NIGHT MAIL (1936) - ♦♦♦♦

Directed by - Harry Watt, Basil Wright

 

"It might be hard to understand for a modern audience that mail, and particularly night mail, represented a pinnacle of modern technological advancement in the late thirties. So much so that at this time, particularly in Britain, there are many examples of mail and cinema criss crossing in several productions, most of which experimental and avant garde in nature.

 
The ultimae fulfilment of this collaboration of sorts can be pinpointed through John Grierson's British GPO Film Unit. Grierson himself is regarded as the father of documentary, even somewhat credited for the popularization of the term for this particular form of filmmaking. And as such, Night Mail is regarded as perhaps the most important work commissioned by Grierson, following precise guidelines and making use of a round up of techniques to achieve a natural flow to the film that, whilst unavoiding academic overtones, still retains the rush of the real-time pace and carries a photographic meticulousness that set notable standards for the works to come.
 
Night Mail, directed by Harry Watts, is hence the full and complete realisation of the documentary format and a round up of what this form of filmmaking had achieved at the time. Utilising such techniques as re-enactment, voice of god narration and even a downright riveting poetic - some might even say rap-like - ending. Its editing and photographic meticulousness is superb. This was a film that was made for educational purposes, and there is no denying that, but it managed to elevate the standards of factual filmmaking, and its legacy inevitably lives on to this day."

 

Documentary, UK