1936 documentary film directed by Harry Watt, Basil Wright
For other uses, see Night Mail (disambiguation).
Night Mail
Film poster designed by Pat Keely
Directed by
Harry Watt Basil Wright
Written by
W. H. Auden
Produced by
Harry Watt Basil Wright
Narrated by
Stuart Legg John Grierson
Edited by
Basil Wright
Music by
Benjamin Britten
Production company
GPO Film Unit
Distributed by
Associated British Film Distributors
Release date
4 February 1936 (1936-02-04)
(Premiere)
Running time
23 minutes
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Budget
£2,000
Night Mail is a 1936 British documentary film directed and produced by Harry Watt and Basil Wright, and produced by the General Post Office (GPO) Film Unit. The 24-minute film documents the nightly postal train operated by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) from London to Scotland and the staff who operate it. Narrated by John Grierson and Stuart Legg, the film ends with a "verse commentary"[1] written by W. H. Auden to a score composed by Benjamin Britten. The locomotive featured in the film is LMS Royal Scot Class 6115 Scots Guardsman.[2]
Night Mail premiered on 4 February 1936 at the Cambridge Arts Theatre in Cambridge, England in a launch programme for the venue. Its general release gained critical praise and became a classic of its own kind, much imitated by adverts and modern film shorts. Night Mail is widely considered a masterpiece of the British Documentary Film Movement.[3] A sequel was released in 1987, entitled Night Mail 2.
^"Verse commentary by W. H. Auden" is the standard phrase used by distributors of the film and by film historians; e.g. [1]
^"Flying Scotsman Announcement", Flying Scotsman Announcement, National Railway Museum, 16 March 2012, archived from the original on 3 March 2013, retrieved 25 February 2013
^McLane, Betsy (2012). A new history of documentary film. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 73–92. ISBN 9780826417510.
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