Underground (1928)

[MichaelB]

As a native Londoner who's rather worryingly familiar with the Tube, I love this stuff - I've seen all these films apart from the Asquith newsreel and Seven More Stations, but they're amazing time capsules - the ride depicted on A Trip on the Metropolitan Railway still exists today, and while the internal architecture of Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park Corner has changed since the 1930s, both stations are still clearly recognisable.

And I'm delighted they asked Christian Wolmar to contribute - I've read a couple of his books, and he's a rare example of a passionate train buff who can also write compellingly about the subject for people who wouldn't otherwise dream of standing at the end of Clapham Junction station platform with a notebook, binoculars and thermos.

[MichaelB]

Full specs announced:

Underground
A film by Anthony Asquith

Anthony Asquith's Underground (1928), a subterranean tale of love, jealousy, treachery and murder, evokes the daily life of the average Londoner better than any other film in Britain's silent canon. Restored by the BFI National Archive and following an acclaimed theatrical release in January, the BFI now brings the film to DVD and Blu-ray for the first time on 17 June 2013 in a Dual Format Edition. It is presented with a new orchestral score composed by Neil Brand and performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra; along with five short complementary films and an alternative score by musician/sound recordist Chris Watson.

In the late 1920s Asquith, along with Hitchcock, was one of the most audacious young talents in British film and Underground was his own original screenplay. With its scenes of the bustling tube (passenger behaviour is strikingly familiar) and the capital’s parks, double-decker buses, pubs and shabby bedsits, Asquith masterfully balances the light and dark sides of city life, aided by a superb cast of Brian Aherne and Elissa Landi as the nice young lovers and Norah Baring and Cyril McLaglen as their unhappy counterparts.

At just 26, Asquith's direction is assured, efficient and spare with some remarkably cinematic flourishes, clearly inspired by contemporary German and Russian filmmaking. It climaxes with a thrilling chase scene across the rooftops of the Lots Road Power Station.

For many years the restoration of Underground presented insurmountable difficulties, but developments in digital technology have enabled the BFI to make a significant improvement to the surviving film elements.

Special features
• Feature presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition;
• Newly commissioned score by Neil Brand presented in 5.1 and 2.0;
• Alternative score by Chris Watson;
• The Premier and His Little Son (1909-12, 1 min): previously unseen footage of Anthony Asquith as a child;
• A Trip on the Metropolitan Railway (1910, 13 mins, DVD only);
• Scenes at Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park Corner (1930-32, 6 mins, DVD only);
• Seven More Stations (1948, 12 mins, DVD only): a film about the expansion of the Central Line beyond Stratford;
• Under Night Streets (1958, 20 mins): a documentary about the tube's nightshift workers;
• Illustrated booklet featuring film notes and new essays by Christian Wolmar and Neil Brand.

Product details
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1036 / Cert PG
UK / 1928 / black and white / silent with music / 93 mins / original aspect ratio 1.33:1
Disc 1: BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / DTS-HD Master Sound 5.1 (448kbps) and PCM 2.0 stereo audio (48k/24-bit)
Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio (448kbps) and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio (320kbps)

...and here's a clip.

[htshell]

That video is private.

[MichaelB]

That video is private.

That's odd - it worked perfectly earlier. I'll have a word with the BFI press office.

[zedz]

That video is private.

Oh, not the BFI office party sex tape again.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Viewed this last night with the Chris Watson score and what a startling piece of work this is. Shows that Asquith did his homework at UFA better than the pudgy prodigy. The location work with its inventive use of site cranes, pulleys and lifts is up there with Epstein, particularly one tracking shot that would make Carax purr with delight. Looking forward to re-watching soon with the Brand score which will no doubt be a more jaunty ride than Chris Watson's magnificent nails down the blackboard screech-fest.

[MichaelB]

Mondo Digital:

As the title implies, a great deal of the film takes place in and around the London Underground, creating an elaborate world of shadows and textures along with hordes of people. The visual ideas here are parceled out sparingly but with great effectiveness, including a brilliant shattered mirror gag and an exciting nocturnal climax on top of the power plant that rivals what Hitchcock was turning out at the time. Had Asquith gone for the commercial thriller route instead, one can only wonder how things might have turned out.

