MAN IN THE MOON

GB
1960
1hr 38mins
Dir: Basil Dearden
Starring: Kenneth More and Shirley Anne Field

A man of extraordinary immunity is chosen to become the first British astronaut

This comedy features some good shots filmed at Denham station, with ex-LMS Fairburn Class 4MT 2-6-4T’s on local services and ex-GWR Class 4-6-0’s passing through on expresses. Rather intriguingly, anyone familiar with the location will be aware of the continuity errors that take place. We see the train departing from the platform road and then turning round the very next moment an express is passing through the middle road [wait for the crash!!]. The second station scene is puzzling. An up train is filmed arriving, and later departing, yet between these two events the film crew have rushed over to the down platform to shoot the departure of another train and inserted it into the scene. Note that the stock of the up train is in plain livery, but the down train has lined maroon stock. The shadow to the right of the shot is that from the signal box, confirming it to still be Denham. With thanks to Paul Warner for clarifying this.

Kenneth More outside Denham station
As Kenneth More enters the platform an ex-GWR ‘King’ Class 4-6-0 thunders through on an express
Shirley Anne Field and Kenneth More on the up platform at Denham
The local arrives in the hands of an ex-LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T
As the train departs without Kenneth More we can see that it has a 4-wheel milk tank attached to the rear
Norman Bird, Kenneth More and Michael Hordern on the up platform at Denham. About to pass behind them is a London-bound express in the hands of an ex-GWR ‘Hall’ working stencil headcode ‘025’, reportedly a SuO Birkenhead to Paddington service.
Later in the film we see another local arriving into Denham ‘on the up’ with another Fairburn tank on the front
The errant departure scene, which uses Denham, but shows a different train ‘on the down’!