Prismark10
John Schlesinger wrote and directed Terminus of a day in the life in a London railway station and the people who use it, work in it or may even reside in it.Watching it over 55 years after it was made, it has a frozen in time quality of a London that once existed such as businessmen in bowler hats.We see people commuting, people going on an expensive holidays as well as a little boy lost. However it increasingly felt less like a documentary as situations became contrived or were re-enacted. Hence why Schlesinger has a writing credit.The little segment of people from the Caribbean with accompanying calypso music looks odd nowadays.Still it is important to view it as an early work of someone who would go on to become an Oscar winning director.
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Terminus" is a black-and-white documentary short film from 55 years ago written and directed by the fairly young British filmmaker John Schlesinger. I saw that this one won a BAFTA and was nominated for an Oscar before being disqualified due to release date irregularities. And all this awards recognition is what truly baffles me. It is life at a station. everybody with a good camera could have filmed this back then and could film this today. I see no memorable qualities in here that set it apart from an amateur recording video of the station in here. Maybe this film is somewhat interesting if you live near the station and recognize the location, maybe even some of the people, but for everybody else it is absolutely not worth seeing. This film also shows how weak the 1960s were in terms of (non-animated) short films. At least, Schlesinger stepped things up afterward when he made a couple decent films and also won an Oscar as this documentary here even drags a lot at only slightly over 30 minutes. Thumbs down.
ztbyford
This documentary, from the very first shot of the bee keeper on the roof of Waterloo station, gives a riveting, imaginative and very witty picture of a typical day in the life of a large railway station, but it's main value in the insight it gives into human nature - by simply looking at people going about their daily business the camera paints a many-layered picture of the human psyche. Always fascinating, often funny and sometimes frightening, this film must be one of the greats of documentary cinema. I hope the sad death of John Schlesinger will prompt a revival of his early - and definitely his greatest - films.
PhilAP
I can't honestly vote for this film, but not because I don't like it. I do.Because I knew some of those responsible it would be wrong to award "Terminus" maximum marks though I would.John Schlesinger made "Terminus" for BTF and was given a virtually free hand. All the characters were real people and the only contrived situation was the "little boy lost". He was a relative. He wasn't acting which, while a little cruel, was great film-making.The lad had a hell of a treat later!The Waterloo shown was real when "Terminus" was made which is why so much seems dated now. The "bag-lady" refused the amateur payment Equity had negotiated. When she died the film crew made sure she had a decent funeral. That was all they could do.The film was ground-breaking in it's way. Ciné Vérité was never the same again.
AD