[peerpee]

Another big shout out for the Chris Watson "ambience" score. Absolutely breathtaking. Alan R. Splet style brilliance. An incredibly fitting and successful experiment. The Blu transported me.

[ola t]

Looking forward to the bluray and that score, but it will be a painful reminder of the most unbelievably stupid thing I did last year, which was that I forgot to go to a Chris Watson concert at the Cinematek in Copenhagen. I had my ticket and everything, but on the day, it just totally slipped my mind. Sigh.

[Tommaso]

Fantastic film indeed, I think I like this even better than "A Cottage on Dartmoor" because it feels more individual and daring in spite of its 'smaller' scale (or what we perceive as such today; in its time the footage of the London Underground and the escalators would have felt extraordinary, I suppose). And I'm surprised that the film functions although the change from what is essentially a love triangle, well rectangle, to a suspense thriller does feel a little irritating, but after all it works very well. As has been pointed out, there's definitely some UFA influence here in the refined style, but also in the way that all the means and stylistic possibilities are simply at hand to be used, and the occasional 'expressionist' moments are very nicely integrated and come naturally, not as intrusions in which the director might have wanted to simply 'show off'. It has style and the acting is great, especially Norah Baring in her fragile, tense, but always beautiful portrayal of that seamstress torn by her feelings. It's closer to "People on Sunday" than to "Lonesome" - these two films are rightly picked out as comparisons in the booklet text- as it doesn't want to play too directly on the heartstrings but is nevertheless very touching and 'true' in its character portrayal. And in the lighter underground scenes I felt also a little reminded of the Billie Wilder-scripted 1932 "Das Blaue vom Himmel", which should be a nice comparison for anyone who wants to see a Berlin Underground film, even though that one's far more a straight comedy.

Wonderful score by Neil Brand; I only briefly sampled the Watson score but it seems to be surprisingly effective and fitting, too (and normally I hate such 'experimental' scores; while I'm typing this, arte TV is showing a rare Lamprecht silent with just such a score, and the five minutes I've casually sampled made me shudder already...).

The restoration demonstration shows what wonders the BFI worked on this; absolutely stunning before-after comparison. As to the other extras: I didn't care too much for them, but that may be because I'm not a Londoner. But still, "A Trip on the Metropolitan Railway" is probably the dullest of these 'phantom ride' films I've ever seen. When there's nothing interesting to see, just don't film it...

[MichaelB]

I didn't care too much for them, but that may be because I'm not a Londoner. But still, "A Trip on the Metropolitan Railway" is probably the dullest of these 'phantom ride' films I've ever seen. When there's nothing interesting to see, just don't film it...

It's not remotely dull if you know the route and how much it's changed over the last century - but, as you say, being a Londoner is pretty crucial here.

[Tommaso]

Point taken, but I was actually wondering why they filmed it back in 1910 for an audience of that time. I mean, it's basically just green fields that could have been everywhere.

[Ann Harding]

I didn't care too much for them, but that may be because I'm not a Londoner. But still, "A Trip on the Metropolitan Railway" is probably the dullest of these 'phantom ride' films I've ever seen. When there's nothing interesting to see, just don't film it...

It's not remotely dull if you know the route and how much it's changed over the last century - but, as you say, being a Londoner is pretty crucial here.

Absolutely agree with MichaelB. I used to live on that Met line a few years back and I found the 1910 trip a eye opener on how much Greater London changed in a space of a century.

[MichaelB]

It's also worth adding that John Betjeman made extensive use of that very film when he made his classic 1973 documentary Metro-Land, so there's likely to be a fair bit of independent interest (at least in the UK) in making the original available.

[MichaelB]

The Cinema Ritrovato Awards for 2014 have just been announced, including:

BEST BLU-RAY: UNDERGROUND
(Anthony Asquith, U.K., 1928) – BFI

Young Anthony Asquith's “story of ordinary workaday people,” conceived near the end of the silent era, is getting a well-deserved second breath due to a gorgeous BFI restoration. This dual format edition, in both high definition and standard definition, offers many background materials, including rare shorts tracing a cultural history of the British underground train system.

(Full press release and other winners here)