Next month, the Barbican will be screening a series of British Transport Films featuring a range of views of 1950s Britain, accompanied by hybrid electronic and orchestral music.
In these films, shown silently with no narration, impressions of life in British industrial valleys and towns are shown alongside bucolic scenery and holiday destinations throughout the UK.
Embarking on a journey through 1950s Britain, follow the testing of a shiny new Blue Pullman train (said to be the ‘businessman’s train’ at the time) and explore new train signalling methods and mechanised track-laying. You’ll then journey through a great variety of scenery and history in Wales and Northumberland and even venture under the sea, in an Oscar-nominated short film about the colourful marine life of coastal Southwest England.
The films being featured are:
- A Future on Rail (1957, 9 min)
- Any Man’s Kingdom (1956, 21 min)
- Every Valley (1957, 20 min)
- Between the Tides (1958, 21 min)
- Blue Pullman (1960, 24 min)
These short films about the British landscape and transport will be accompanied by live music written by composers and musicians of the Guildhall’s Electronic Music Studio featuring a hybrid of electronic and orchestral music.
Tickets cost – adults £13.10, concessions £11.60, children £6.60 and can be booked here from 10am tomorrow morning (Thursday 8th July).
If you cannot make it to these shows there is a stock of free-to-watch films on the BFI site here:–
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free