THE EARLY BIRD

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GB
1965
1hr 38mins
Dir: Robert Asher
Starring: Norman Wisdom and Edward Chapman

A small milk company is threatened by takeover from a national firm

This Norman Wisdom comedy has a memorable scene in which his milk handcart is trapped on a level crossing and demolished by a passing train. The level crossing is a mock-up with excellent stock footage of a Met-Camm ‘Blue Pullman’ DMU cut in, all the better seeing that the film is in colour.

This is the level crossing on which Norman’s handcart gets trapped. It is entirely a set but has been included as it sets the scene for what comes next.
A Blue Pullman approaches the camera in this stock shot filmed somewhere on a four track main line (note also that the level crossing above has only two tracks)
And the Blue Pullman recedes from the camera. These were probably shots taken from a BR publicity film.