Old films I've never seen

[bertiedog]

Pete mcfarlane

 

I like the Hammer film version, but the much longer TV version has a sense of creeping dread as Quatermass slowly works out what's happening. Also, not having Brian Donlevy makes the TV version better ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

Arrh yes,....Brian Donlevy, the overcoat he wore as Professor Quatermass did more acting than he did in the films!! He was completely wooden in the part, he hated working outside the US and it showed.

 

The infamous overcoat in question...........

 

 

[Arthur]

 

A good example of a British WW2 propaganda film is 'Went the Day Well', 1942.

 

It tells the story of the German invasion of a sleepy English village and how the residents fight back. The Germans are portrayed as an uncouth, ruthless, lot. It pulls no punches, several villagers are killed in the fight back and the postmistress graphically kills a German soldier billeted with her by cleaving his head with an axe. The residents secure their village until the British Army arrives.

 

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[pete_mcfarlane]

I never really believed Donlevy as a scientist. He basically just shouts a lot, and the fact that he's American doesn't make much sense within the context of the film. Andrew Keir, John Mills and Andre Morell all played Quatermass far better.

[bertiedog]

A railway connection is made in the Michael Redgrave film, "A Window in London", made in 1940, based on a play from the 1930's. Starts, and finishes, with views from a train, he has witnessed a murder in a window as it passes, and the consequences thereof, which end in a sudden violent twist to the whole plot.

 

The film is on this link, free like youtube

https://free-classic-movies.com/movies-04/04-1940-05-15-A-Window-in-London/index.php

 

It was considered a lost film for a long time, but a copy survived in a private collection.

[Arthur]

 

I always thought that many British films back then featured Americans in prominent roles to aid distribution in the US.

 

Having said that, I was a bit surprised that neither of the roles played by the Americans in The Abominable Snowman were sympathetic. They usually play the hero. Dana Andrews in 'The Night of the Demon' being a good example.

[bertiedog]

Not railway connected, but a real oddity, even by 1950's Hollywood B movie standards is "The Monolith Monsters", where people are attacked by living rocks from outer space! The special effects were quite ambitious, and costly, so they economised on everything else....a bit of a cult classic nowadays.

 

on Dailymotion   http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22numj_monolith-monsters_shortfilms

[locomad]

. Trouble with watching these things on YouTube is that you then find three others to watch, and then another five....

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Ten,twenty,hundred or so

 

So much at once and so much been posted it's overload it's Christmas every day.

 

I've had to ration what I watch or will spend all my free time watching and little time for coming on this forum.

 

One tonight I enjoyed was "Devil's bait" short 1 hour British film set in a bakery, my late dad mentioned this as we ran a bakery many years ago, he saw it one night and suggested I look out for it, it's never been repeated on TV. Quite a good film.

[locomad]

My 'thing' is WW2 propaganda films such as "In which we Serve" and "Next of Kin", etc., and whatever others of the era. I have seen most similar US films on the subject, some good, some bad, but they tend to ham up the heroics and thus more of a conventional feature film. British films stay more on the propaganda and how we are going to win the war. German ones are most interesting but not speaking German is a problem but seeing shots in pre war Germany is worth it.Brian.

One of the first films I looked up on you tube was Dr Gobbels film "Titanic" 1942, German propaganda film, but it's not bad at all if you forget the reason it was made. It's in German with subs, many of the clips were later used in a "Night to remember" 1956

 

Taking of German ww2 films there is quite a few with subs "Star of Africa" is no bad although the battle clips are a bit rubbish, nice human story.

[RJD]

The Train (Burt Lancaster) is good.  Apparently Lancaster learned to drive the steam locomotive for the sake of authenticity.

[bertiedog]

I always thought that many British films back then featured Americans in prominent roles to aid distribution in the US.

 

Having said that, I was a bit surprised that neither of the roles played by the Americans in The Abominable Snowman were sympathetic. They usually play the hero. Dana Andrews in 'The Night of the Demon' being a good example.

Indeed it was encouraged by tax breaks and deals to get names from Hollywood into a British film, as it attracted the US distributors. The main English proponent was J Arthur Rank, who after the war controlled most British output. Sir Michael Balcon did not like American imported "Stars" as he knew they were nearly always past their best in age, faded, or simply not so well known.

