THE NIGHT WE GOT THE BIRD

GB
1961
1hr 22mins
Dir: Darcy Conyers
Starring: Brian Rix and Dora Bryan

A recently married man believes that a talking South American Parrot is a reincarnation of his predecessor

This comedy was a follow up to the 1959 film The Night We Dropped a Clanger and is based on Basil Thomas’ play The Lovebirds. The film features a scene where Brian Rix pursues the parrot to a railway station where it is accidentally put on to a train. Despite the station name reading ‘Brighton North’ this unfortunate incident actually takes place at Chessington North. There is a continuity error with the train though. When it arrives it is made up of a formation of pre-war Southern Railway EMU’s, only to have then become 1940s-built 4 SUB stock in the platform scenes that follow!

Brian Rix outside Chessington North, cleverly altered to read ‘Brighton North’.
On the platform now at Chessington North and a 3 SUB is arriving. Headcode L is Waterloo-Motspur Park or (in this case) Chessington South. From 1941, these alpha headcodes were replaced with two-digit route headcodes but the older stock kept the older style until there withdrawal.
Passengers come and go and clear evidence of a different train, which is now a 4 SUB.
This film is rather jolly once it gets going, and there are a number of clever visual puns. Here, the parrot sits in front of an appropriately worded Southern Region sign!