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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful
The screening the above reviewer refers to was indeed priceless but the films in that show were from a few years later and will no doubt appear in a future collection - so if you're looking for "Night Mail", this isn't the one to get though it is currently avalaible on the "Night Mail" DVD. This DVD features:
The Coming of the Dial (Stuart Legg 1933), Cable Ship (Alexander Shaw, Stuart Legg 1933), Granton Trawler (John Grierson 1934), John Atkins Saves Up (Arthur Elton 1934), Air Post (Geoffrey Clark 1934), The Glorious Sixth of June (Alberto Cavalcanti 1934), Pett and Pott (Alberto Cavalcanti 1934), 6.30 Collection (Harry Watt, Edgar Anstey 1934), Weather Forecast (Evelyn Spice 1934), Song of Ceylon (Basil Wright 1934), A Colour Box (Len Lye 1935), Coal Face (Alberto Cavalcanti 1935), The King's Stamp (William Coldstream 1935), BBC: The Voice of Britain (Stuart Leg 1935) Sixpenny Telegram (Donald Taylor 1935)
The only one of these films I can comment on is Len Lye's "Colour Box", a psychedelic piece of abstract animation set to Cuban music; well ahead of its time. I'd love to see a Len Lye collection released. If the screening is anything to go by, these films will also be fascinating pieces of "Anglicana" for anyone interested in film history or social history in general.
The Coming of the Dial (Stuart Legg 1933), Cable Ship (Alexander Shaw, Stuart Legg 1933), Granton Trawler (John Grierson 1934), John Atkins Saves Up (Arthur Elton 1934), Air Post (Geoffrey Clark 1934), The Glorious Sixth of June (Alberto Cavalcanti 1934), Pett and Pott (Alberto Cavalcanti 1934), 6.30 Collection (Harry Watt, Edgar Anstey 1934), Weather Forecast (Evelyn Spice 1934), Song of Ceylon (Basil Wright 1934), A Colour Box (Len Lye 1935), Coal Face (Alberto Cavalcanti 1935), The King's Stamp (William Coldstream 1935), BBC: The Voice of Britain (Stuart Leg 1935) Sixpenny Telegram (Donald Taylor 1935)
The only one of these films I can comment on is Len Lye's "Colour Box", a psychedelic piece of abstract animation set to Cuban music; well ahead of its time. I'd love to see a Len Lye collection released. If the screening is anything to go by, these films will also be fascinating pieces of "Anglicana" for anyone interested in film history or social history in general.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
The kind of talent which went into making these films--mostly brief, some only a few minutes long--would probably nowadays be making movies, and not the shoddy, patronising nonsense we're bombarded with nowadays when people try to sell us stuff. And indeed some of those involved, leaving aside those documentary geniuses Basil Wright and John Grierson, did go on to careers in film, such as Alberto Cavalcanti; what's more, one of those writing music for these adverts and information shorts was a young Benjamin Britten, and the painter/photographer Moholy-Nagy contributed a marvellous sequence to The Coming of the Dial.
There are more or less "straight" documentaries, such as 6.30 Collection or Weather Forecast (directed, for once, by a woman, Evelyn Spice, a journalist by training who eventually went on to have a career with the National Film Board of Canada); their originality is now hard to appreciate simply because the techniques pioneered here have become standard, but they show us, in however refracted and indirect a form, something of a Britain now vanished, and the ways in which these films present what were once technological marvels together with their impact on society, or the benefits of saving to the working and lower middle classes, are lessons in clarity and emotional engagement combined. The inventiveness and joie de vivre of Len Lye's short Colour Box are still remarkable, and the romantic silliness of John Atkins Saves Up and of the tongue-in-cheek morality tale Pett and Pott is delightful. My absolute favourite is Sixpenny Telegram, a wonderfully youthful, joyful hymn (with Britten's music) to a now-vanished symbol of modernity, convenience and speed. The only "miss" for me was Basil Wright's Song of Ceylon, the longest film, which I found boring and artificial. But the rest, including the two extras--especially the dully-titled GPO Film Display Trailer, which is actually an absolute gem--and the accompanying booklet, are more than worth the price of this excellent collection. More of these 30's films ought to be made available.
