Thursday 18 December 2008

"Love Letters and Live Wires"

"Love Letters and Live Wires" is the rather corny title of a documentary film by the British Film Institute featuring highlights from the GPO Film Unit output in the period 1936 to 1939.

My friends Marion and Jim took me to a showing at the 'Lighthouse' cinema in Wolverhampton. Although some of the features are rather dated now, the variety of the output is impressive and the insight into the development of documentary film technique is interesting. Perhaps the best-known film shown was the 1936 'Night Mail', famous for the poem by W. H. Auden. There's a clip on 'You Tube' which is linked below.

The excellent technical quality of these black and white films is apparent when they're projected onto a cinema screen - the effect is diminished on the small screen.

For more information, see the BFI site.