GB 2018 1hr 48mins Dir: James Marsh Starring: Michael Caine and Ray Winstone
A Hatton Garden safe deposit facility is robbed by an aging gang of criminals
This crime drama is one of several that are based on the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary of 2015. It may have a stellar cast, but any potential this may give evaporates pretty quickly and the film is quite a poor spectacle overall. It has a lot of train scenes in it though, and some quite interesting ones too. There is a train journey whereby Michael Caine travels down to Margate and we get glimpses of Class 395 ‘Javelin’ EMU’s including some drivers-eye views of the HS1 route through Kent. These shots show a passing Class 395, whilst others filmed in the Dover area include one seen exiting Shakespeare Tunnel. There are shots of Michael Caine onboard the train and on the return journey there is a brief glimpse of a Eurostar set outside the window. The remaining railway shots consist of scenes filmed on the Docklands Light Railway at London City Airport, though there are a couple of others that appear, namely a somewhat obscured glimpse of a DLR unit as viewed from a car, and a shot of a Central Line train in the Perivale area. Perhaps most interesting of all though is the reused footage from Peter Yates’ 1967 film Robbery, shown in an opening montage about high profile crime. Originally filmed in colour, the shots have been ‘de-colourised’ for their use in this film.
Behind the title, Stanley Baker lies in wait for the mail, hauled by Class 40 No.D318. This is one of several shots used in the opening montage that were taken from the 1967 film Robbery (qv). For the record, this was filmed at Theddingworth in Leicestershire.
An obscured view of a Docklands Light Railway unit can be seen to the right of this view of Paul Whitehouse in a car
A Southeastern Class 395 ‘Javelin’ EMU can be seen streaking along at the base of the cliff. This is probably filmed in the area around Folkestone Warren.
This shot shows a Class 395 ‘Javelin’ EMU on the sea front at Dover. The tunnels behind, with their familiar Gothic portals, are the 1387-yard long Shakespeare Tunnel, so named because they pass through Shakespeare Cliff.
Margate, Margate, this is Margate. The end of the journey and a Class 395 stands in platform 4
Another shot of platform 4 at Margate
This is one of a number of driver-eye views of the HS1 route. At one point, the driver puts the windscreen wash on making the view ahead all soapy!! Neil Bays contacted me to identify this location as the Essex portal of the Thames tunnel with the QEII bridge carrying the A282 across the Thames Estuary in the background.
And in this shot, the train is a mile or so up the line at Wennington where the HS1 route goes under the A13. The Dagenham branch of the LT&S route is just visible on the right. Thanks again to Neil Bays for identifying this location.
This is the entrance to London City Airport on Hartmann Road, E16, and a Docklands Light Railway train passes over the road. The plane passing overhead, however, is a CGI creation as it is at the wrong angle for the runway which is too short anyhow to take large twin-engined jets of the type depicted.
Charlie Cox gets ready to alight at London City Airport DLR station
As Michael Caine looks out of the window on his return journey from Margate, a Eurostar set is briefly glimpsed through the window
This part of the journey is notable for more drivers-eye views, including this one of a passing Class 395
As the thieves head down an alleyway leading off May Gardens in Perivale, a Central Line train of 1992-stock passes by on the embankment behind. The train is running between Hangar Lane station (to the left) and Perivale.
