Night Mail (1936)

Directors:

Harry Watt
Basil Wright

Writer:

W.H. Auden (writer)

Genre:

Short | Documentary

Plot:

Shows the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland overnight. |

Cast

John Grierson	...	Commentary
Stuart Legg	...	Commentary

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U

Filming Locations:

Euston Station, Somers Town, London, England, UK

Company:

GPO (General Post Office) Film Unit

Trivia:

The sound recordists equipment was unable to record a realistic sound of the mail train clattering over the joints in the track during the "two bridges and 45 beats" trackside mailbag collection sequence. Eventually they resorted to recording the sound of a model train being pushed back and forth over joints in a model railway track in time to the film of the man on the train counting the beats.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The 50 Greatest Documentaries (2005) (TV)

an excellent film well worth seeing

Anyone interested in Auden's poetry will find this film well worth seeing. Benjamin Britten, with whom Auden was romantically involved at the time, wrote the music. In order to sync words and music, much of Auden's original text had to be excised.