 |
|||
 |
Empty
|
 |
 |
 |
|||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
British Transport Films Collection (Vol 2): See Britain by Train
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Our DVD Price: £15.99 RRP: 
Availability In Stock - should be despatched within 24 hours. This product will be dispatched from Guernsey. Delivery times
Earn 75 Bonus Points when you buy this product. More info |
Film Description
Following the great success of the first volume, here's a second collection of classic British Transport Films from their golden age. It may be an obvious point, but by their very nature, transport films covered a lot of ground. From London to Scotland, from East Anglia to Wales and from the West Country to Blackpool, they now provide an invaluable record of life, customs, and of course, transport throughout the regions of Britain in the 1950s & 60s. Of immense value as social history, some are also works of art. Features West Country Journey (1953), Letter for Wales (1960), Cyclists' Special (1955), Holiday (1957), Heart is Highland (1952), Any Man's Kingdom (1956), Glasgow Belongs to Me (1966), England of Elizabeth (1957), Capital Visit (1955), Heart of England (1954), East Anglian Holiday (1954), Coasts of Clyde (1959).
Film Information
| Director | Various / Documentary | ||||
| Genre | Documentary
|
||||
| Country | UK | Language | ENGLISH | Year | 1951-80 |
DVD Extras
2 discs.
Technical Details
| Certificate | E | Length | 249 mins | Label | BFI | ||
| Cat No | BFIVD715 | Format | DVD | Colour | |||
| Region | 2 | Aspect | 1.33:1 | ||||
Share your thoughts and opinions - write a review
Review by Barry Forshaw on 16th December 2005
Like many great English composers, Vaughan Williams was tempted into doing splendid work for the cinema by the indefatigable Muir Mathieson, who reassured RVW that the tedious business of actually fitting the music to the frames of film would be handled by him and his associates. Scott of the Antarctic, is, of course, the best known of his glorious scores, but some of his finest work was done in the inventive, exquisite score he wrote for the documentary The England of Elizabeth in 1957. The piece has been recorded by Andre Previn, and (more recently) in a more extended form by Rumon Gamba, but the opportunities to hear the music in situ (as it were) have been rare, despite the occasional TV showing. So Volume Two of the BFI’s See Britain by Train series is to be welcomed, for yoking in (however tenuously) an excellent transfer of John Taylor's half-hour film. In this restoration, it looks glorious, with glowing, lambent colours, and crisp, well-defined mono sound that does justice to RVW’s lively trumpet fanfares. The rest of the score fares less well, but that's down to Taylor's use of the music, ruthless suppressing it by abrupt volume dips whenever Alec Clunes' pedestrian narration kicks in – but this is, of course, due to the exigencies of documentary style of the day, where music was very much a secondary adjunct. Looked at today, when Vaughan Williams’ score has become the most important aspect of this workaday film, it’s impossible not to lament the fact that the filmmakers didn’t realise that the one element of the piece that would survive -- the music -- couldn’t have been showcased with more sensitivity. Ironically, another film in the collection, the groundbreaking Holiday, also 1957 (with its panorama of British seaside days out), does just that, foregrounding Chris Barber’s lively jazz score & eschewing commentary. But, caveats aside, Vaughan Williams aficionados – with realistic expectations – need not hesitate.
View more reviews by Barry Forshaw
Article - "British Transport Films Vol 3"
by Graeme Hobbs
Monday 1st May 2006
This third collection of British Transport Films from the bfi presents another fourteen diverse films that reinforce the message that they really are a jewel in Britain’s film heritage. No matter that they may have begun life as training and instructional films, or a... View article in full
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
Hand-picked recommendations of related films
|
Wonderful viewing for train buffs, film fans, social historians, and anyone with an interest in the beauty of th... More > |
|
Geoffrey Jones: The Rhythm of Film Dir: Geoffrey Jones Since the 1950s, Geoffrey Jones has been making films that look, sound and feel like nothing else. With his extr... More > |
|
British Transport Films Collection (Vol 1): On and Off the Rails A 2-disc collection of some of the very best British Transport films from the archives. A must for transport ent... More > |
This film is part of the following Film Collections
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.
This film is part of the following Customer Film Lists
MovieMail Top 100 Best-Sellers of All-Time by MovieMail
This is your list: the 100 films you've bought the most of in the 10 years of MovieMail's existence. There are some surprise entries and some glaring omissions – but it’s all true, and, frankly, you’ve got very good taste! It’s such a good list that we're going to make it a permanent fixture on our website and to celebrate the launch we’ve slashed many of the prices on these wonderful films. Enjoy!
The Telegraph Readers Offers by MovieMail
The latest DVD Readers Offers from Telegraph Film.
Recommendations from fellow customers
British Transport Films Collection (Vol 1): On and Off the Rails
British Transport Films Collection (Vol 3): Running a Railway
by Various
British Transport Films Collection (Vol 4): Reshaping British Railways
British Transport Films Collection (Vol 6): The Art of Travel
Land of Promise: The British Documentary Movement 1930-1950
More films directed by Various / Documentary
Holocaust - Concentration Camps - Dachau And Sachsenhausen
Spacecraft: Apollo 8 - Leaving The Cradle
The Simon Wiesenthal Collection 8 DVD Box Set
| Special Offers | ||||||||||||||||
|
More Great Offers
|
| BestSellers | ||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
| Recommended by MovieMail | ||||||||||
|
A curated collection of the best DVDs
Latest Additions
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
| Just Released |
|
Wagonmaster Eyes Without a Face Pink String and Sealing Wax All That Heaven Allows Skins (Series 2) |
| Coming Soon |
|
Radio On Around the World in 80 Treasures Rembrandt Closing the Ring Before the Devil Knows Youre Dead |
|
||
| Home | Film Catalogue | New Releases | Special Offers | Top 30 | ||
|
||
| Film Collections | Film Media | News | Your Account | Help | Become a MovieMail affiliate | ||
|
||
For questions or assistance, call us on (+44) 0844 776 0900 or email on enquiries@moviemail-online.co.uk © 2004-2007 MovieMail, Ltd., All Rights Reserved. Find out more about MovieMail |
||
|
