THE CARD

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GB
1952
1hr 25mins
Dir: Ronald Neame
Starring: Alec Guinness and Glynis Johns

A charming and ambitious young man finds many ways to rise through the ranks in business and social standing

This smart drama was an adaptation of the short comic novel written by Arnold Bennett in 1911 called The Card, A Story Of Adventure In The Five Towns. Set in Stoke and its surrounding districts there is one scene towards the end where a local football team leaves a recreation pitch in the pouring rain having just lost 15-0! On an embankment in the background stands a rake of passenger coaches, but no locomotive is seen. This was in fact filmed at Maidenhead United’s York Road ground and although the pottery kilns in the background are a superimposed painted backcloth the coaches are real and are standing in a siding adjacent to the Great Western main line.

In front of a crowd of five, and two of them were directors, the Bursley team trudge off of a rain-soaked pitch having just lost 15-0 at home. Being a Southampton fan I thought 9 in the rain was bad enough!! This is Maidenhead United’s York Road ground and the carriages standing on the embankment behind are real.