Terminus

One of the most famous British Transport films, John Schlesinger’s award-winning Terminus, a half-hour narration-free portrait of 24 hours in the life of Waterloo Stat... more >

One of the most famous British Transport films, John Schlesinger’s award-winning Terminus, a half-hour narration-free portrait of 24 hours in the life of Waterloo Station, is an impressionistic collage of the place’s sights and sounds. It’s a sprightly piece of work, beautifully edited together, and which remains fresh after numerous viewings. Schlesinger is fascinated by the everyday dramas that happen there - the greetings and partings, the missed rendezvous, the little boy lost, and these are cut against the life of the place behind the scenes. There’s also a lovely vein of observational humour running through the film which is perfectly complemented by the jazz soundtrack.
The DVD also features three bonus films. There’s London – Brighton in Four Minutes (1966), which is exactly what it says, a trip on the Brighton Belle heading south at faster than the speed of sound. Try and watch it without swaying! Also included is British Locomotives, a rare (and lurid) colour film from 1959, and First of the Thirteen, a record of the modernisation of the BR signal network in the 1970s.
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