GB
1969
1hr 36mins
Dir: John Dexter
Starring: Nigel Davenport and Lynn Redgrave
Trials of British Army troops on active duty during the Malayan Emergency of 1950
Based on the 1966 comic novel of the same name by Leslie Thomas, this wonderfully ironic war drama was largely shot in Malaya itself, including most of the railway scenes, though the train crash that occurs near the end was filmed on British soil. Using the abandoned Haverhill-Shelford line at Bartlow in Essex, withdrawn ex-LMS Class 5MT ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No.44781 was bought by Columbia Pictures and ‘modified’ to look like a Far Eastern locomotive. Equipped with cow-catcher, headlamp, large side tanks (though it retained its tender!) and given the number 531.03, it was ‘derailed’ and positioned in a ditch alongside the wrecked tracks. The Haverhill-Shelford line had closed entirely from 6th March 1967 so Bartlow was already derelict by the time the film crews arrived. Potted palm trees and other foliage were added to make the scene look like a far eastern jungle. The loco meanwhile had merely been placed off-track with great care, as Columbia Pictures thoughtfully believed that the loco could be resold afterwards. It was duly offered for sale by the production team after cessation of filming, and a sale was agreed with a local enthusiast, though the prohibitive costs of removal and transportation eventually saw the loco cut up where it lay.
