GB 1965 2hrs 08mins Dir: John Schlesinger Starring: Julie Christie and Dirk Bogarde
An ambitious young woman balances relationships with various men of a jet-set lifestyle
This decent drama features quite a lot in the way of railway footage, which begins with a lovely aerial view of Brentford station complete with EMU in the platform. This is followed by a shot of a District Line train crossing Kew Bridge, and a brief scene filmed at London Paddington station with some Mk.1 coaches in the background. This is then followed by a ‘going-away’ shot of a Class 52 ‘Western’ diesel-hydraulic on an express at West Ealing. A large amount of footage of trains passing West Ealing was filmed for this movie and then never used. These shots include a Blue Pullman DMU and can be found on Video 125’s DVD Diesels & Electrics on 35mm Vol 1 & 2. All these scenes are interspersed with shots of Christie and Bogarde onboard a train, almost certainly on the Western Region. Finally, there is a later scene with Christie and Bogarde having an argument at an as yet unidentified station on the Central Line.
This is Brentford station, with an electric multiple unit visible towards the upper left of the view in platform 1. Boston Manor Road crosses the station and Church Walk footbridge is bottom right.
The camera pans upwards to show more of the local landscape. The train is more visible in this shot, as are the station canopies beyond which can be seen the goods platform.
This is Kew Bridge across the Thames, and a District Line train of CO/CP stock is crossing
Julie Christie in a compartment, possibly the First Class compartment of a DMU. Outside the window, a station name board flashes by.
This is London Paddington. The mechanical horse in the foreground hauls its load of brute trolleys past the camera, but some maroon-liveried BR Mark 1’s are visible in the background.
A Western Region express hauled by a Class 52 ‘Western’ heads along the down main at West Ealing. The view is from Jacobs Ladder footbridge and Hanwell station is just visible in the distant haze.
Dirk Bogarde and Julie Christie in the ticket hall of an Underground station
Although the film implies either Bond Street or Notting Hill Gate this is thought to be neither, though the route map on the far wall does show this to be a Central Line station serving another line as well. Tottenham Court Road perhaps?
