Spare Time (1939)

Name: Spare Time
Genre: Documentary, Horror, Science Fiction
Released: 1939-01-01

15m

Running Time

Plot.

Documentary short by Humphrey Jennings

Where to Watch.

Free

Currently Spare Time is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: BFI Player

Streaming in:
🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Cast & Crew.

Laurie Lee

Self - Commentary(voice)

Humphrey Jennings

Director

Alberto Cavalcanti

Producer

Vorke Scarlett

Sound

H.E. Fowle

Director of Photography

D.V. Knight

Assistant Director

Details.

Release Date
January 1, 1939

Status
Released

Running Time
15m

Genres
Documentary Horror Science Fiction

Last updated: 2025-04-10

Wiki.

Spare Time is a 1939 British film directed by Humphrey Jennings for the GPO Film Unit, and made for the 1939 New York World's Fair. It is 15 minutes long and documents the leisure activities of workers in the coal, steel, and cotton industries in Sheffield, Bolton, Manchester and Pontypridd. Commentary is provided by Laurie Lee.

Time Out calls it "A touching, troubling encapsulation of 1930s Britain." Spare Time was the subject of one of a set of ten postage stamps produced by the Royal Mail in 2015 to commemorate British cinema classics, including four from the GPO Film Unit.