Nine, dalmuir west

Like the train, the tram, with its play of movement and lines and its association with engineering and the big city, has enormously fascinated generations of documentary filmmakers. Among them were the Lumière brothers, Willy Mullens and Joris Ivens. However, after World War II the tram lost its 'aura' as a modern means of transport, and in many cities it disappeared from the street scene. As the voice over in nine, dalmuir west remarks, the tram was not only associated with the feeling of togetherness, but even more with the depression years in the 1930s, when few people could afford a car of their own. In the era of progress (symbolized in nine, dalmuir west by the 'Telstar' tune) and 'a car of one's own' the bus was considered as the only appropriate alternative. In September of 1962 Kevin Brownlow filmed the very last service of the last tram in the Scottish city of Glasgow, known for its extensive public transport system. Brownlow not only shows that with the last tram a fascinating means of transport vanished, but also that the women working as drivers or clippies were the real losers, because the transport service didn't allow women on the buses. The film ends with a cross-cutting in which sadness about the last tram ride is contrasted with the embarrassing gaiety at a Glasgow city transport party.