Features and reviews

Discover the latest from the BFI, the UK’s lead organisation for film, television and the moving image.

Features

Railway 200 on screen: British cinema’s great train journey

Kicking off a new series celebrating the 200th anniversary of the UK’s passenger railways, curator Steven Foxon offers a whistle-stop tour of the long-running love affair between cinema and trains, from steam-powered dramas to diesel-fuelled documentaries.

By Steven Foxon

Railway 200 on screen: British cinema’s great train journey

From the Sight and Sound archive

Robert Redford: act natural

By Christina Newland

Robert Redford: act natural

Features

How Anna May Wong became TV’s first female detective

By Dick Fiddy

How Anna May Wong became TV’s first female detective

Object of the week

Behind-the-scenes photos of documentary pioneer Humphrey Jennings filming alt-history drama The Silent Village

By Nathalie Morris

Behind-the-scenes photos of documentary pioneer Humphrey Jennings filming alt-history drama The Silent Village

Features

Aguirre, the Wrath of God: real history and Herzog’s otherworldly allegory of empire

By Graham Fuller

Aguirre, the Wrath of God: real history and Herzog’s otherworldly allegory of empire

Features

How Anna May Wong changed stardom in Britain

By Marc David Jacobs

How Anna May Wong changed stardom in Britain

Object of the week

Henry VIII and His Six Wives: a costume drawing for the 1970s historical epic

By Nathalie Morris

Henry VIII and His Six Wives: a costume drawing for the 1970s historical epic

From the Sight and Sound archive

Dead of Night: 80 years on, Ealing’s anthology horror is still a waking nightmare

By Edward Parnell

Dead of Night: 80 years on, Ealing’s anthology horror is still a waking nightmare

Object of the week

The 3D printer that helps us recreate vintage film equipment

By Ian Shand

The 3D printer that helps us recreate vintage film equipment

Object of the week

The annotated shooting script for The Third Man, minus the ‘cuckoo clock’ speech

By Nathalie Morris

The annotated shooting script for The Third Man, minus the ‘cuckoo clock’ speech

Where to begin

Where to begin with Darren Aronofsky

By Gayle Sequeira

Where to begin with Darren Aronofsky

Rarities of British cinema

The Woman in the Hall: rediscovering a 1940s ‘bad mother’ melodrama

By Josephine Botting

The Woman in the Hall: rediscovering a 1940s ‘bad mother’ melodrama

Object of the week

The shooting script for Sally Potter’s Orlando

By Nathalie Morris

The shooting script for Sally Potter’s Orlando

Obituaries

Terence Stamp obituary: magnetic 60s icon who enjoyed a Superman comeback

By David Parkinson

Terence Stamp obituary: magnetic 60s icon who enjoyed a Superman comeback

Object of the week

Camels attending a cinema in Sutton in 1962

By Kay Eldridge and Alex Prideaux

Camels attending a cinema in Sutton in 1962

Then and now

40 years of My Beautiful Laundrette: how the London locations look today

By Adam Scovell

40 years of My Beautiful Laundrette: how the London locations look today

Object of the week

Alan Whicker’s cue cards for interviewing Sean Connery on You Only Live Twice

By Nathalie Morris

Alan Whicker’s cue cards for interviewing Sean Connery on You Only Live Twice

Festivals

The long weekend for cinephiles: highlights from Cinema Rediscovered 2025

By Christina Newland

The long weekend for cinephiles: highlights from Cinema Rediscovered 2025

Object of the week

The painted ‘flying ballet’ design for Superman

By Claire Smith

The painted ‘flying ballet’ design for Superman

Finest hours

Finest hours: Helen Mirren’s transformation into The Queen

By Kate Stables

Finest hours: Helen Mirren’s transformation into The Queen

From the Sight and Sound archive

A child’s demon: Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter

By David Thomson

A child’s demon: Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter

Rarities of British cinema

A Question of Adultery: how an X-rated 1950s drama tackled the subject of artificial insemination

By Josephine Botting

A Question of Adultery: how an X-rated 1950s drama tackled the subject of artificial insemination

Object of the week

Object of the week: Harold Brown’s handmade film printer, the Mark IV

By Alex Prideaux

Object of the week: Harold Brown’s handmade film printer, the Mark IV

Then and now

Human Traffic’s Cardiff, then and now

By Adam Scovell

Human Traffic’s Cardiff, then and now

Features

[Safe] in LA

By Jenna Dorn

Object of the week

Object of the week: 96-year-old footage of Alfred Hitchcock in a test take for his thriller Blackmail

By Bryony Dixon

Object of the week: 96-year-old footage of Alfred Hitchcock in a test take for his thriller Blackmail

Finest hours

Finest hours: Dorothy Dandridge’s sultry temptress in Carmen Jones

By Alex Ramon

Finest hours: Dorothy Dandridge’s sultry temptress in Carmen Jones

Features

How to build an archive: inside the early years of the BFI’s National Film Library

By Pamela Hutchinson

How to build an archive: inside the early years of the BFI’s National Film Library

Object of the week

Object of the week: The colourful lists from Peter Wollen’s notebook

By Nathalie Morris

Object of the week: The colourful lists from Peter Wollen’s notebook

From the Sight and Sound archive

“Films constitute a valuable historical document”: Ernest Lindgren on the founding of the National Film Library

By Ernest Lindgren

“Films constitute a valuable historical document”: Ernest Lindgren on the founding of the National Film Library