<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>David Watkin &#187; BTF in the 1950&#8242;s</title>
	<atom:link href="http://davidwatkin.co.uk/category/british-transport-films/btf-in-the-1950s/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://davidwatkin.co.uk</link>
	<description>David Watkin: Oscar-winning Cinematographer</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:36:59 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3</generator>
		<item>
		<title>The Long Night Haul, 1957 for BTF</title>
		<link>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/the-long-night-haul-for-btf-1957/#utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=feed</link>
		<comments>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/the-long-night-haul-for-btf-1957/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:29:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Mullen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British Transport Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BTF in the 1950's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Watkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Long Night Haul. British Transport Films]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://davidwatkin.co.uk/new/?p=1374</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Although the film isn&#8217;t mentioned in David&#8217;s two memoirs, The Long Night Haul (19 minutes) is an ambitious and complex film celebrating the foundation of the British Road Service&#8217;s general haulage truck service. Sometimes perhaps David shot a film which was without any notable anecdotes and thus passes without notice in his canon of work. This film is notable for a range of photographic challenges in black and white &#8211; shooting at night, sympathetic portraiture without condescension and an opportunity for showing the heraldry of the highway. Some of the landscape photography over the Channel  appears to refer ahead to  what he was doing in 1966 on Mademoiselle. Perhaps the subject matter overloads the concept. Perhaps it is two films, at home and abroad. Like Blue Pullman it was directed by Jimmy Ritchie with music by Clifton Parker Here are some characteristic stills that may persuade you to make your own exploration.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/the-long-night-haul-for-btf-1957/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The England of Elizabeth, 1957 for BTF</title>
		<link>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/the-england-of-elizabeth-for-btf-1957/#utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=feed</link>
		<comments>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/the-england-of-elizabeth-for-btf-1957/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:55:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Mullen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British Transport Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BTF in the 1950's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[1957]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Watkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Taylor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The England of Elizabeth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Moley Men]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://davidwatkin.co.uk/new/?p=1350</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Edgar promised Ritchie, who was getting restless, a break to direct and so I took over The England of Elizabeth with John Taylor again. It is nice to have one&#8217;s name on the same picture as Vaughan Williams although on the only occasion when I should have met the great man I was sent off to get a shot of a train at Woking. Par for the course (I don&#8217;t play golf but learned this expression from my electricians who all do), but VW was one of my heroes. It is part of the price one pays for going up in the world; if I&#8217;d still been chauffeuring people to music recordings I&#8217;d have seen him. It appears to have been quite a session as at one point the old man, who was no lightweight, tipped too far back in his chair and was only saved from disaster by Edgar making a dive and grabbing him. Somebody that I did meet on the film was the founding father of documentary himself. John Grierson was married to John Taylor&#8217;s sister and we drove down to their farm, Tog Hill in Wiltshire, to shoot a fiery beacon for the Spanish Armada. I [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/the-england-of-elizabeth-for-btf-1957/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Care of St.Christophers, 1959 for BTF</title>
		<link>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/the-care-of-st-christophers-for-btf-1959/#utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=feed</link>
		<comments>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/the-care-of-st-christophers-for-btf-1959/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:33:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Mullen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British Transport Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BTF in the 1950's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[1959]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Care of St.Christophers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Watkin]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://davidwatkin.co.uk/new/?p=1336</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The film &#8216;Care of St Christophers&#8217; is available from Movie-Mail on the British Transport Film compilation, Volume 8 &#8216;Points &#38; Aspects&#8216;. &#8220;Happily I was now able in small measure to repay some of my debt to Jimmy Ritchie. The next film for me after THE ENGLAND OF ELIZABETH was his first picture as a director, and it turned out to be a very charming one. It was about a railway orphanage in Derby run by a lady who reminded you of Margaret Rutherford. She truly understood us all, children and grown-ups alike, and loved the children as they did her. I had never found myself in such a happy place and when I said so to Jim it must have stayed in his mind because THE HAPPY PLACE became the working title (though it finished up as CARE OF St CHRISTOPHER&#8217;S). She encouraged the children to keep their own pets,&#8221;It&#8217;s very good for them to manage things entirely on their own and I try never to interfere. There was a boy who kept pigeons, a bright nice boy. After a time he started to sell them to people outside &#8211; nothing wrong in that at all but then they started to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/the-care-of-st-christophers-for-btf-1959/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>60</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Snowdrift at Bleath Gill, 1955 for BTF</title>
		<link>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/snowdrift-at-bleath-gill-1955-for-bft/#utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=feed</link>
