GB
1968
1hr 35mins
Dir: Saul Swimmer
Starring: Mona Washbourne and Stanley Holloway
Manchester working class lads raise money to race a greyhound by playing in a band
This musical comedy showcases the pop band Herman’s Hermits and was their second and final feature film following Hold On! in 1966. Midway through proceedings, Herman’s Hermits take a train journey to London from Manchester, though in reality Manchester does not feature at all as the railway scenes were all filmed at London King’s Cross. Plenty of Mk.1’s are visible in both blue & grey and maroon, yet the departing train moves off to the sound of a steam locomotive. This is odd, as by this stage all main line expresses were in the hands of diesels and electrics. As it pulls clear of the platform, the locomotive depot and stabling point can be seen, and a Class 55 ‘Deltic’, a Class 47, and no fewer than six Class 31’s are ‘on shed’. The journey to London is initially depicted by an ‘over the camera’ stock shot of a Class 86 AC electric, still relatively new at the time and known as an AL6. This maybe somewhat unexpected, but it is wholly out-of-sync with the rest of the railway scenes. There is also a shot of St Pancras station and one further shot of a train passing behind Peter Noone as he runs along wasteland looking for his dog.