This film is part of Free

Night Mail
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.
Documentary 1936 24 mins
Overview
The flagship of the GPO Film Unit's output and a cornerstone of British documentary. Harry Watt and Basil Wright's study of the down postal express stands as a beacon for John Grierson's original purpose for documentary - to make the working man the hero of the screen. A truly collaborative effort, a coming together of many great names and those immortal lines from W.H. Auden.
There were many contributors in its two-and-a-half year conception. It is ironic that, despite the shared credit of Watt and Wright, it is the partnership of W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten that steals the limelight for this film. Almost an afterthought, developed as a way of finishing a narrative that had reached an anti-climax, it was Basil Wright that had suggested some verse to draw the film to a close. Night Mail is also available on BFI DVD. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.

Subjects
Accessibility
Related
Most Popular Free 2020

A-tish-oo A-tish-oo
Public Information Filler 1941 6 mins
The face mask comes of age in this intriguing wartime guide to germ prevention.

Grove Carnival Grove Carnival
Documentary 1981 18 mins Location: Notting Hill
West London echoes to the sound of reggae and steel pans in this kaleidoscopic record of the 1980 Notting Hill Carnival.

Caribbean Restaurant Caribbean Restaurant
Magazine and Review show 1986 7 mins Location: West Bromwich
Bringing the tastes of Montego Bay to a wintry West Bromwich.

Quarantine Quarantine
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2018 13 mins
A post-Brexit pagan dance fantasy about a troupe of Morris-dancing badgers forced to confront the animals quarantined in a facility built above their burrow.

In One End In One End
Documentary 1977 28 mins Location: Southwold
Real ale and folk music in the pub – performed by Fairport Convention – are celebrated in this portrait of Southwold on the Suffolk coast and the work of the Adnams brewery.

These Are the Hands These Are the Hands
Charity appeal 2020 2 mins
Beautiful NHS fundraiser, setting Michael Rosen’s poem to powerful archive images.
Euston Sta

Playing the Environment Game Playing the Environment Game
Documentary 1973 29 mins Location: Euston Sta
In Covent Garden, Notting Hill and Tolmers Square in London, campaigners challenge property developers' plans

Mid Wales Express and Sir Haydn Mid Wales Express and Sir Haydn
Home movie 1984 7 mins Silent Location: Bitterne
The Mid Wales Express is on tour with star attraction ‘Sir Haydn’, a Talyllyn Railway locomotive, the aim being to promote Wales as an ideal location for industry and tourism.

Journey on the Coronation Scot Journey on the Coronation Scot
Amateur film 1937 12 mins Silent Location: Euston Sta
Princess Alice' hauls her passengers to Scotland aboard the streamlined Coronation Scot in this dazzling film from the late 1930s
New

How to Die Young in Manila How to Die Young in Manila
Drama 2020 12 mins
A teenage boy trails a group of young hustlers, thinking one of them may be his anonymous hook-up for the night.

The Summer of 12 The Summer of 12
Drama 2019 25 mins
Amongst the young members of a swimming team, the onset of puberty brings unwanted challenges.

Melt Melt
Drama 2018 12 mins
When Little Jia is asked to read his essay about how he spent Women's Day with his mother out loud in class, he has to hide the sad truth that only his friend Dong knows.

Langit Budak Biru Langit Budak Biru
Drama 2018 23 mins
Two teenage boys in a Malaysian boarding school wrestle with the challenges of bullying and identity.

Kiss of the Rabbit God Kiss of the Rabbit God
Fantasy 2019 15 mins
A Chinese-American restaurant worker falls in love with an 18th century Qing dynasty god, who visits him at night and leads him on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery.

Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall
Drama 2020 30 mins
A transgender sex worker is assigned an undercover mission to investigate a student activist.