
Night Mail
★ 6.2 · 1936 · 25m · Documentary
This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow.
More Like This

Pitlochry Welcomes You
1958
Visit Pitlochry, a “busy, bustling town” in the heart of the Scottish Highlands featuring boozing stags, ladies lunching, tweed and whisky galore!
More info →
The Great Climb
2010
A spectacular live rock climb broadcast from the daunting overhanging cliff face at Sron Uladail on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. Dougie Vipond joins leading climbers, Dave MacLeod and Tim Emmett, as they attempt a first ascent of an extreme new route, which promises to stretch their physical endurance and skill to the limit. With absolutely no guarantee that they will be able to conquer the route, and the huge physical and technical challenges involved, this promises to be a unique and compelling live event. Leading Scottish hillwalker Cameron McNeish will also introduce features reflecting the cultural, linguistic and historic importance of the location on Harris and also on its outstanding natural history and landscape.
More info →
Blackpool, Harden and Grange-over-Sands
1968
A colourful miscellany of footage from both sides of the Pennines.
More info →
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes
1972 · ★ 6.4
At a morgue, forensic pathologists conduct autopsies of the corpses assigned. "S. Brakhage, entering, WITH HIS CAMERA, one of the forbidden, terrific locations of our culture, the autopsy room. It is a place wherein, inversely, life is cherished, for it exists to affirm that no one of us may die without our knowing exactly why. All of us, in the person of the coroner, must see that, for ourselves, with our own eyes. It is a room full of appalling particular intimacies, the last ditch of individuation. Here our vague nightmare of mortality acquires the names and faces of OTHERS. This last is a process that requires a WITNESS; and what 'idea' may finally have inserted itself into the sensible world we can still scarcely guess, for the CAMERA would seem the perfect Eidetic Witness, staring with perfect compassion where we can scarcely bear to glance." – Hollis Frampton
More info →
Engineering Tragedy: The Ashtabula Train Disaster
2022 · ★ 10
The Ashtabula train disaster and bridge collapse was the worst train disaster of the 19th century, claiming the lives of 97 people. The engineering and structural failures that caused the collapse of a bridge that stood for over a decade, also took down the most luxurious train of the day, “The Pacific Express #5.” The accident happened in Ashtabula, Ohio on December 29, 1876 during a raging blizzard, sending the luxury train crashing 70-feet into a river gorge and costing the lives of 97 people. The disaster shocked the nation, yet it’s a story that’s been lost in the pages of history. In a strange twist of fate and intrigue, the bridge disaster also became the backdrop to the still unsolved murder of Charles Collins, the railroad’s chief engineer. It also contributed to the eventual suicide of millionaire Amasa Stone, the president of the railroad and the designer and builder of the bridge.
More info →
Boat Leaving the Port
1895 · ★ 5.4
In very bad weather and a stormy sea, a small boat manned by two men is trying to leave the harbor of La Ciotat, while several people are watching them from the nearby pier.
More info →The Art of 'Making Up'
1900 · ★ 10
Kathryn Osterman, the well-known vaudeville comedienne, in a complete exposition of the methods of "making-up" the face for the stage. She shows the penciling of the eye-brows, blackening the eye lashes, rouging the lips, applying the grease paint and so forth. The work is done in a very dainty and interesting way. Only the head and shoulders of the subject are shown; the figure thus being very large. (AMB Picture Catalogue, 1902)
More info →In My Lady's Boudoir
1903 · ★ 9
Kathryn Osterman was a legitimate actress who worked occasionally in the movies during the first decade and a half of the 20th century. This looks like a Mutoscope cut-down of an actuality released in 1900, "The Art of "Making Up"". In it, we see her from the rear, sitting in front of a dressing mirror, putting up her hair and powdering her face.
More info →
From the Realm of the Crystals
1927
'Uit het rijk der kristallen' is one of several scientific films made by J.C. Mol. In the film, the crystallization processes of various chemicals are shown. There are different versions of Uit het rijk der kristallen: the original silent film was given a soundtrack in the 1930s, and there is a colour version of the film which was made using Dufay colour. A clip from the film, or other shots of identical crystallization processes, can be seen in Mol’s other films. The film was not only screened at educational and scientific presentations, but also resonated within avant-garde circles. The film was screened at the first show presented by the Harlem branch of the Filmliga. This was followed by a screening at Amsterdam’s Filmliga, and at ‘Studio 28’ in Paris. There, the film was screened as a ‘triptyque’, with three projectors side by side.
More info →Undo
2005 · ★ 6.3
Today's been sad. Tomorrow won't get any better. Let's un-do it all over again
More info →
Demolition of a Wall
1896 · ★ 6.3
Auguste Lumière directs four workers in the demolition of an old wall at the Lumière factory. One worker is pressing the wall inwards with a jackscrew, while another is pushing it with a pick. When the wall hits the ground, a cloud of white dust whirls up. Three workers continue the demolition of the wall with picks.
More info →
LSD: Insight or Insanity?
1967 · ★ 4.6
Documentary about the potentially dangerous and unpredictable drug LSD. Various experts discuss how LSD is made and the hazards involved in using it while avid users explain why they enjoy taking it.
More info →