Night Mail

1936

Action / Documentary

3
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 67%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 67% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 1550 1.6K

scotland train mail mail train

Plot summary

This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow.

Director

Harry Watt Photo
Harry Watt

Top cast

John Grierson Photo
John Grierson as Commentary
Arthur Clark Photo
Arthur Clark as Engineer
Stuart Legg Photo
Stuart Legg as Commentary
Robert Rae Photo
Robert Rae as Senior Driver - LMS Railway
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
214.76 MB
960*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
12 hr 23 min
Seeds 1
398.73 MB
1440*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
12 hr 23 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by SnoopyStyle 7 / 10

expertly filmed

This is a British documentary short about the mail being delivered by the train. It follows the mail from being received and snatched up by the trains. It shows the system as an efficient method manned by hard working people. I don't think that I've ever actually seen someone hangs the mail bags which gets snatched by the train. It's interesting to see these trains close up. It is expertly filmed. The workers are probably not actors which limits any performance. It is still a fascinating time capsule especially for any train lovers.
Reviewed by Bunuel1976 7 / 10

NIGHT MAIL {Short} (Harry Watt & Basil Wright, 1936) ***

Unlike the WAR COMES TO America (1945) entry in the WHY WE FIGHT documentary series, this famed British effort in a comparable – if longer-running and, decidedly, less enthusing – cycle of "Transport" films has not stood well the test of time. I was even tempted to shave off another half-a-star to its rating, but I guess – much like a normal movie – one needs to assess such items within the context of the time in which they were made. In its case, too, one has to consider what it was attempting to do – both narratively (a depiction of the train service, often dependent on split-second timing, run at night by the Post Office throughout the United Kingdom) and technically (still, though much has been said of its adherence to the celebrated montage – generally frantic and frequently symbolic – typified by classic Soviet cinema, this is only intermittently evident here!). However, the justifiably lauded finale – edited to the rhythm of a W.H. Auden poem – remains exhilarating to watch. For what it is worth, a certain amount of nostalgia played into this viewing – not only because we are basically watching a way-of-life that is fast approaching extinction (in the face of the technological wonders of our age), but due to the fact that my father used to work as a postman and, as a kid, I spent a good many Summer's day both at his office and on the road, observing and even helping out in the daily distribution of the local and international mail!
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