GB
1955
1hr 31mins
Dir: George More O’Ferrall
Starring: George Baker and Diane Cilento
The owner of a circus sideshow and his prize attraction, in this case a midget, become romantically involved with the same woman
This drama is a real oddity. It is thoroughly un-politically correct but at the same time wholly sincere and unpretentious. Also, the Technicolor production that is so surprising for such a small-scale film from the fifties makes the carnival atmosphere so attractive. The majority of the scenes take place at Pinewood, which included an elaborate circus set, but there are two rather fine shots of passing express trains. The first shows a train crossing an embankment and bridge hauled by an ex-GWR ‘Castle’ Class 4-6-0, whilst the second shows an express leaving the southern portal of Hadley Wood North Tunnel hauled by an ex-LNER A3 Class 4-6-2. This was three years before the second tunnel was built alongside. The railway station ‘concourse’ and the carriage interior scenes are very obvious Pinewood creations.