Michael Carreras keep US " stars" from most Hammer films.

 

The Pre war and just post war films intended for US distribution where known as Quota Quickies, made to balance the books with imported films..... make enough and it gave you the right to import from the States. Most were pretty cheaply made to rush through the quantity, nothing else. A lot of British actors dreaded working in these cheap films. So the Producers brought in  US names to bolster up the system, especially after the war.

 

Some US stars like Zelma O'Neil, June Clyde, Frances Day, etc, had moved to the UK and easily fitted in to the better UK productions..

 

In the opposite direction went hundreds of UK actors to appear in Hollywood, Boris Karloff, Eric Blore, Sir Guy Standing, Nigel Bruce, Cary Grant, Stan Laurel, Charlie Chaplin, Lupino Lane, Basil Rathbone, Arthur Wontner, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Ronald Coleman, David Niven, Ray Milland, C Aubrey Smith. et al.

 

[pete_mcfarlane]

One of the first films I looked up on you tube was Dr Gobbels film "Titanic" 1942, German propaganda film, but it's not bad at all if you forget the reason it was made. It's in German with subs, many of the clips were later used in a "Night to remember" 1956

 

Taking of German ww2 films there is quite a few with subs "Star of Africa" is no bad although the battle clips are a bit rubbish, nice human story.

There's also a rather good version of the Baron Munchausen story. It's surprisingly devoid of propaganda, although non-Northern Europeans tend to be presented as comedy foreigners, something that we British would never do....... 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnchhausen_(film)

[Welchester]

In the opposite direction went hundreds of UK actors to appear in Hollywood, Boris Karloff, Eric Blore, Sir Guy Standing, Nigel Bruce, Cary Grant, Stan Laurel, Charlie Chaplin, Lupino Lane, Basil Rathbone, Arthur Wontner, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Ronald Coleman, David Niven, Ray Milland, C Aubrey Smith. et al.

 

Given my forum name, I must add Godfrey Tearle.

[wombatofludham]

A good example of a British WW2 propaganda film is 'Went the Day Well', 1942.

 

It tells the story of the German invasion of a sleepy English village and how the residents fight back. The Germans are portrayed as an uncouth, ruthless, lot. It pulls no punches, several villagers are killed in the fight back and the postmistress graphically kills a German soldier billeted with her by cleaving his head with an axe. The residents secure their village until the British Army arrives.

 

.

 

One of my all time favourites and quite a daring subject for the time. 

 

I also enjoy watching "A Matter of Life and Death" and was able to watch it on the big screen at the delightful "Magic Lantern" cinema in Tywyn last year when the BFI sponsored showings of classic love stories at selected cinemas around the country.  It's an interesting and enjoyable film.

[bertiedog]

Baron Münchhausen is a superb film, starring Hans Albers, Germany's top 1930's movie star and popular singer, who had a very rocky ride with the Nazis as he had a life long female companion, but was never married to her, who was Jewish. He used his position to get her out of Germany days before the war, and found that Goebbels then had him under his control for the rest of the war.  Fortunately for Albers, Goebbels was a film fanatic, and simply did not want to have him eliminated.

 

The film was the first full length full colour film from Germany in the UFA2 process, later called Agfa film, from which Kodak developed Eastman Color and Kodacolor after the war. It was listed as banned after the war, along with all Nazi period films, but re-surfaced in the 1970's, and restored versions have been made from the negatives by UFA Studios.

 

Very much more entertaining than Terry Gilliams super expensive modern version.

[locomad]

Hell Drivers.

Almost the entire cast were, or went on to become, household names, Stanley Baker, Patrick McGoohan, Sean Connery, Herbert Lom, Sid James, William Hartnell, Alfie Bass and a young David McCallum.

.

Brilliant film, Hell drivers 1956, film I watched tonight which I never seen before included Stanley Baker, David McCallum, with Peter Cushing, set in Liverpool dock area in 1958, was "Violent Playground", one of those "grim up north films". Brilliant steet clips including dock shunters, not surprised as never seen on TV as last 30 minutes would never get passed the PC sensors, quite shocking really 40 years ahead of its time.

