LET THE PEOPLE SING

GB
1942
1hr 45mins
Dir: John Baxter
Starring: Alastair Sim and Fred Emney

The community of a small town unite, in opposition to their local government authority, to keep their music hall open

A railway journey features prominently at the start of this comedy, but all the interior scenes are filmed on a studio set. There is, however, one real station scene with an LMS Class 4P Compound 4-4-0 arriving into Elstree & Borehamwood on a train. Then, towards the end of film there is a montage sequence that features footage of an express train blended in with other images and therefore not identifiable. This montage includes glimpses of wheels in motion and locomotive crews on a footplate. The film was based on J. B. Priestley’s 1939 novel of the same name.

The shot in the film of an LMS service arriving into a station behind a 4P Class 4-4-0
The train has now arrived and the platform staff go about their business. This is Elstree & Borehamwood, which made a number of appearances in films during the 1930s and ’40s due to its proximity to Elstree Studios.
The express service seen in the montage sequence is blended in with footage of a footplate crew at work, the latter probably being a set.