THE STRANGER LEFT NO CARD

GB
1952
23mins
Dir: Wendy Toye
Starring: Alan Badel and Geoffrey Bayldon

A stranger arrives in a small town, costumed as a flamboyant itinerant magician with a folding bag of tricks

This enthralling short won the Best Fiction award at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival where it was described as a ‘masterpiece’. This brilliant little drama was filmed wholly in Windsor and there are opening and closing scenes at Windsor & Eton Riverside station with pre-war 3 SUB EMU’s present.

As children play on a barrow, a vintage pre-war suburban EMU arrives into platform 3 on a Headcode 18 service from Waterloo. This is Windsor & Eton Riverside, and with the removal of the old platform 1, this platform has been renumbered as the new 2.
Alan Badel makes his way past the ticket collector
As our intrepid character makes a point of being noticed, we get a good shot of the station architecture
Returning to the station at the end of the film, our much changed character catches another Route 18 to Waterloo
As he makes his way towards the train another unit has arrived into the adjacent platform
This final view is looking down the platform as passengers board the train