GB 1954 1hr 36mins Dir: Anthony Asquith Starring: David Knight and Odile Versois
A US Embassy man falls for the daughter of a foreign minister
This cold war romantic drama has a scene filmed on London’s Underground featuring stock shots of trains of ‘standard’ and 1938 stock interspersed with a sequence filmed onboard. It is not known where the former were shot, but the latter appears to be the real thing and not a set. Later in the film, the two lovers flee to the coast by train. The journey starts at London Victoria with SR 4 COR EMUs No.s 3125 and 3133 featuring. Notably, there is a sequence where David Knight jumps from an electric unit onto the outside of a train departing from the adjacent platform, which cleverly uses back-projection, stock footage, and a studio set to make this ‘jump’ quite realistic. The journey itself uses a couple of stock shots of LMS expresses hauled by ‘Princess Coronation’ Class 4-6-2s, taken of course from a certain 1945 production (yawn!), and an arrival scene that switches from LNER to Southern coaching stock. The final climatic sequence makes good use of Newhaven Town station, and a 2 BIL EMU appears here in the form of No.2126.
Odile Versois and David Knight on the platform of an Underground station. This could be a very detailed set but the letters ‘ESTER’ can very briefly be seen on a nameboard. Gloucester Road. Or Leicester Square perhaps?
1923 ‘Standard’ stock forming Train 169, a Piccadilly Line service to Uxbridge, arrives at an unknown station, the nameboard of which is not readable on the wall to the right. Both Gloucester Road and Leicester Square are on the ‘Picc’, but this of course could be anywhere on that line.
The guard keeps a watchful eye on the platform as a 1923 stock train departs from another, or the same, station.
David Knight onboard a tube train. The lighting belongs to ‘standard’ stock and the whole scene looks too authentic to be a set.
This train of 1938 stock is arriving at an unknown Northern Line station operating a service to High Barnet via Camden
This is the entrance to Platform 11 at London Victoria, with the chalk board advertising the next Continental Boat Train departure at 19:30.
4 COR EMU No.3133 awaits departure with a Newhaven boat train from Victoria. However, headcode 91 was for London Bridge – Bognor Regis via Mitcham Junction and Littlehampton.
The guard gets ready to board MBT No.11184. Curiously, this is an excellent piece of continuity as the vehicle belonged to unit 3133. Note the LITTLEHAMPTON destination board confirming this to be the same train seen above.
However, the continuity is somewhat ruined by this shot of a departing Littlehampton train. Vehicle 11129 was the MBT of unit No.3125.
This platform scene, however, is more than a little odd. The BR carmine and cream livery in relation to the bodysides looks all wrong and the windows do not seem deep enough and bear little resemblance to anything I know. Despite a NEWHAVEN window board I believe this is a set.
The first of two stock shots from Brief Encounter showing ‘Coronation’ pacifics storming through Carnforth
The second of the two stock shots from Brief Encounter. Just how many times have these two been used?
LNER teak coaching stock arrives into a station at night
Yet passengers are then seen alighting from a former Southern Railway coach in carmine and cream colours!!
2 BIL EMU No.2126 is seen drawing to a stand at Newhaven Town, in this slightly elevated view from the station footbridge. Headcode 28 was for Brighton-Seaford services.