[locomad]

The Train (Burt Lancaster) is good.  Apparently Lancaster learned to drive the steam locomotive for the sake of authenticity.

Saw the "train" recently on main stream telly, but wonder if anyone could help us, there's a similar film, maybe in French, with subs about french ww2 train crews based in a engine shed forced to take out trains during Normandy campaign about 1944. Ive seen it on English telly about 30 years ago but can't remember the name?

[Coppercap]

Brilliant film, Hell drivers 1956, film I watched tonight which I never seen before included Stanley Baker, David McCallum, with Peter Cushing, set in Liverpool dock area in 1958, was "Violent Playground", one of those "grim up north films". Brilliant steet clips including dock shunters, not surprised as never seen on TV as last 30 minutes would never get passed the PC sensors, quite shocking really 40 years ahead of its time.

He'll Drivers has been on TV on more than one occasion in the last few years. I don't know if any of it has been cut from the original cinema release though. Good film.

[Pacific231G]

The Train (Burt Lancaster) is good.  Apparently Lancaster learned to drive the steam locomotive for the sake of authenticity.

If you get a chance it's also worth seeing La Bataille du Rail, a French film about the "Resistance Fer" made immediately after the war from which a lot of the delaying tactics shown in The Train (one of my favourite films) were taken. I'm not sure if that's the film locomad is thinking of.  

La Bete Humaine is also well worth seeing but one of the most atmospheric films about a steam loco I've ever seen is conveyed in a short "Pacific 231D 735" made by SNCF's film unit in 1968 when mainline steam was coming to an end. It's definitely up there with Snowdrift at Bleath Gill. This film has now been made publicly available by SNCF's archive centre here  http://sncfopenarchives.minit-l.com/archive/trsardo1270   .Most of the dialogue is from Emile Zola's text for La Bete Humaine but though it's in French the meaning is pretty clear and it siimply follows a locomotive from shed to destination in day and night . 

[locomad]

If you get a chance it's also worth seeing La Bataille du Rail, a French film about the "Resistance Fer" made immediately after the war from which a lot of the delaying tactics shown in The Train (one of my favourite films) were taken. I'm not sure if that's the film locomad is thinking of.  

La Bete Humaine is also well worth seeing but one of the most atmospheric films about a steam loco I've ever seen is conveyed in a short "Pacific 231D 735" made by SNCF's film unit in 1968 when mainline steam was coming to an end. It's definitely up there with Snowdrift at Bleath Gill. This film has now been made publicly available by SNCF's archive centre here  http://sncfopenarchives.minit-l.com/archive/trsardo1270   .Most of the dialogue is from Emile Zola's text for La Bete Humaine but though it's in French the meaning is pretty clear and it siimply follows a locomotive from shed to destination in day and night .

 

Brilliant film thanks for posting just watched the whole of it, it's on YouTube with English subtitles, it's not the one I was asking about but well worth watching.

 

If you're quick about 21 minutes in is a clip of a WD 2-8-0 on shed, which of course is not quite accurate, however the bren gun carriers been loaded later, could well have been accurate as the Germans did used these as many were captured in 1940, like also the French tank off loaded from the armour train

[Littlethorpe]

Talking Pictures is not on Freeview, it is on Freeview+, which meant buying a new set top box to go with a TV with built in Freeview. So far after two years Virgin will not take it on cable, citing very low demand. A great pity, as the quality is much better on cable, and the Tivo box can record the film.

 

Only just found this Thread & don't know if anyone has commented on the above Post. Talking Pictures TV is available on Channel 81 on standard Freeview as long as you have an HD-ready TV. Although the Channel isn't shown in HD it's something to do with the way it's broadcast as far as I understand.

[Coppercap]

A similar film in a way is the slightly later The Trollenberg Terror, (AKA The Crawling Eye in US), with Alf Garnett, sorry.... Warren Mitchell, as a scientist trying to defend a mountain top research project from crawling eye monsters! It features Forest Tucker , who is in The Abominable Snowman, and had Jimmy Sangster, who worked at Hammer normally, producing the film independently.

