GB 1954 1hr 20mins Dir: John Gilling Starring: Larry Parks and Constance Smith
An American journalist works to expose a criminal gang in London
This crime film is an adaptation of the 1941 novel Never Come Back by John Mair and features quite a number of good railway scenes. There is a fight scene that takes place in a railway yard which results in one of the villains falling to his death beneath a train. This thrilling sequence was filmed at Taplow on the Western Region with the villain making his way onto the railway by jumping from a window of the Station Master’s house, which originally served as the GWR Boardroom when the railway first terminated here. A couple of ‘Castle’ Class 4-6-0’s pass by on expresses, as well as a 5101 Class 2-6-2T on a freight. Taplow station is visible in the background to several of the shots and the goods yard has on display a fine collection of period wagons. The only problem is that the scenes have been filmed day-for-night so they are a little darker than one would really like. There is another scene filmed at Walton-on-Thames on the Southern Region with an electric train arriving in the background. Meanwhile, the movie has several good scenes filmed on the London Underground at both High Street Kensington and Gloucester Road stations, with excellent shots of Q-stock trains formed from a mix of vintage clerestory stock and Q38 flared stock. Gloucester Road is said in the film to be ‘Cannon Street’ and, confusingly, the concourse of the ‘real’ Cannon Street station does appear as part of this sequence of events, though no trains are visible.