GB
1937
1hr 10mins
Dir: Victor Hanbury
Starring: Griffith Jones and Rosalyn Boulter
A couple have plans to elope but a fight with her father’s solicitor ends in murder
This little-known drama was based on an original play by Rudolf Lothar and features a shot of a ‘Southampton Express’ passing a signal box. Although there is plenty of Southern Railway footage in this film, the ‘Southampton Express’ on this occasion is LNER in origin. The coaching stock is pure teak, and the general outline of the locomotive suggests that it may be a Great Central Railway 4-4-0 as evidenced by the two large splashers. The train features during an early montage sequence that appears twice in quick succession and also includes a more unorthodox track level shot of two passing trains. There is then a sequence filmed at London Waterloo with a shot of a Southern Railway ‘King Arthur’ Class 4-6-0 arriving on an express. As it draws into the platform, we catch a rare glimpse of the tender and cab of one of the Drummond Class T14 4-6-0’s in the form of No.461. This was one of just ten built so it is a particularly rare bird. The climax to the film takes place at London Victoria and although the departure scene uses a set, there is one shot of a Pullman train in platform 2 with a tank loco on the rear. Finally, behind the closing title we have a shot of a speeding GWR express passing in the hands of a ‘King’ Class 4-6-0. A veritable mixed bag indeed!
