The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953)

Directed by

Charles Crichton

Genre

comedy film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 23m

Rated

U

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 61 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Villagers fight to keep their local railway line open after British Railways plans to close it. They band together and operate the line themselves.

lightheartedwhimsicalgentleupbeatcharmingnostalgicplayfulfeel-good

What happens

The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Stanley Holloway, Naunton Wayne, George Relph and John Gregson. The screenplay concerns a group of villagers trying to keep their branch line operating after British Railways decided to close it. 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. "Titfield" is an amalgamation of the names Titsey and Limpsfield, two villages in Surrey near Clarke's home at Oxted. Michael Truman was the producer. The film was produced by Ealing Studios and was the first of its comedies shot in Technicolor. There was considerable inspiration from the book Railway Adventure by established railway book author L. T. C. Rolt, published in 1953. Rolt had acted as honorary manager for the volunteer enthusiasts running the Talyllyn Railway for the two years 1951–52. According to British rail enthusiast and film historian John Huntley's book Railways in the Cinema (published by Ian Allan in 1969), T. E. B. Clarke actually visited the Talyllyn Railway in 1951 and spent two days learning about the tribulations faced by its volunteers. A number of scenes in the film, such as the emergency resupply of water to the locomotive by buckets from an adjacent stream and passengers being asked to assist in pushing the carriages, were taken from incidents on the Talyllyn Railway recounted in Railway Adventure. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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