ON THE FIDDLE

GB
1961
1hr 26mins
Dir: Cyril Frankel
Starring: Alfred Lynch and Sean Connery

Two spivs make the most of their call up

This comedy was adapted from the R.F. Delderfield novel Stop at a Winner that was published the same year and it includes a scene filmed outside Shepperton station with a 4 SUB EMU visible in the platform. A train journey uses a stock shot from the 1945 movie Brief Encounter (again!), which shows an LMS ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0 passing through Carnforth on an express, and a very dark shot of passing coaching stock. Finally, there is a busy scene filmed in Watney Street, London E1, and the building of the old Shadwell Underground station is visible in the background.

Sean Connery and Alfred Lynch on the forecourt outside Shepperton station
Alfred Lynch with kit bag and a 4 SUB electric unit behind him
A stock shot from Brief Encounter. By this stage these scenes were a bit old hat and beginning to look somewhat dated and out of place.
This is all we see of a passing express at night. It could be absolutely anything really.
Crowds gather beneath the viaduct arches on Watney Street in east London with the building of Shadwell Underground station visible in the right hand background