Terminus (1961 film)

Last updated

Terminus
Terminus film opening titles (1961).png
Opening titles
Directed byJohn Schlesinger
Produced byEdgar Anstey
Music byRon Grainer
Production
company
British Transport Films
Release date
  • 1961 (1961)
Running time
33 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Terminus is a 33-minute 1961 British Transport Film documentary (filmed in August 1960) directed by John Schlesinger which presents a 'fly-on-the-wall' look at an ordinary day at Waterloo station in London. Along with most British Transport Films of the period, it was produced by Edgar Anstey. It was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Documentary and, for a time, the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, before being disqualified after it was discovered that the film was first released before the eligibility period. Original music was by Ron Grainer.

Contents

Content

The film covers both staff and passengers around the station. The trains are still pulled by steam locomotives.

The most unusual section is the enquiry centre: some two dozen people taking telephone calls with questions about travel.

The boat-train "Pretoria Castle" arrives and passengers are greeted by friends. A group of prisoners, handcuffed in pairs, are placed in a carriage whilst the general public are held back by police. The lost property office is filled with umbrellas. A coffin is placed in the guard van. A large group of Jamaicans board the train to Southampton.

A young boy, Matthew Perry, is traumatised as the police take him to the station master's office where an announcement is made for his mother to collect him.

The station announcer knits between public information announcement over the station tannoy.

A businessman just misses his train and pays a visit to the crowded station buffet for a beer.

Late at night girls drink Kia-Ora and sailors smoke cigarettes. Some travellers sleep on benches. A homeless bag-lady wanders aimlessly, checking rubbish bins for food.

Production

Many of the supposedly reportage shots were staged. Schlesinger makes a cameo appearance as a passing, umbrella-carrying business man, and a tearful and apparently lost child, Matthew Perry, was temporarily abandoned deliberately by his mother Margaret, an actress relative of Schlesinger. Some other people appearing were also actors, including handcuffed convicts and a confused elderly woman. [1] [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Waterloo station</span> Central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom

Waterloo station, also known as London Waterloo, is a major central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of the same name and is adjacent to Waterloo East station on the South Eastern Main Line. The station is the terminus of the South West Main Line to Weymouth via Southampton, the West of England main line to Exeter via Salisbury, the Portsmouth Direct line to Portsmouth Harbour which connects with ferry services to the Isle of Wight, and several commuter services around west and south-west London, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Yorkshire Moors Railway</span> Heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England, that runs through the North York Moors National Park. First opened in 1836 as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the railway was planned in 1831 by George Stephenson as a means of opening up trade routes inland from the then important seaport of Whitby. The line between Grosmont and Rillington was closed in 1965 and the section between Grosmont and Pickering was reopened in 1973 by the North York Moors Historical Railway Trust Ltd. The preserved line is now a tourist attraction and has been awarded several industry accolades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Paddington station</span> Railway station in London

Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London railway station and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the main line station dates from 1854 and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. As of the 2022–23 Office of Rail & Road Statistics, it is the second busiest station in the United Kingdom, after London Liverpool Street, with 59.2 million entries and exits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euston railway station</span> Central London railway terminus

Euston railway station is a major central London railway terminus managed by Network Rail in the London Borough of Camden. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railway. Euston is the tenth-busiest station in Britain and the country's busiest inter-city passenger terminal, being the gateway from London to the West Midlands, North West England, North Wales and Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Schlesinger</span> English film and stage director (1926–2003)

John Richard Schlesinger was an English film and stage director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood, often directing films dealing frankly in provocative subject matter, combined with his status as one of the rare openly gay directors working in mainstream films.

<i>La Haine</i> 1995 film by Mathieu Kassovitz

La Haine is a 1995 French social thriller film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. Starring Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé and Saïd Taghmaoui, the film chronicles a day and night in the lives of three friends from a poor immigrant neighbourhood in the suburbs of Paris. The title derives from a line spoken by one of them, Hubert: "La haine attire la haine!", "hatred breeds hatred". Kassovitz was awarded the Best Director prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kensington (Olympia) station</span> London Underground, London Overground and National rail station

Kensington (Olympia) is an interchange station located in Kensington, in West London for London Overground and National Rail services. Limited London Underground services also run here.

