Night Mail

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Movie
Original title Night Mail
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1936
length 24 minutes
Rod
Director Harry Watt , Basil Wright
script Basil Wright
production Basil Wright, Harry Watt
music Benjamin Britten
camera Chick Fowle
Jonah Jones
cut Basil Wright
Alberto Cavalcanti

Night Mail is a short British documentary film by Harry Watt and Basil Wright from 1936. Because of its combination of realism and cinematic aesthetics, it is considered a total work of art consisting of image and sound as well as the music and a poem specially composed for the film.

content

The film shows the journey of the night train of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway from London to Glasgow , Edinburgh and Aberdeen . It leaves London at 8:30 p.m. and has 40 postal workers. The workflow of the mail distribution is shown. At a railroad crossing, trains from western and southwestern parts of the country take over mail bags for the north. The sorting then takes place on the train.

A main focus is on the modern technology of the train. On the route, mail is unloaded and further mail is collected at various stations while the train is moving by means of mechanical devices in the form of safety nets. In the morning the train arrives in Scotland .

background

Night Mail was produced by the General Post Office's film department ( GPO Film Unit ). The English poet WH Auden wrote the poem “Night Mail” and the composer Benjamin Britten wrote music for the almost 24-minute short film . The poem spoken by Pat Jackson towards the end of the film while driving through the Scottish hill country is recited in the monotonous rhythm of a moving train and increases from slow pace to fast narration and then ends at a calm pace. Aude's verses and Britten's music are laid over a montage of images made up of train wheels, tracks and fleeing animals. Alberto Cavalcanti , who as a sound engineer was responsible for the use and design of the sound, also edited the film together with Basil Wright.

Night Mail was one of the greatest critical hits among the works of the British documentary movement and was also commercially successful. Its notoriety led to it being used as an inspiration for a British railroad advertisement as late as the 1980s. For the 50th anniversary of the film, a remake was made with a poem by Blake Morrison .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ WH Audens poem Night Mail
  2. ↑ Britain's Railway commercial
  3. ↑ http://www.moviemail-online.co.uk/film/57509/Night-Mail-(Remastered-and-Restored)/

Web links