Stung by criticism that British films were flaccid imitations of Hollywood, Michael Balcon of Gaumont British hired the acclaimed writer/director Robert Flaherty and his wife Frances ("Nanook of the North" (1922), "Moana" (1926), "Elephant Boy" (1937), "The Land" (1942), "Louisiana Story" (1948)) to prove the British film industry’s cultural excellence as well as commercial success. In 1931, Robert Flaherty set up a studio and laboratory facilities on Inishmore, the largest of the three Aran Islands. Flaherty had promised Balcon he could shoot the entire film for £10,000. Over the next two years, he shot over 200,000 feet of film for a 74-minute documentary, oftentimes filming the same event time after time. As Flaherty says, "our films are made with film and time, I need lots of both." Balcon eventually called a halt to filming as the costs approached £40,000.