GB
1984
1hr 50mins
Dir: Michael Radford
Starring: John Hurt and Suzanna Hamilton
The squalid existence of people in a totalitarian superstate
This dystopian drama film is based upon George Orwell’s 1949 novel of the same name and should not be confused with the 1956 film version. There is a scene that is shot on the Kent & East Sussex Railway with ex-SR USA Class 0-6-0T No.30065 and a suitably bleak-looking train. The locomotive is weathered in a dull grey livery with ‘INGSOC’ (English Socialism) state plaques on the smokebox and tank sides whilst the coaching stock is rather battered and includes a number of broken windows. The loco does not carry any numeric identity. The station scene meanwhile was played by the near derelict former Nine Elms (South Lambeth) Goods Depot prior to demolition and its all suitably grim.
