GB
1953
1hr 09mins
Dir: Montgomery Tully
Starring: Donald Houston and Susan Shaw
A Canadian ex-serviceman resists criminals and the temptation of signing for a major football team in order to play for his local non-league side
This drama set to a sporting backdrop has an excellent opening shot filmed at Winchelsea station with a train passing through non-stop hauled by ex-SECR L Class 4-4-0 No.31768. However, for some inexplicable reason, the shots of Kent Walton leaving the platform used Worcester Park station in Surrey, and the shot of the L passing through Winchelsea appears for a second time later on! Towards the end of the film there is also a scene filmed at a level crossing but no trains feature. The film is set in the world of association football and features appearances from sporting legend Denis Compton and commentator Raymond Glendenning, as well as players from Arsenal, Millwall and Hayes football clubs. It also features the only screen acting credit of Kent Walton, later to himself become a famous sports commentator. The film soon disappeared from cinemas and its fate was unknown for several decades. The British Film Institute included it on its “75 Most Wanted” list of missing British feature films due to its perceived interest as a sporting period piece, the involvement of stars of the sporting world at the time, its curiosity value as the only known British black-and-white football-set thriller apart from The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, and for increasing interest by historians in Tully as a director. Happily it was later found, restored, and released on DVD though in reality the film is nothing special.
