Geoffrey Jones: The Rhythm of Film

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Film Description

Since the 1950s, Geoffrey Jones has been making films that look, sound and feel like nothing else. With his extraordinary marriage of images, music and rhythm, he ranks alongside Len Lye and Norman McLaren as one of the true film artists. The collection includes a mixture of British Transport Films, industrial shorts and personal works. Features: Snow, Rail, Locomotion, Trinidad and Tobago, Shell Spirit, This Is Shell, Seasons Project, Chair-a-Plane Kwela and Chair-a-Plane Flamenco.

Film Information

DVD Extras

Filmed interview with Geoffrey Jones who describes his career and working methods (31 mins); Illustrated booklet with background information.

Technical Details

Film Media

3 Stills

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Reviews & Articles

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Review by Graeme Hobbs on 7th June 2005

One of the most striking qualities of Geoffrey Jones's films is just how exhilarating they are - a strange word to use for British Transport Films and industrial shorts, but there you have it. The sharpness of the editing and the interaction of images and music, penetrating to the essence of what is shown, recall the excitement of Man with a Movie Camera. It's no surprise to find that Vertov is an influence.
The three standout films on the collection are Snow, Rail and Locomotion. Railways are a subject made for music - the power and movement of trains, the changing landscapes, the variety of people working and travelling, the passing views and encounters, and Jones exploits this capacity to the full. Snow shows the work of clearing tracks set to a phased reworking of Sandy Nelson’s ‘Teen Beat’; Rail, in which the music is perfectly at one with the camera movements - gliding when it glides, proclaiming when it glorifies, is a celebration of the railways past and present, while Locomotion gives the history of the railway against an accelerating rhythm. It's almost impossible to look away from the screen, such is its compelling nature - all the more surprising as most of the film's story is told through zooms and pans on prints and photographs.
Also available and recommended is the collection On and Off the Rails, a fascinating collection of railway films from the British Transport Film Unit, formed in 1949 to promote the virtues of the newly nationalised transport organisations. Including such favourites such as Snowdrift at Bleath Gill (1955) and Elizabethan Express (1954), the 14 films are of wide interest and provide an invaluable record of mid-20th century life in rural and urban Britain.

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Article - "Not all about trains! The wider world of British Transport Films" by Graeme Hobbs
Friday 13th July 2007

After discussing British Transport Films with colleagues recently, I was struck by their general opinion that they must be all about trains. Many of them of course are – British Railways was BTF's biggest customer from the early 1950s to the time of the Unit's closur...  View article in full

Article - "Night Mails" by Graeme Hobbs
Friday 8th February 2008

One of the most famous productions of British documentary film, Night Mail, was recently treated to a restoration which has been released on dvd by the bfi in a comprehensive and pleasing package which also features four associated films which provide a stimul...  View article in full

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Collections & Lists

This film is part of the following Film Collections

British Transport Films

Including: All That Mighty Heart, British Buses - The Golden Years, British Transport Films Collection (Vol 1): On and Off the Rails, British Transport Films Collection (Vol 2): See Britain by Train, British Transport Films Collection (Vol 3): Running a Railway, British Transport Films Collection (Vol 4): Reshaping British Railways, Farewell To The Routemaster - The Last Days Of The Famous London Bus, Fred Dibnahs World Of Steel, Steam And Stone Part 1 & 2, Geoffrey Jones: The Rhythm of Film, Metro-Land.

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This film is part of the following Customer Film Lists

Top Documentary Shorts - a look at Britain on film by Lester May

Little gems deserving a bigger audience. There is a wide variety of great documentary films now released on DVD. Many of them will help to complete the picture in your family history and in some of them, some lucky people will actually see their ancestor on film! These films are excellent examples of the art of documentary film making and give a fascinating view of our islands in peace and in war, at work and at play. There are some real gems too, so surprise yourself and dip into these wonderful films about aspects of our island life.

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