GB
1964
1hr 27mins
Dir: Richard Lester
Starring: Paul McCartney and Wilfrid Brambell
The Beatles head from Liverpool to London to appear on a television show
Produced during the height of Beatlemania the film portrays several days in the lives of the group. It is the first Beatles film and features a train journey in which the band travel from Liverpool to London, though in reality they go nowhere as both the ‘Liverpool’ departure and ‘London’ arrival scenes are filmed at London Marylebone. In the arrival scenes, a high camera angle used to show fans mobbing the train just reveals a BR Sulzer Type 2 (Class 24 or 25) at the head of some Mk1 coaches with a Class 115 DMU in the far background. The actual railway journey scenes were filmed on the Minehead branch from Norton Fitzwarren, with Crowcombe Heathfield station used in one scene, though it is reported that the line to Barnstaple was also used for some shots. In this journey sequence the train is made up of BR Mk1 coaches, but no locomotives are seen.