I SEE A DARK STRANGER

GB
1946
1hr 52mins
Dir: Frank Launder
Starring: Trevor Howard and Deborah Kerr

A young Irish woman heads to England in 1944 to spy for the Germans

This brilliant film noir spy film was released in the US as The Adventuress with a somewhat reduced running time of 1hr 38mins. Deborah Kerr’s jaunts to and from Ireland are depicted by studio-bound railway journeys, including the station scenes which appear to be detailed sets, though a number of real trains do feature. There is an excellent and quite rare shot of one of the three Great Southern Railways Class 800 4-6-0s arriving with a train at Kingsbridge station which is followed by a several external views of the station building. Kingsbridge was renamed Dublin Heuston in 1966 and has been considerably rationalised. A couple of distant trams are also visible in one of the Dublin street scenes. There is a later scene filmed at an unknown station with LMS suburban coaches pulling away from the curved platform, but the locomotive is out of shot. It has been suggested that this maybe Lancaster Green Ayre but the details do not quite match up. The back-projection through the carriage window on the journey gives a brief glimpse of a Southern tank loco in wartime black as the train arrives into a fairly sizeable station, but sadly the view is somewhat obscured making actual identification difficult. There is also a ‘random’ shot of a GWR ‘Star’ Class 4-6-0 arriving at Bristol Temple Meads on an express. The ‘Irish’ scenes were unusually filmed on the Isle of Man, which is at least in the Irish Sea! Both the electric and steam railways make a brief appearance. There is a shot early in the film of Union Mills station with a pair of unidentified 2-4-0 tank locos at the head of the arriving train but unfortunately it is at dusk so is consequently very dark. Union Mills station was on the now closed Peel branch of the steam railway and masquerades as ‘Glenderry’. There is also an excellent shot of Manx Electric Railway tram car No.26 at Laxey station, though again the scene ‘onboard’ is actually a set. Finally, at the end of the film there is a scene in London of people celebrating the declaration of peace outside the entrance to Uxbridge Underground station on the Metropolitan Line.

This is Union Mills station on the Isle of Man, playing the part of Glenderry. This rare view of the station is, in reality, captured in near darkness, and this lightened view is courtesy of reelstreets.
This is the best railway shot in the film, and it gives us a rare glimpse of one of the three Great Southern Railways Class 800 4-6-0’s arriving with a train at Kingsbridge station, Dublin
The exterior to Kingsbridge station, Dublin, little changed today on the outside save for the change of name to Heuston
A more distant view of Kingsbridge station as viewed from across the River Liffey
This is O’Connell Street, Dublin, looking north towards Nelson’s Pillar. The double-decker on the right is definitely a bus but the two in the middle distance are trams.
The train formed of LMS suburban coaches standing at an unidentified station. It has been suggested that this is Lancaster Green Ayre, though the lack of overhead electrification suggests this not to be the case.
A GWR ‘Star’ Class pulls into Bristol Temple Meads, beneath the all too familiar curved trainshed
Deborah Kerr runs to board Manx Electric Railway tram car No.26 at Laxey station
Crowds gather outside Uxbridge Underground station
Station No.1. This station is of unknown provenance. Despite the apparent detail given to the building and the provision of a phone box I believe that this is a matted backcloth. The clouds are the giveaway in my opinion.
Station No.2. What can be made of this? Another set? Or a real location? I am open to offers on this one.