THE MISSING MILLION

GB
1942
1hr 24mins
Dir: Philip Brandon
Starring: John Warwick and Patricia Hilliard

A millionaire disappears after a blackmail attempt by criminals

This crime drama was based on the 1923 novel of the same name by Edgar Wallace and features two stock shots of trains. The first is that of London Paddington taken from The Last Journey (1935) showing a pair of 0-6-0 Pannier Tanks at the bufferstops. One is a standard 57xx but the other is an extremely rare glimpse of a 97xx ‘Condensing Tank’, which would have been quite new at the time. The second shot appears to show ‘Lord Nelson’ Class 4-6-0 No.859 Lord Hood passing through the centre roads of Headcorn station on an express. The shot is filtered to make it look like it is night, yet when the camera pans around a couple of unfiltered frames are very briefly seen!! For comparison, the original daytime shot can be seen in The Price of Wisdom (1935), Carry On Sergeant (1958) and The Whisperers (1967).

This 1930s view of London Paddington shows a pair of 0-6-0 Pannier Tanks ‘on the blocks’. In platform 1 on the left is a very rare glimpse of a 97xx series ‘Condensing Tank’, one of 11 built for operating meat trains to Smithfield Market on the Metropolitan ‘Widened Lines’ of the Underground system. The Pannier on the right in platform 2 is a more conventional 57xx type. Both would have worked in on empty stock from the carriage sidings.
This appears to show ‘Lord Nelson’ Class 4-6-0 No.859 Lord Hood passing through the centre roads of Headcorn station on an express. Read the text above to find out more. The original daytime view can be seen in Carry On Sergeant (1958) amongst others.
As the camera pans around to follow the train’s progress, a couple of frames of the train in its original unfiltered form are accidentally seen