WHEEL OF FATE

GB
1953
1hr 12mins
Dir: Francis Searle
Starring: Bryan Forbes and Sandra Dorne

Two brothers working at their father’s petrol station fight over the same girl, and over the cash that their disabled father keeps in his bedroom

This drama is based on an original story entitled Nightmare by Alex Atkinson. It has some good railway scenes near the end with Bryan Forbes running across the tracks in front of a train at night. The locomotive in question is slow-moving ex-LNER B1 Class 4-6-0 No.61106 but it is not known exactly where this scene was filmed. Also making an appearance is another ex-LNER loco in the form of L1 Class 2-6-4T No. 67786 on a passenger train along with the ubiquitous stock shot of a streamlined LMS ‘Duchess’ Class 4-6-2 taken from Brief Encounter (qv). It should be noted perhaps that some recent versions of this movie have a reduced running time of only 56 minutes but all the railway footage is still shown.

L1 Class 2-6-4T No. 67786 is bathed in a pool of light
B1 Class 4-6-0 No.61106 slowly approaches the camera
Bryan Forbes falls against the bufferbeam of the now stationary B1
Here it is yet again. The stock shot from Brief Encounter that seemed to get dragged up anytime a shot of an express train was needed.
As a rather comic aside, the family house in the film is next to a railway line. In this case it is RIGHT next to a railway line as evidenced by the mock studio-bound semaphore arm outside the window behind Bryan Forbes!!