. Grierson was a victim of the anti-Semitism and anti-Communist sentiment of the time. The enemies he had made had been the wrong ones. Throughout his career, he managed to slight people in government offices internationally, disgruntled film workers, and even employees in his organization.

On October 16, 1944, one of these disgruntled NFB employees Douglas Ross Sinclair wrote to Prime Minister Mackenzie King that the NFB: " ... is an organization as far as I can determine with definite Fascist leanings, an organization giving preference to the type of people whom we call Nazis … "With John Grierson at the helm of the NFB ... (Stuart) Legg has made a series of films in Canada with definite Nazi sympathies … " All of Sinclair’s claims were unsupported and considered conspiracy theories. However, they caused a fair amount of damage, which started Grierson’s fall from grace.

John Grierson responded to these charges in a letter to King's principal secretary dated October 24, 1944: "Sinclair was a boy on our staff whom we had to get rid of. He was an able young technician, but I am sorry to say he was desparately unstable. He is now, I am informed, under psychiatric observation in the Army ..." As regards his comments, they are all somewhat familiar to us now. He has an idea fixed regarding myself on which I have nothing to say …”

Soon Grierson wasn’t just being accused of being a Nazi, but everything popular to hate for the given time. He was called everything under the sun, from a communist sympathizer and an appeaser, a C.C.F.er to an English Jew.

In 1945, John Grierson was at the height of his influence and power following his success in organizing the National Film Board of Canada. He advised the British, Canadian, and American governments on their post-war propaganda needs, including the role of mass media in the new United Nations Organization. These rumors failed to sway him, and he refused to believe they could do any damage. 

These rumors would finally start to cause a blow to his career when, on April 14, 1945, Al Sherman's Washington column in Boxoffice magazine jumped on a rumor that reported that Grierson was to head the American State Department Film Unit.  Suddenly, America knew who Grierson was and feared that a Scott-Canadan Communist was about to take over their movie industry. 

Credibility was added to this rumor because Grierson had been in Washington on leave for a month and had helped the State Department with a film that the Secretary of State reportedly liked very much. However, Grierson returned to Ottawa right afterward, and the Minister responsible for the NFB, J.J. McCann, announced: "There was no foundation for the earlier report that Mr. Grierson was resigning his government post here to take a position with the United States government on film work."

However, this was the excuse the FBI and the Hoover administration needed to start investigating Grierson. J. Edgar Hoover already had a bone to pick with Grierson, and this was his moment to start terrifying him. From here on out, they would pursue him and the destruction of his entire legacy.  The documents the FBI collected on Grierson are available upon request but are heavily censored, and some documents are missing.

At this time, Grierson was also living in the United States on a visitor's visa. The American ambassador in Ottawa, Ray Atherton, who was also not a fan of Grierson, wrote a top-secret letter to the U.S. Secretary of State on March 6, 1946. It said Grierson: " .. . may shortly make an application for an immigration visa, and to suggest that no visa of any kind should be granted to him until his case has been subjected to searching investigation and clearance with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which, it is understood, is documented in this matter. The Embassy makes this recommendation because it has reason to believe that Mr. Grierson's name has been found in the files of the Soviet agents now being investigated for espionage by the Royal Commission in Canada." 

An event called the Gouzenko Affair was about to lead Grierson and his achievements down a dark path. The Gouzenko Affair was the beginning of The Cold War in Canada, and it started with the defection of Igor Gouzenko, a GRU cipher clerk stationed at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa. It came to light that Soviet spies were hidden in various government institutions across Canada, and “The Red Scare” officially began. 

Grierson's internationalist views and diverse politics now did not easily fit a world where everything suddenly became black-and-white overnight. His temper, passion, and voracity, as did his inhibitions, scared people. He was deemed too crazy, passionate, and angry. He was one of the first international figures to be targeted during the Cold War, mainly due to his personality. He was a charismatic and arrogant man who provoked passionate responses. He was described as inspiring unquestioning loyalty among his friends and bitter enmity among his opponents. 

Grierson assisted in investigating the Gouzenko Affair by searching the National Film Board for possible communist spies. However, rumors spread that he had been a spy ring leader during his stay with the Canadian government. This started to raise rumors that the NFB was driving the Communist Manifesto or even leaning toward fascist beliefs, thanks to John Grierson!

Unfortunately for Grierson, one of his secretaries at the NFB, Freda Linton, turned out to be a Communist agent—an incredibly unsuccessful one. Freda Linton was the only connection Grierson had with the Gouzenko affair, and some reports stated she and Grierson had been intimate. This was enough to confirm the FBI's opinion that he was a dangerous subversive foreign agent. 

