This film is part of Free
9 Dalmuir West
Kevin Brownlow’s atmospheric homage to Glasgow’s tram system follows the last tram to run in September 1962.
Overview
Kevin Brownlow’s portrait of the last days of Glasgow’s tram system centres on the last tram to run in 1962, accentuating the mood of the final journey by contrasting shots of the event to the funky sounds of Joe Meek and The Tornados’ Telstar, a symbol of the modern world to which the tram no longer belongs.
As with his feature Winstanley, Brownlow tempers the elegiac qualities of the film with brutal reality. There is no nostalgia in this portrait. Regret at the passing of this form of transport is balanced by the description of the city it served: a harsh, poverty-stricken environment in which a tram was one of the more available pleasures.
Related
Glasgow Student Rag Glasgow Student Rag
Amateur film 1968 6 mins Silent Location: Glasgow
Get your freak on with the students at Glasgow’s RAG Weeks in the 1960s.
Progress Report II Progress Report II
Public Information Filler 1948 10 mins Location: Glasgow
Two steps forward, one step back as Glasgow’s housing schemes sees residents go from tenement, to prefab, to pebbledashed concrete cottages
Our Public Parks Our Public Parks
1947 20 mins Silent Location: Glasgow
A tour of Glasgow's green spaces
Glasgow Territorials Glasgow Territorials
Non-Fiction 1927 1 mins Location: Glasgow
It's a wet and gloomy day in Glasgow and the locals are out in force for the annual Territorials' Church Parade.
Night Mail Night Mail
Documentary 1936 24 mins Location: Euston Sta
The flagship of the GPO Film Unit's output and a cornerstone of British documentary, featuring music by Benjamin Britten and the verse of W.H. Auden.
Heavy Industries Heavy Industries
School programme and Educational film 1936 7 mins Location: Glasgow
Splendour and grace - steel and ships made in Glasgow
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A
Inside Film 2024 22 mins
The director of a documentary about British funk pioneers Cymande joins the band at BFI Southbank to talk about the film.
The West Case The West Case
Action and Adventure 1923 28 mins Silent Location: Tilbury
Plotting world domination, Devil Doctor Fu-Manchu steals plans for a new aero-torpedo in this earliest surviving thrill-a-minute serial instalment.
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Blades Blades
Drama 2023 2 mins
A group of young Black boys run into a building. One of them is about to do the unimaginable.
We Collide We Collide
Romance 2023 2 mins
A queercore romance - a visceral and immersive exploration of the power of the mosh pit and finding love in the most unlikely of places.
Smith Smith
Charity appeal 1939 10 mins
Long thought lost, this Powell-directed promotional short for a veteran’s charity was only rediscovered in 2003.