It falls in the category of so bad it is good films!14.jpg

The fact it was so bad probably explains why it became the last film produced at Southall Studios! (My grandfather claimed he appeared in some of their early silents in the 1920s as an extra - he was a policeman, playing a policeman! They lived opposite the studios at the time.)

[Pacific231G]

Brilliant film thanks for posting just watched the whole of it, it's on YouTube with English subtitles, it's not the one I was asking about but well worth watching.

 

If you're quick about 21 minutes in is a clip of a WD 2-8-0 on shed, which of course is not quite accurate, however the bren gun carriers been loaded later, could well have been accurate as the Germans did used these as many were captured in 1940, like also the French tank off loaded from the armour train

Hi locomad

I'm curious about the film made in Normandy that you saw and would love to find it.

 

La Bataille du Rail was made immediately after the war when the railway network was still being repaired so I suspect the fim makers simply used whatever military equipment they could get hold of and doubt if historic accuracy was at the top of their agenda. What I couldn't figure out was how they got permission to wreck a steam loco for the Kilometer 212 scene given the desperate shortage of motive power in France at that time. Possibly the loco, "Pershing" consolidation 5-140G436, built by Baldwin, had wartime damage that had written it off. Most of the film was shot in Brittany and the derailment was staged near the village of Trégrom near Lannion.

 

"The Train" also has its share of anachronisms. You may notice in the aerial view of "Vaires" a number of 141Rs, a large class ordered by SNCF from North American builders after the war   lined up at the side of the depot. The drama was supposed to be set on the Eastern Region between Paris and the German border and the 4-6-0 locos of class 1-231B were from that region. The railway scenes though were mostly shot on the Western Region south of Rouen with "Rive-Reine" being the small town of Acquigny. The ancient 060 that started the wrecking process at "Rive-Reine was a venerable C.F. de l'Ouest type first built in 1867 that as SNCF class 3-030C was still in service until 1966. If you're a real stickler though you'll notice that though the Est used Vignoles (Flat bottom) rail  a lot of the track seen in the film, including the length of rail that Burt Lancaster sabotages to finally stop the art train is Double-Champignon (bullhead) as favoured by the C.F. de l'Ouest.

 

There's an article on the locations used for "The Train" here  http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/peclegg/sncf/articles/article_2008_07.html

though sadly the line through Acquigny is once again closed and derelict.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Pacific231G

[Ceptic]

The Train (Burt Lancaster) is good.  Apparently Lancaster learned to drive the steam locomotive for the sake of authenticity.

 Burt L., again, this time along-side Kirk D.,(Kirk's now breaking into 100 + years of age) in "Tough Guys". A (USA) rail (road) related (robbery) film,

A film that has been featured, very rarely, on mainstream  UK TV ,  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QerGDkBDFWQ

Edited February 16, 2017 by Ceptic

[Coppercap]

One of the first films I looked up on you tube was Dr Gobbels film "Titanic" 1942, German propaganda film, but it's not bad at all if you forget the reason it was made. It's in German with subs, many of the clips were later used in a "Night to remember" 1956

Taking of German ww2 films there is quite a few with subs "Star of Africa" is no bad although the battle clips are a bit rubbish, nice human story.

Wasn't it not shown in Germany during the war as by the time it was completed the war was starting to go badly against Germany? It was aimed as a propaganda film against Britain, but Goebbels decided that to have shown it would have been foretelling the sinking of Germany into the abyss, which would have had a demoralising effect on the German population. I did read that it was shown in France before the Normandy invasion, which seems surprising, considering the French would probably see in the film the demise of their occupiers!

[caradoc]

He'll Drivers has been on TV on more than one occasion in the last few years. I don't know if any of it has been cut from the original cinema release though. Good film.

 

Hell Drivers is good, although I've not seen it for many years and have been unable to find it on sale as a DVD.

 

I watched Get Carter for the first time on TCM last night, and although the train journey at the start was good, the part I found most interesting (from an industrial/transport point of view) was right at the end, the cable system dumping colliery waste into the sea (at Blackhall, County Durham). Two things strike me: How such a method of waste disposal was used, and considered perfectly normal; And how sad that all remnants of it have been destroyed, including the large concrete tower in the sea; Could it not have been left as a monument to the area's mining heritage ?