In 1936 Scottish director John Grierson, released his now acclaimed documentary film "Night Mail". The film was produced by the British GPO film unit and featured the now famous poem by W.H.Auden, and musical setting by Benjamin Britten.
(John Grierson)
Grierson was born in Scotland to liberal parents with christian values, that taught him that education and hard work were important. After his education he became a film critic for the New York Sun under the name "moviegoer". And in 1926 wrote a review of Robert Flaherty's "Moana", in which he coined the word documentary defining it as "the creative treatment of actuality". Grierson was influenced by Flaherty's skill of bringing alive every day events and ordinary people's lives.
Grierson lived through times of social upheaval, when democracy was under threat by extremism (e.g. WWI, October revolution & The Great Depression). Through his work as a critic and exposure to the work of Flaherty, he realized that film could be used for social, political and educational reasons.
His inspiration came form the soviet way of film making and in particular the use of "Russian montage" that was actually first used in French films, by the director Abel Gance (Napoleon, J'accuse) and was later developed further in Russia by famous filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin, October), Alexander Dovzhenko (Arsenal, Earth) and Dziga Vertov (Kino-Eye, Man With A Movie Camera). It was these methods of film making that Grierson used, for when he worked for the GPO.
(Robert Flaherty)
(Abel Gance)
(Sergei Eisenstein)
(Alexander Dovzhenko)
(Dziga Vertov)
Grierson approached film making by showing the lives of ordinary people. For example two films he made where about Scottish fishermen ("Drifters" and "Granton Trawler"). In 1935 he made a documentary on Yorkshire miners and the dangers they faced called "Coal Face". It was on this film that he first collaborated with W.H.Auden. and Benjamin Britten.
(W.H.Auden.)
(Benjamin Britten)
"Night Mail" was a film commissioned by the General Post Office and was organised by Grierson. The task was to produce a film, showing how the post office was involved in modern communication. The aim was to educate a post depression population and boost morale of the postal workers. For this film he worked again with Auden and Britten. The film covered the journey made by the "Overnight Postal Special" train, that traveled from London via Crewe to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. And informs the audience of the process in which the mail was collected, sorted and distributed to the various regions along the way. The film features real postal workers in (mostly) real time doing there job. It also show's the careful coordination that went into system, for it to function efficiently. For example there is a scene in which the train is held up for four minutes, to make way for another train that is running late.
When the film was being made most diegetic sound's, in addition to the non-diegetic score and narration had to dubbed onto the film in post production, due the lack of sound equipment for filming on location. One way the film makers got around the issue of lip-syncing, was not to show peoples mouths when they spoke (e.g. when talking on a phone).
(this approach solved sound syncing issues.)
W.H.Auden wrote a poem to be spoken on the film by the narrator and was set to music by Benjamin Britten. the rythem of the music and the poem mirrored the trains rapid movement in addition to the fast pace "Russian montage" style of editing. At the time most audience members would at least have traveled on a steam train once. So therefore the music echoed, the familiar sounds of such trains. I personally think that the film works brilliantly, with such sound both used and added in this way.
Grierson had to compromise on the shots of the trains interior, that had to be filmed in a studio due to technicalities regarding lighting. However the issue was partly solved, by having genuine postal workers recreate there routines in the studio. All other aspects where real. The picking up and dropping of mail bags, was portrayed in an educational way, whilst showing the potential dangers of such an activity, happening at high speed.
The narration consisted of facts, figures and background information. The accent of the voice over changed from English to Scottish, when the train arrived in Glasgow to suit the change of regions. This compare similarly to the accents of the postal workers, that also changed through out the film.
For me the main criticism I would give, is that the film had very jerky aerial shots, at the start. That where slightly off putting.
In conclusion I personally think that Grierson and his team met the criteria that the GPO had set them. On the other hand, the critics at the time only gave it a warm reception. However the enduring nature of this twenty minute film, stands as a shining example of early documentary films.
(Link to film: https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-night-mail-1936-online)
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