The Titfield Thunderbolt

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The Titfield Thunderbolt
Original movie poster
Directed by	Charles Crichton
Produced by	Michael Truman
Written by	T.E.B. Clarke
Starring	Stanley Holloway George Relph Naunton Wayne John Gregson Hugh Griffith Gabrielle Brune Sid James
Music by	Georges Auric
Cinematography	Douglas Slocombe
Editing by	Seth Holt
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures (USA) Icon Entertainment (non-USA)
Release date(s)	March, 1953
Running time	84 mins.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Ratings
Australia:	G
Iceland:	L
United Kingdom:	U

The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1952 film about a story of villagers trying to prevent British Railways from closing the fictional Titfield branch line.

The film was produced by Ealing Studios and starred Stanley Holloway, George Relph and John Gregson. Its director was Charles Crichton, and Michael Truman was the producer. It was the first Ealing comedy shot in Technicolor and the first colour comedy made in the UK. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway locomotive Lion starred as Thunderbolt.

The film was written by T.E.B. Clarke and was inspired by the restoration of the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway in Wales, the world's first heritage railway run by volunteers. Shooting was largely carried out in the Cam Valley near Bath, England, on the recently closed branch line along the Cam Brook valley between Camerton and Limpley Stoke, formerly part of the Great Western Railway. Titfield station was in reality Monkton Combe station, whilst Titfield village was nearby Freshford, with other scenes being shot at the disused Dunkerton colliery. Mallingford station was Bristol Temple Meads.

Contents 1 The steam roller confrontation 2 Trivia 3 External links 4 Further reading

[edit] The steam roller confrontation

A memorable incident from the film is where Hawkins (Sid James) is paid to block the line with his steam roller, with a view to preventing the villagers running their train. The GWR 14xx loco makes short work of pushing the roller out of the way. Later on in the film, Hawkins is 'persuaded' to give up the chain used for the roller's steering mechanism to provide a coupling for the test train. This would have made the steam roller undriveable, so was quite a sacrifice to make.

The steam roller used was still in commercial service at the time of filming, and was not sold for preservation until some years later. After 6 years off the road for a full restoration, the roller returned to steam in 2006, and was in action as part of the road making demonstration at the Great Dorset Steam Fair of that year.

[edit] Trivia

• John Gregson had never driven a car before making this film. Ironically in his next film, Genevieve, he raced a vintage car.
• Driver Ted Burbidge, fireman Frank Green and guard Harold Alford were not actors, they were British Railways employees from Westbury depot and were to be uncredited extras. Charles Crichton spoke to them on location and realized they "looked and sounded the part" so they were given speaking parts.
• T.E.B. Clarke was a neighbour of Richard Beeching, then Director of ICI, at the time of writing and filming. Beeching's 1963 report The Re-shaping of British Railways resulted in the closure of many branch lines like the one portrayed in the film.

[edit] External links

• The Titfield Thunderbolt at the Internet Movie Database
• Simon Casten's Titfield Thunderbolt website
• Gordon Dudman's Titfield Thunderbolt website
• Alex Seal's The Titfield Thunderbolt - The Music by Georges Auric page
• John Gregson - Website dedicated to the British actor

[edit] Further reading

• Castens, Simon (2002-07-22). On the Trail of The Titfield Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt Books. ISBN 0-9538771-0-8. 
• Huntley, John (1969). Railways In The Cinema. Ian Allan, 76-79. SBN 711001154. 
• Mitchell, Vic; Keith Smith (June 1996). Frome to Bristol including the Camerton Branch and the "Titfield Thunderbolt". Middleton Press. ISBN 1-873793-77-4.