THE GHOST TRAIN MURDER

GB
1959
32mins
Dir: Peter Maxwell
Starring: Russell Napier and Jill Ireland

Scotland Yard detectives investigate the murder of a Hungarian girl found dead on an amusement park ride

This short crime film was part of the Scotland Yard series, a series of 39 episodes produced by Anglo-Amalgamated between 1953 and 1961. They are short films, largely half-hour in length, that were originally made to support the main feature in a cinema double-bill. Each film focused on a true crime case, with only the names changed, and featured an introduction by the crime writer Edgar Lustgarten. The Ghost Train Murder was No.31 in the series. These films should not be confused with the BBC television series of the same name broadcast in 1960 which are unrelated. The ghost train in the title of this film is of course a fairground ride, but there is a scene where the police follow a suspect to London Waterloo station. Although no trains are seen here in this instance, there is a stock shot from another Scotland Yard film in the form of a BR Standard 5MT passing through Grateley station as a body is flung from the train. This shot was filmed for The White Cliffs Mystery (qv).

A BR Standard 5MT passes through Grateley station in a shot originally seen in The White Cliffs Mystery
Mary Laura Wood leaves a porter to struggle with her enormous trunk at London Waterloo’s taxi road
Russel Napier is in the centre of this trio of police officers as they watch the comings and goings at Waterloo
An unusual view of the left luggage facility at the station