The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Charles Crichton

Writer:

T.E.B. Clarke (original screenplay)

Release Date:

20 October 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The Comedy Hit of the Year!

Plot:

Comedy of railfans who take over their village's passenger train service (against bus company resistance) when British Rail abandons it.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Railroad | Railway | Pub | Water Tower

Cast

Stanley Holloway	...	Walter Valentine
George Relph	...	Vicar Sam Weech
Naunton Wayne	...	George Blakeworth
John Gregson	...	Squire Gordon Chesterford
Godfrey Tearle	...	Ollie Matthews, Bishop of Welchester
Hugh Griffith	...	Dan Taylor
Gabrielle Brune	...	Joan Hampton
Sid James	...	Harry Hawkins (as Sidney James)
Reginald Beckwith	...	Coggett
Edie Martin	...	Emily
Michael Trubshawe	...	Ruddock
Jack MacGowran	...	Vernon Crump (as Jack McGowran)
Ewan Roberts	...	Alec Pearce
Herbert C. Walton	...	Seth
John Rudling	...	Clegg - Inspector from Ministry

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System) | Mono (Gaumont Kalee Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G (TV rating) | UK:U | Iceland:L | UK:U (video rating) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Bristol Temple Meads station, Bristol, England, UK

Company:

Michael Balcon Productions

Trivia:

The locomotive, "Lion" was damaged during filming when the carriage train is reunited with the locomotive. The rear frame was bent by the force of the impact. The damage was still visible in 2001.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the last sequence, some men are playing cricket as the Titfield Thunderbolt makes its winning run to Mallingford. Abandoning their game, they rush to the embankment to see the train go by. The scene shows the batsman at the crease being distracted as the train appears in the distance, and being clean bowled as a result. However, although the bails on the wicket fall to the ground, the ball bowled by the bowler clearly sails more than a foot above the wicket.

Quotes:

Valentine: [proposing a toast] Our magnificent generals, General Gordon and General Booth.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Forever Ealing (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Eton Boating Song

It's A Wonderful Ride.

I'll tell you- when you finished seeing an Ealing comedy, you walked out of there with a little spring in your step. This one is a tale of the lovely English village of Titfield, and its close-knit residents who are suddenly faced with losing a piece of their history. The distant authorities have planned the imminent abandonment of their historic branch-line railway, which had been built by a forefather of the village rector. The community protests, but the die seems to have been cast, and the clash of wills intensifies. The "Thunderbolt" of the title is the railway's original locomotive, which is eventually pulled from its graceful museum retirement, fired up, and pressed back into service by the desperate villagers. Heady material, indeed. Now, this could have been a cardboard, slapstick farce.... but Ealing always did things right. We feel the residents' deep sense of impending community loss as they work together against time to stave off the forces of apathy and of mercenary gain aligned against them. That means, of course, we'll be sharing their final trump over all the bad guys and naysayers. (Come on, you knew they'd win.) Are there really places like Titfield out there? (Or Bedford Falls, or the other stick-together hometowns that Frank Capra would tell us of?) At least we can all become honorary citizens for an hour or two. And I've revisited Titfield many times. Highly recommended to all.