GB 1950 1hr 35mins Dir: Ralph Thomas Starring: Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons
A former secret service agent takes a job tending a butterfly collection only to be involved in murder
There is a short scene in this mystery film with Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons meeting on the ‘King’s Cross platform’ at Holborn (Kingsway). Although it certainly appears to be a real station, the tiling design does not match either the Piccadilly or Central Line platforms at Holborn. The exact identity of the station is therefore not known. There are shots of Newcastle Central station and a scene in St Nicholas Street looking down towards the castle. In the hazy background, an ex-NER Tyneside EMU passes over the bridge on its way out of the station. There are brief scenes shot at Liverpool Lime Street station with ex-LMS coaching stock visible which includes a close-up image of an express arriving from London Euston, and the film’s exciting climax is shot in Liverpool Docks. A Liverpool Overhead Railway EMU is filmed arriving at Gladstone Dock station and the stairs to Brocklebank Dock station are also visible in the background of one scene. A good number of Mersey Docks & Harbour Board 0-4-0 and 0-6-0ST locos are present with MD&HB 0-6-0ST No.4 featuring prominently. Finally, there is a very brief glimpse of a passing tram in the earlier Liverpool street scenes, working route 6A (Pier Head to Bowring Park).
Jean Simmons at an Underground station. Nick Cooper on his London Underground in Film and Television website speculates that the tiling is of the wrong design, matching neither that on the Piccadilly or Central Lines at Holborn. The roundels feature the correct station name in use at the time, but they are of the solid type, not used since the turn of the 20th century. The exact station is therefore not known but one thing appears certain, it is not a set as the tiling is far to complete for that.
Passengers make for the exit at Newcastle Central station
Despite following on from the above shot I do not believe that this is Newcastle Central. The roof is different for a start. A ‘stock shot’ of a London terminus seems more likely unless someone can prove otherwise.
Looking down St Nicolas Street to the ‘New Castle’, a Tyneside EMU is crossing on the bridge behind the trolleybus.
It is not only Newcastle Central that appears. This is Liverpool Lime Street, with ex-LMS coaching stock both left and right.
The very brief shot of a tram opens the Liverpool street scenes. It is working route 6A (Pier Head to Bowring Park)
A Liverpool Overhead Railway EMU arriving at Gladstone Dock station
This shot is of interest for several reasons. Jean Simmons is running towards the camera in the centre of the shot with the stairs up to Brocklebank Dock station behind her. Known as the ‘Dockers Umbrella’, the LOR runs on the elevated structure to the right. A BR railway van lurks in the shade beneath the deck of the overhead railway on a part of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board network.
Jean Simmons looks on as Mersey Docks & Harbour Board No.4 passes by with its warning bell gently clanging. Thanks to research from Ian Bendall at the Industrial Railway Society the locomotive’s identity has been confirmed. No.4 was an 0-6-0ST built by Avonside in 1930 (W/No.2006) that was in use with the MD&HB Traffic Department until it was sent for scrap in 5/1964.
A view of a busy warehouse from the rooftop of an adjoining structure shows an 0-6-0ST passing on the left.
Jean Simmons on the rooftop with another 0-6-0ST passing far below.
And the film ends with the criminal falling to their death beneath the wheels of this freight, hauled by another 0-4-0ST. Note the shadow of one of the cast or crew on the right.
