Night Mail - (1936) - Part 1

"Night Mail is a 1936 documentary film about a London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) mail train from London to Scotland, produced by the GPO Film Unit. A poem by English poet W. H. Auden was specially written for it, as was music by Benjamin Britten.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Night
• Mail
• LMS
• Auden
• Benjamin
• Britten
• Train

[AcridPeter]

Brilliant! I was trying to track this down for my PhD about Auden. You wouldn't have 'Coal Face' or 'The Mine,' would you?

[st3v3nd0wd]

Sorry, I don't have them.

Steven

[LNER4771]

The engine in this film is still around on a heritage railway somewhere.

[eatmypies]

brilliant what would we do without people like you cheers mate

[mimosa17]

I was born in Crewe, where I lived until 1968. I was a booming town even then...but it's a sad shadow of its former self now. We used to spot trains from Rope Lane bridge. 'What about the Alex?' is a reference to the local soccer team Crewe Alexandra.

[campainr]

4:16. Doesn't sound like a Stanier hooter to me!

[peregrinusnoctis]

No one documented (using moving pictures, anyway) everyday life during the first half of the 20th-Century quite like the Brits.  This is most artful, in its artlessness! No pretentions--just documentation. That was when cinematographers were artistes, and were technical adepts. Look at the contrast between skies and clouds--such filtering!

I'd like to know just how much of this was shot MOS (with sounds added during the production process), and how much was shot with sound.

[480spartan]

i was on the sw tpo  from 1978 to 1986,many years after the 1936 nightmail.the professionalism of the travellers,as we knew ourselves,was still the same as the 1936 men.the spirit of adventure and teamwork was magnificent .its a period i am proud to have been involved in

[480spartan]

i was on the swtpo from 1978 to 1986.even tho this was years after the nightmail vidio i can say that the spirit of the men on our tpo was the same as the men in 1936 .a wonderful way of life and such good natured workmates with amazing professionalism rock onall the tpo men

[baird9962]

This is the Britain i wish i was born into, in stead of this shot hole we live in today, the country as it was then had to better than today, people are unhappy nowadays because society has become detached and nobody feels like they belong, political classes are to blame, respect for each other has gone together with a caring attitude to our neighbours and family, dog eat dog is no way to live.

[mohammadhananshah]

thanks for sharing this video

[GRAHAMAUS]

Afraid not. Steam trains are terribly inefficient and run on fossil fuel - coal. The future is electric (or stone-age!) - at least we can get that from solar/wind, etc.