<i>The Titfield Thunderbolt</i> 1953 British comedy film by Charles Crichton

The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Stanley Holloway, Naunton Wayne, George Relph and John Gregson. The screenplay concerns a group of villagers trying to keep their branch line operating after British Railways decided to close it. The film was written by T. E. B. Clarke and was inspired by the restoration of the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway in Wales, the world's first heritage railway run by volunteers. "Titfield" is an amalgamation of the names Titsey and Limpsfield, two villages in Surrey near Clarke's home at Oxted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Perry</span> American film director (1930–1995)

Frank Joseph Perry Jr. was an American stage director and filmmaker. His 1962 independent film David and Lisa earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The couple collaborated on five more films, including The Swimmer, Diary of a Mad Housewife, and the Emmy Award–nominated A Christmas Memory, based on a short story by Truman Capote. Perry went on to form Corsair Pictures, privately financed by United Artists Theatres, which produced Miss Firecracker and A Shock to the System, then folded. His later films include Mommie Dearest and the documentary On the Bridge, about his battle with prostate cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swansea railway station</span> Railway station in Swansea, Wales

Swansea railway station serves the city of Swansea, Wales. It is 216 miles 7 chains (348 km) measured from London Paddington on the National Rail network.

British Transport Films was an organisation set up in 1949 to make documentary films on the general subject of British transport. Its work included internal training films, travelogues, and "industrial films" promoting the progress of Britain's railway network.

<i>Sunday Bloody Sunday</i> (film) 1971 British drama film by John Schlesinger

Sunday Bloody Sunday is a 1971 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, written by Penelope Gilliatt, and starring Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch, Murray Head and Peggy Ashcroft. It tells the story of a free-spirited young bisexual artist and his simultaneous relationships with a divorced recruitment consultant (Jackson) and a gay Jewish doctor (Finch).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stirling railway station (Scotland)</span> Railway station in Stirling, Scotland

Stirling railway station is a railway station located in Stirling, Scotland. It is located on the former Caledonian Railway main line between Glasgow and Perth. It is the junction for the branch line to Alloa and is also served by trains on the Edinburgh to Dunblane Line and long-distance services to Dundee and Aberdeen and to Inverness via the Highland Main Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atherton railway station</span> Railway station in Greater Manchester, England

Atherton railway station serves the town of Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the line between Wigan and Manchester on the Manchester to Southport Line; according to Office of Rail and Road figures, it is the third busiest station on the line after Manchester Victoria and Wigan Wallgate.

<i>Five Days</i> (TV series) British dramatic television series

Five Days is a British dramatic television series produced by the BBC in association with Home Box Office (HBO). The first series was first broadcast on BBC One from 23 January to 1 February 2007, and repeated on BBC Four from 9 to 13 April 2007.

<i>Humanité</i> 1999 French film

Humanité is a 1999 film directed by Bruno Dumont. It tells the story of a withdrawn police lieutenant investigating a rape and murder of a schoolgirl in rural France, his slow enquiries interspersed with everyday scenes of his quiet life. The film is shot with little dialogue in a contemplative and symbolical style. The policeman is named after a distinguished French painter, Pharaon de Winter, who was from the town where the film is set.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Oscar Grant</span> 2009 manslaughter in Oakland, California

Oscar Grant III was a 22-year-old Black man who was killed in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009 by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California. Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid Transit train returning from San Francisco, BART Police officers detained Grant and several other passengers on the platform at the Fruitvale BART Station. BART officer Anthony Pirone kneed Grant in the head and forced Grant to lie face down on the platform. Mehserle drew his pistol and shot Grant. Grant was rushed to Highland Hospital in Oakland and pronounced dead later that day. The events were captured on bystanders’ mobile phones. Owners disseminated their footage to media outlets and to various websites where it went viral. Both protests and riots took place in the following days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Train station</span> Railway facility for loading or unloading trains

A train station, railroad station, or railroad depot and railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such ancillary services as ticket sales, waiting rooms, and baggage/freight service. Stations on a single-track line often have a passing loop to accommodate trains travelling in the opposite direction.

<i>The Imposter</i> (2012 film) 2012 British film directed by Bart Layton

The Imposter is a 2012 documentary film about the 1997 case of a French confidence trickster Frédéric Bourdin, who pretended to be Nicholas Patrick Barclay, an American boy who had disappeared in Texas at the age of 13 in 1994. The film was directed by Bart Layton. It mainly includes interviews with Bourdin but also with members of Barclay's family, as well as archive television news footage and reenacted dramatic sequences.

<i>Bajrangi Bhaijaan</i> 2015 Indian adventure comedy-drama film

Bajrangi Bhaijaan is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Kabir Khan, based on an original story by screenwriter V. Vijayendra Prasad, and produced by Salman Khan, Rockline Venkatesh and Kabir Khan. The film stars Salman with debutante Harshaali Malhotra, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and tells the story of Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi, a devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman, who embarks on a journey to take a mute six-year-old Pakistani Muslim girl Shahida, separated in India from her mother, back to her hometown.

References

  1. The British Transport Films - A Nation on Film Special, BBC, 2008
  2. Brown, Julia Prewitt (1979). The Films of John Schlesinger. Anthem Press. p. 3. ISBN   9781783089789 . Retrieved 13 December 2021.