Night Mail - (1936) - Part 3

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. (The pair also collaborated on a rail-documentary on the line from London to Portsmouth, The Way to the Sea, also in 1936.) The film was directed by Harry Watt and Basil Wright, and narrated by John Grierson and Stuart Legg. The Brazilian filmmaker Alberto Cavalcanti was the sound director.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

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

[shubus]

What Britten does with such a small instrumental ensemble is absolutely amazing. One of the regrettably few Britten-Auden collaborations.

[rvaughanwilliams1988]

the more I watch this, the more I realize it's kind of amazing

[roadragecafe]

The 1936 british train wrap at 3:16 is awesome.

[bayougrande]

This was incredible. Thank you so much for posting.

[mrmts]

So much for mailing glassware and presents :P

[skube]

This what I have been dreaming about for fast-food drive thru service.

[TheSteamdriver]

@danlefou I belive it was a royal scot for the 1st part and a half they then swap engines and a black five backs down on to the train for the next part and a half

[granskare]

a superb film..I had an friend who worked like this, we called it rpo, railway post office...many collect letters with such postmarks...I was a letter carrier for nearly 2 years when the extreme cold made me think of uni lol:)

it will be nice when the colouring process is improved.  thanks for a great series :)

[mkposhfan]

my father used to work on the night sorting shift - this brings back memories

[cyfrin01]

I loved that