Even though Gouzenko would testify in a Royal Commission by the Canadian government that Grierson was not a spy, and the only intent was to get Linton into a position to get information out of him, that was enough proof for the FBI. They had done their research and discovered that Miss Linton had attempted to recruit Grierson and communicated that in an FBI memo dated August 16, 1946, stating: "The documents from Zabotin's files and  Gouzenko's (sic) testimony reflect that at one time "Freda" submitted to Zabotin a biographical sketch of John Grierson, recommending that he be recruited immediately as an active Soviet agent. The information furnished by "Freda" was cabled by Zabotin to Red Army Intelligence Headquarters in Moscow, which instructed Zabotin to "stay away from Grierson." Gouzenko interpreted these instructions and apparently by Zabotin and "Freda" to indicate that John Grierson was then being "run" as a Soviet agent either by the NKVD in Canada or by some other Soviet espionage network." 

Freda Linton's letters were the only "evidence" the FBI uncovered that incriminated Grierson as a Communist or a spy. She was his secretary, and they were under the assumption that Grierson was helping her get another job in a government position. That never happened, and there was no evidence that Grierson had ever tried to get her a job outside the NFB. What concerned the FBI was that Moscow said, "Stay away from Grierson ." The FBI assumed Moscow's reply meant he already was a spy. The FBI was so intent on establishing Grierson's guilt that they were willing to contradict any evidence supporting Grierson's innocence. 

The Gouzenko rumors were making their way through the Ottawa embassy. The main conduit for rumors was Glenn H. Bethel, the FBI's officer at the American Embassy in Canada. He sent his memos, often in FBI letters, directly to J. Edgar Hoover. The first was dated April 9, 1946, and pointed out: "xxx is in possession of considerable information relative to Grierson. xxx is said to be friendly and disposed towards Grierson and reportedly has stated that he saw a photograph of Grierson in a Black Shirt Uniform marching with or in Mosley's organization in England ." "Canadian authorities" actively encouraged the American investigation of Grierson and suggested Legg should be included. Ambassador Atherton wrote to Washington:" Mr. Legg (sic) may or may not have been connected with Grierson in this particular matter (Gouzenko), but it has been confidentially stated by Canadian authorities his activities warrant investigation. " 

Now, Grierson's livelihood was in danger of being destroyed, as was the livelihood of everyone he had supported at the film board and the careers of the people he had created. 

On September 12, 1946, Hoover ordered the New York field office to begin a " full investigation of Grierson.’ This meant the FBI would actively solicit informants, monitor his travel, check his personal and telephone contacts, and search his effects.  In some cases, the investigation revealed information contradicting the FBI's assumption of Grierson's guilt. One interviewee said: "xxx volunteered that Grierson refused to have Communists on his staff at any time and that he could never have anything to do with them."

Hoover wasn't satisfied.  At this time, the FBI found their best source of information on Grierson. This was "Confidential Informant T-l" who knew Grierson very well and probably worked in The World Today offices. He was described in a December 9, 1946, memo as: "a highly confidential source with access to the records of John Grierson which was effected through xxx Special Agents, and xxx photographer." With the recruitment of "T-l, the quantity and quality of information on Grierson grew because the FBI had complete access to Grierson's files and correspondence.

The FBI would even investigate people whose names sounded like Grierson, even if there were no other connections. One innocent bystander was Bertram M. Gerson, who lived in Miami Beach. On February 17, 1947, the New York office told the Miami office that Grierson held P.O. Box 4375 in Miami Beach. Gerson's background was checked, his neighbors and associates were interviewed, and photos of Grierson and Linton were shown. Eventually, the Miami office proved Gerson and Grierson were not the same person. 

Meanwhile, Grierson was still trying to get a permanent visa. The FBI made sure the State Department rejected the request. The reason for the visa denial was explained somewhat melodramatically in an internal FBI memo. It said Grierson: " ... was suspected of being a Soviet espionage agent. Recently, the State Department denied his application for a visa because he was an agent of a foreign power."

Grierson tried to defend himself publicly during this time but failed spectacularly. Instead of using the Gouzenko testimony that he was not an agent, Grierson said the whole thing was silly because he "had been a British public servant for years." In the days of the Cold War, this was not a very convincing rebuttal. He was too proud to stoop to a defense of his character, or he thought a loud public defense might do him more harm by reinforcing the nameless "accusations."

The press publicity made it increasingly difficult for Grierson to continue his business. Grierson had become a severe liability to The World Today Inc. and couldn't stay in New York without a visa. On April 16, 1947, Stuart Legg took over as President, although Grierson remained Chairman of the Board. The FBI houding Grierson would be one of the larger factors in the eventual closure of The World Today Inc.