		<comments>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/snowdrift-at-bleath-gill-1955-for-bft/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:36:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Mullen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British Transport Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BTF in the 1950's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bob Paynter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Watkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hugh Raggett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kenneth Fairburn. John Legard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Snowdrift at Bleath Gill]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://davidwatkin.co.uk/new/?p=1317</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Snowdrift at Bleak Gill, 1955, directed by Kenneth Fairburn, edited by John Legard and photographed by Bob Paynter. David Watkin was an unacknowledged assistant on this film. The film is 10minutes, largely devoted to the single task of freeing a goods engine and carriages from snowdrifts using a mechanised snow plough and gangs of diggers, mainly by the light of the Moon and huge Tilly lamps. “Ken Fairbairn was a nice man. Known as &#8220;Twitcher&#8221; because of a tendency to be hyper-anxious whenever you were sorting out the necessary things for the shot to be useable. He was also small in stature, resulting in most of his set-ups being done on the baby-legs, which was a bit trying. He wrote his own scripts for the most part; one that I did for him about the lost luggage office was called A DESPERATE CASE. Another about incoherent station announcements had a similarly apt title to begin with: GET LOST! But Edgar made him change it. A phone call about about 9.30 one freezing evening  asked would I collect some camera gear with Bob Payntor and travel up to Barnard Castle in Yorkshire. There we bundled ourselves inside a snow-plough and set [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/09/snowdrift-at-bleath-gill-1955-for-bft/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>More BTF Images of David</title>
		<link>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/01/more-btf-images-of-david/#utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=feed</link>
		<comments>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/01/more-btf-images-of-david/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:07:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scrutineer</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British Transport Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BTF in the 1950's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clapper Boy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Feature Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Southampton Docks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://davidwatkin.co.uk/new/?p=700</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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 (extolling the virtues of places that could be visited via the British transport system &#8211; mostly by rail), and &#8220;industrial films&#8221; (as they were called) promoting the progress of Britain&#8217;s railway network.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2009/01/more-btf-images-of-david/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Working at British Transport Films</title>
		<link>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2008/09/shared-triggered-and-jolted-memory/#utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=feed</link>
		<comments>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2008/09/shared-triggered-and-jolted-memory/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:03:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scrutineer</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British Transport Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BTF in the 1950's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BTF in the 1960's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clapper Boy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Baxter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Watkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[England's North Counrty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Legard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Richie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robertson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Waterloo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Williams]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://davidwatkin.co.uk/new/?p=145</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The career of David Watkin revealed through photographic glimpses&#8230; British Transport Films Alan working at 25 Saville Row, 1955 Alan and Tom in the Post Office Yard, Waterloo, 1956 BTF crew: Baxter, Richie and Williams England&#8217;s North Country BTF crew: Robertson and Richie]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2008/09/shared-triggered-and-jolted-memory/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>BTF by Barry Coward</title>
		<link>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2008/03/btf/#utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=feed</link>
		<comments>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2008/03/btf/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:11:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Scrutineer</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[British Transport Films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BTF in the 1950's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BTF in the 1960's]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clapper Boy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[All That Mighty Heart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barry Coward]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holiday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://davidwatkin.co.uk/new/?p=611</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Born into an illustrious railway family, David Watkin began work with the Southern Region Film Unit of British Railways in the late 1940&#8242;s. In 1950 he became a messenger boy and assistant cameraman at British Transport Films. Barry Coward writes: One day in 1981 I received a phone call from a David Watkin asking for a video copy of the BTF production Under Night Streets. At that time I was head of the Public Relations Strategy Team at London Transport and BTF had recently sent all the film they had shot for London Transport to us, as part of the winding up operation run by Jimmy Ritchie. We did telecine Under Night Streets for David and subsequently he paid for other BTF titles to be tele-cined including Care of St Christopher&#8217;s, What&#8217;s in Store, The Finishing Line (made long after David had left BTF, but directed by John Krish, who&#8217;s work David much admired), Holiday, All That Mighty Heart, A Desperate Case, MFD Re-railing Equipment, Diesel Train Driver and Snow Drift at Bleath Gill. British Transport Films was created by the British Transport Commission following nationalisation of much of the country&#8217;s public transport, road haulage, ports and waterways by the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://davidwatkin.co.uk/2008/03/btf/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

