MY BROTHER’S KEEPER

GB
1948
1hr 36mins
Dir: Alfred Roome
Starring: Jack Warner and George Cole

Two convicts escape handcuffed together, but one is innocent

This well-regarded film, with a reputation as a tight, tense and fast-moving thriller, features some good action sequences filmed on the Watlington branch, and again at Aston Rowant station. A number of ex-GWR 5700 Class 0-6-0 Pannier Tanks are seen, one of which is working a mixed freight. Aston Rowant station was to appear in four feature films in five years: The Captive Heart (1946), My Brother Jonathan (1948), My Brother’s Keeper (1948) and Portrait of Clare (1950) all qv. Excerpts of all these films can be found at The Watlington Branch Line YouTube Playlist. The station closed to passengers in 1957 and to goods in 1961.

Of the four films that used Aston Rowant this is the only time we ever leave the platform thus providing us with a good view of the station entrance
A train pulls out of Aston Rowant
In this sequence filmed on the Watlington branch an escaped convict has just crossed the line in front of the approaching train, a mixed freight hauled by an ex-GWR 5700 Class 0-6-0PT
Having got across in time his pursuers are temporarily halted as the train passes by