Underground

The BFI National Archive’s acclaimed restoration of Anthony Asquith’s subterranean tale of love, jealousy and murder is finally available in this stunning Dual Format Edition. This classic British film from the silent era features Neil Brand’s new orchestral score, recorded live in 2012, which perfectly complements the film’s richly detailed evocation of 1920s London.

From his own screenplay Anthony Asquith balances the light and dark sides of London 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.

More than any other film from Britain’s silent canon, Underground evokes the life of the ordinary Londoner with its scenes of the bustling underground and the capital’s parks, double-decker buses, pubs and shabby bedsits.

• 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 min — DVD only)
• Scenes at Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park Corner (1930-32, 6 min — DVD only)
• Seven More Stations (1948, 12 min — DVD only): a film about the expansion of the Central Line beyond Stratford
• Under Night Streets (1958, 19 min): a documentary about the tube’s nightshift workers
• Fully illustrated booklet featuring film notes and new essays by Christian Wolmar and Neil Brand