MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN

GB
1979
1hr 48mins
Dir: Peter Brook
Starring: Dragan Maksimović and Terence Stamp

The life of Greek-Armenian mystic George Ivanovich Gurdjieff

This biographical drama is based on the book of the same name by G. I. Gurdjieff, first published in English in 1963. Although largely shot on location in Afghanistan there are a handful of English scenes one of which, most unusually, is set in a railway works. This was filmed at the Didcot Railway Centre with actors and members of the Great Western Society working on the frames of GWR ‘Castle’ Class 4-6-0 No.5051 Drysllwyn Castle. A number of other locomotives are briefly visible in the background of a general view of the shed.

The film may not be to everyone’s taste but the railway scene is one of the most original of any. Here we see men at work on the frames of Drysllwyn Castle. The restoration of the loco was completed in early-1980.
More locomotives are visible in the background of this general shed scene. It is lovely to see the shed in working condition, full of muck, grime, smoke and steam, instead of being ‘tidied up’ for the occasion.