COUNTERBLAST

Image result for Counterblast 1948 movie

GB
1948
1hr 39mins
Dir: Paul Stein
Starring: Mervyn Johns and Robert Beatty

A Nazi scientist poses as a murdered professor to carry out germ warfare tests

There is a memorable scene in this thriller whereby Mervyn Johns travels on the London Underground with the intention of releasing deadly germs. He baulks at the idea after seeing a passenger turn into a skeleton! The interior of the Underground train is thought to have only used a studio set though we do get to see the entrances to both Baker Street and Charing Cross Underground stations. The earlier scene at a country station used Bricket Wood on the St. Albans Abbey branch, masquerading on this occasion as ‘Gillington’. Although the platform and signal box are seen, the train again is a set. Two shots of real trains do appear though in the form a grainy shot of a passing express hauled by a GWR ‘King’ Class 4-6-0, and a very murky shot of a train arriving at London Paddington in which it is impossible to identify the loco at the front.

This grainy shot depicts a GWR ‘King’ at the head of an express
And this murky shot shows a train arriving at Paddington, and that’s about it
Robert Beatty to the fore with Bricket Wood signal box behind, temporarily renamed ‘Gillington’ for the purposes of filming
Mervyn Johns at Bricket Wood station
The main entrance to Baker Street Underground station off Marylebone Road
The sign top left helpfully tells us that this is an entrance to Charing Cross Underground station
Mervyn Johns and fellow passengers onboard the tube. This is probably a set.
But this dark image undeniably shows the escalators of an Underground station