GB / US 2006 1hr 33mins Dir: Geoffrey Sax Starring: Alex Pettyfer and Sophie Okonedo
A 14-year-old schoolboy is recruited as a spy
This action adventure movie is based on Anthony Horowitz’s 2000 novel of the same name, the first novel in the Alex Rider series. In the US, the film was initially promoted as Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (then Alex Rider: Strombreaker) and was intended to be the first of a series of Alex Rider films, but no further films were made due to poor box office returns. The film contains aerial shots of London in the opening credits, and we get a glimpse of London Bridge station and Grosvenor Bridge, with a Class 465 ‘Networker’ EMU crossing on the latter. In addition to this, a number of other Class 465 sets are seen near the beginning, crossing viaduct arches in the Wandsworth Road area. There is a quite lengthy sequence filmed on the concourse of London Liverpool Street station where government agents access their headquarters via a photo booth, and if you look really hard, a Class 90 electric loco just creeps into the background of one shot. Finally, towards the end of the film there is a scene that takes place within the Making of the Modern World Gallery of the Science Museum in London, and No.1 Rocket can be seen along with Grand Junction Railway 2-2-2 No.1868.
London Bridge station is clearly visible bottom left in this aerial shot of the Thames. The first bridge is London Bridge itself, whilst the second bridge back is Cannon Street Railway Bridge. The fifth bridge that crosses the Thames in this shot is Blackfriars (or St. Paul’s) Railway Bridge.
A good shot of Grosvenor Bridge with a Class 465 ‘Networker’ EMU crossing
These are the viaduct arches off Pensbury Place, just east of Wandsworth Road station (which is behind the camera). The train, formed of a pair of Class 465 EMU’s, is on the Up Chatham Main bound for Victoria. Battersea Power Station looms large in the right hand background.
At ground level we get another, brief, glimpse, of a 465, this time on the Down Chatham Main
The concourse of a busy Liverpool Street station on a sunny day
A surprisingly rare view of the main station entrance to Liverpool Street, with the Great Eastern Railway war memorial on the wall on the left
In this view of the concourse from ground level the cab of a Class 90 electric loco is just visible to the left of the person wearing blue jeans, the red tail light all a glow
In the foreground of this view of the Making of the Modern World Gallery at the Science Museum is No.1 Rocket, Robert Stephenson’s original of 1829. Grand Junction Railway No.1868 is just creeping into view on the left.
A clearer view on the left of the front end of Grand Junction Railway 2-2-2 No.1868, built in 1845. The loco is on display here, but its tender is in store at Wroughton, Wiltshire. The green item of interest on the right is an Aveling & Porter steam traction engine of 1871.