There are more or less "straight" documentaries, such as 6.30 Collection or Weather Forecast (directed, for once, by a woman, Evelyn Spice, a journalist by training who eventually went on to have a career with the National Film Board of Canada); their originality is now hard to appreciate simply because the techniques pioneered here have become standard, but they show us, in however refracted and indirect a form, something of a Britain now vanished, and the ways in which these films present what were once technological marvels together with their impact on society, or the benefits of saving to the working and lower middle classes, are lessons in clarity and emotional engagement combined. The inventiveness and joie de vivre of Len Lye's short Colour Box are still remarkable, and the romantic silliness of John Atkins Saves Up and of the tongue-in-cheek morality tale Pett and Pott is delightful. My absolute favourite is Sixpenny Telegram, a wonderfully youthful, joyful hymn (with Britten's music) to a now-vanished symbol of modernity, convenience and speed. The only "miss" for me was Basil Wright's Song of Ceylon, the longest film, which I found boring and artificial. But the rest, including the two extras--especially the dully-titled GPO Film Display Trailer, which is actually an absolute gem--and the accompanying booklet, are more than worth the price of this excellent collection. More of these 30's films ought to be made available.
43 of 47 people found the following review helpful
I haven't actually seen this whole collection, although I saw a selection at a recent screening called Love Letters and Live Wires. If the screening is anything to go by then this collection will contain a whole host of gems.
These films, which vary in length from a few minutes to the near-half-hour of the legendary Night Mail, were produced by the General Post Office's film unit as information films to enlighten the Great British public about the need to address envelopes properly and how to use the new fangled contraption called the telephone. However, they go far beyond their remit and are innovative little dramas and entertainments in their own right, ranging from love stories, animation and musical comedy (in the peerless Fairy of the Phone).
Even the strictly informational films, such as one about laying a new cable in Oxfordshire, offer a unique window into a bygone age where men digging holes in the road wore collars and ties and the sun always seemed to be shining. Oh, and the lack of cars on the road is worth a look (if that makes sense!).
This is a collection with loads to recommend it; it's innovative, charming and a precious historical document. A good Christmas or birthday present for a grandparent, or, indeed, anyone with an interest in social history or film.
These films, which vary in length from a few minutes to the near-half-hour of the legendary Night Mail, were produced by the General Post Office's film unit as information films to enlighten the Great British public about the need to address envelopes properly and how to use the new fangled contraption called the telephone. However, they go far beyond their remit and are innovative little dramas and entertainments in their own right, ranging from love stories, animation and musical comedy (in the peerless Fairy of the Phone).
Even the strictly informational films, such as one about laying a new cable in Oxfordshire, offer a unique window into a bygone age where men digging holes in the road wore collars and ties and the sun always seemed to be shining. Oh, and the lack of cars on the road is worth a look (if that makes sense!).
This is a collection with loads to recommend it; it's innovative, charming and a precious historical document. A good Christmas or birthday present for a grandparent, or, indeed, anyone with an interest in social history or film.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Thrilled
Wonderful, lovely to be able to escape to days from long ago. Always wanted a copy of the GPO films after seeing them on daytime TV.
Published 3 months ago by Debbiedo
GPO Volume 1
Another compilation of old nostalgic 1930's documentaries and worth while just to see the old cars, the empty roads, the calm pace of life. Ah! those were the days.
Published 11 months ago by Mr. Geoffrey Brown
A fascinating BFI collection
This diverse collection of fifteen documentary/docu-dramas were made by the GPO film unit from 1933-35, with running times ranging from 4 to 56 minutes, and covers mostly the post,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Alan James
The GPO Film Unit Collection Vol 1
I purchased all three volumes of the GPO Film Unit Collection, a total running time of eleven and a half hours. Read more
Published on 9 May 2010 by George Hart
Addressing The Nation
Found this fascinating, you post a letter and don't see the inner workings of the postal system and it's developments. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2009 by Stephen Pashley
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