BAGDContext CSM

Here is a picture of the railway staion at Canfranc in Spain…nothing is as grand as ruins, and nothing is as disconcerting and anxious making as a derelict railway…

This station used to be one of the largest in Europe, with a platform 200 metres long! It’s grand and derelict…brilliant.

Here’s a terrific photograph of passengers on an Indian railway journey…they’re sitting on the roof!

My friend and colleague, Jaap, asked me for a list of favourite films…luckily I am the sort of person who  makes lists…and I had this to hand…I’ve added a note of any post that I’ve already made about the films.

The Thirty Nine Steps (1935)

http://bagdcontext.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2011/05/28/the-trains-of-alfred-hitchcock/

http://paulrennie.rennart.co.uk/post/105615335175/alfred-hitchcock-speeds-up-the-thirty-nine-steps

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

http://bagdcontext.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2014/12/23/the-lady-vanishes-alfred-hitchcock-1938/

The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock on a Train)

Bringing up Baby (1938)

To have and Have Not (1944)

A Canterbury Tale (1944)

The Third Man (1949)

Once upon a Time in the West (1968)

http://bagdcontext.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2011/08/18/once-upon-a-train-track-in-the-west/

Life and Nothing But (1989)

Europa (1991)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Casino (1995)

The Matrix (1999+)

Back in 2011, I bumped into Michael Portillo on the train at Folkestone…he was filming one of his journeys…they’re all on Box of Broadcasts…and also the later ones around Europe, and also the ones around the USA.

Actually, that’s me suitting behind him and wearing my beret!

I’ve posted before about these television films, here

Lewis and Clark, and Michael Portillo (BBC2TV)

Michael Portillo on BBCTV in Israel

Michael Portillo isn’t doing anything new…it was all done brilliantly in the 1950s and 1960s by John Betjeman…and subsequently by many others. I just noticed that, at the bottom of the post below, I describe Michael’s US train trip. Grr!

Trains and Television

John Betjeman was an important figure in the architectural conservation movement of the 1960s. He won the battle for St Pancras; but lost Euston…

Railway Propylaeum – The Euston Arch

The most interesting TV film made by Michael Portillo has been about his own family in Spain and the dramatic impact of the the bombing of Guernica, and the positive effect of Picasso’s great painting…all around the world.

I’ve posted about it, here

http://paulrennie.rennart.co.uk/post/47702448623/portillo-picasso

Michael’s mother, Cora, was instrumental in helping the Basque children refugees in Britain. That’s important.

BBCWalesTV made a special film about the Basque children who were found homes in wales. You can watch it on Box of Broadcasts.

Here are the details

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p64s4

I’ve posted elesewhere about the Spanish civil war, here

http://paulrennie.rennart.co.uk/post/159671468435/learning-from-history-the-spanish-civil-war

Old-school concert poster for Led Zeppelin, circa 1975. Quite a nice steam loco too…

Here’s a picture of Harry Dean Stanton, walking the tracks…it’s from Paris, Texas (1984) by Wim Wenders.

The film was one of the great films of the 1980s…

I’ve posted before about the Polish children’s story, The Locomotive by J Tuwin and with illustrations by Lewitt and Him.

It turns out that this book has been published, over and over, in various illustrated editions.

Here, with pictures by Jan Lenica

Here, with the loco by JM Scanzer

And here, with illustrations by M Gurowska

Lovely

Terrific