Long Straight, The

• 1980 ----- color ----- 62 min ----- 16mm
• (Great Railway Journeys of the World series) Across Australia from Sydney to Perth--from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, the line runs without a curve on the longest straight run of track in the world. Playwright and journalist Michael Frayn traces not only the Australian dream of a transcontinental railroad, but takes the Ghan train north to Alice Springs--at a reckless 17 miles an hour. As with all the films in this series, it is a film essentially about people--who both work and travel on trains--for railways, unlike airplanes and cars, enforce close contact between people, communities and countries.
• Topics: (Austronesia, Geography, Transportation)