In the spring of 1946, Grierson was considered for a job at the United Nations. This was his dream job, as social international action was one of his core passions. Unable to operate his company and fulfill his New York vision, he yearned for a new big break. However, The FBI soon found out, and just as Hoover had blocked Grierson's rumored job at the State Department, they now set out to ruin this opportunity.

Hoover sent out Grierson's dossier to various senior bureaucrats in Washington. He was so concerned that he wrote to President Truman as well. The United Nations didn't hire Grierson. A year later, after Grierson's visa problems and his resignation from The World Today, a State Department official telephoned the FBI for more information on Grierson because "Grierson was seeking a connection with UNESCO." This time, Grierson was successful and was appointed by the British Government as an adviser on Mass Media and Public Information to the Director General of UNESCO.

A press report in the Washington Times-Herald was headlined "Spy Suspect Gets U.N. Job": "John Grierson, former Canadian government official questioned in the Russian Spy Case, has been appointed director of propaganda in thirty-one countries, including the U.S., for (UNESCO) it was disclosed here today.”

Grierson's career at the U.N. was cut short. In an article datelined Washington, the New York World-Telegram on February 1, 1948, that "U.N. Fires Canadian Atom Spy Case Figure": "A Canadian whose name figured prominently in the American phases of the Canadian spy case has been dismissed as an employee of the (UNESCO), informed sources disclosed today….. He was one of 328 persons classified as "possible subversives" who entered the U.S. on U.N. credentials…" Even though the newspapers spouted that he was fired,  a few FBI memos later marked Grierson's leave from UNESCO as a  " resignation."

After successfully terminating Grierson from UNESCO, the FBI lost interest in his case. However, Grierson's file was unfortunately reopened in 1954 when an informant called the FBI office in Newark, New Jersey, and ranted that the National Film Board was a nest of Communists. This informant was Douglas Sinclair, the same Douglas Sinclair who wrote to the Prime Minister in 1944 that the Board was a crew of Nazis. Sinclair went through a list of people, including Ross McLean, Grant McLean, Sydney Newman, Ralph Foster, Robert Anderson, Ernst Borneman, Boris Kauffman, Gordon Weisenborn, Stuart Legg, Lawrence and Evelyn Cherry, and others, claiming they were subversives. 

Despite the various FBI files on Grierson, which made it obvious Sinclair was fabricating information, J. Edgar Hoover repeated Sinclair's allegations and misinformation verbatim in a memo dated November 19, 1954, to the CIA and State Department. Hoover said: " According to the informant, John Grierson was the Director of the National Film Board of Canada from 1938 until sometime during World War II. During the war, the Canadian Government expelled Grierson for Communist activities, and he proceeded to New York City, where he organized a film production company called World-Today Film Company. " The FBI accepted his misinformation without verification.

Victims of political investigations, such as Grierson, did not have the same rights as criminals in a courtroom. They were presumed guilty unless proven innocent, and innocence was often impossible to prove. 

Instead of thanks from a grateful Canada for leading the country through World War Two and creating The National Film Board, Grierson was never allowed to hold government jobs again. His last role in Canada holding a job was as a long-term lecturer at McGill.

His students recite Grierson as being a cantankerous, irascible, totally unpredictable deity who had terrible breath and “seduced” (A term used loosely) by some of his female graduate students and hotel staff. As well as a gin-drinking terror.  But he was also described as inspiring. For those who became close to him, he brought diverse worlds together and smashed illusions. As a teacher, he would be said to fight with you, yell at you, and scare the wits out of you. At the same time, he made you aware that there was a big world out there, and you were part of it! 

This was retold by Gary Evans, a previous graduate student assistant at McGill University. Who worked for the University of Toronto Press in 1985. Grierson would call his mother late at night to tell her that he didn't think Evans was eating well enough to intimate him. When Grierson arrived at McGill in 1969, he was 69 years old. Evans described Grierson as more of a tragic hero than anything else.

“Grierson firmly believed that film propaganda was a legitimate weapon of the state to forge a national consciousness and collective will. his old idealism did not age any better than his old documentary movies when viewed in a modern-day context. He was a very old-fashioned man.”  

Grierson claimed that education, which he equated with propaganda, was the tool to serve as the active instrument of the democratic idea, operating "in the quiet light of ordinary humanism." He believed the task of propaganda was to speak intimately and quietly about real things and real people. He reiterated this for the rest of his life: "We can, by propaganda, widen the horizons of the schoolroom and give to every individual, each in his place and work, a living conception of the community which he has the privilege to serve." 

Grierson untimely passed away in 1972 of lung and liver cancer. He was cremated, and his ashes were poured into the sea off the Old Head in Kinsale, Ireland.