NOOSE FOR A LADY

GB
1953
1hr 16mins
Dir: Wolf Rilla
Starring: Dennis Price and Rona Anderson

Believing that she is innocent, a man works against the clock to free his cousin who has been sentenced to death by hanging

This pretty good crime film is based on the 1949 novel Whispering Woman by Gerald Verner. It features a number of stock shots that are used to depict train journeys. The first is a going away shot of an ECML express approaching the still single bore Hadley Wood (South?) Tunnel at the hands of an ex-LNER A3 Class 4-6-2, whilst the other two feature an express train at night. Despite the steam locomotive being virtually indistinguishable in this instance, the distinctive outline shows it to be a streamlined Bullied pacific. The second of these night shots has been edited to show the rear of the train passing out of shot but it maybe the same one.

As is often the case in films, random stock shots are used to depict a train journey. This one is a little different, however, and shows an ex-LNER A3 Class 4-6-2 heading towards the original Hadley Wood Tunnel, probably the south tunnel. It would be six years after this film’s release that the line through Hadley Wood was quadrupled, necessitating the boring of a second pair of tunnels.
A streamlined Bulleid pacific approaches the camera at night in this stock shot that went to appear in Wrong Number (1959)
The rear of the express disappears off into the night. This may well be the rear of the train hauled by the Bulleid in the shot above.