THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT

UK, 1953, 84 minutes, Colour.
Stanley Holloway, George Relph, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson, Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Griffith, Sid James, Reginald Beckwith, Jack MacGowran?.
Directed by Charles Crichton.

The Titfield Thunderbolt is one of the classics from the golden years of Ealing Studios. From the late 40s to the mid-50s, under the directorship of Sir Michael Balcon, Ealing Studios produced a great number of comedies which reflected the social issues of the time, gathered together a strong group of character actors, especially Alec Guinness, who were able to embody for the British audience these characters and their crises. They were so well done that they were popular all over the world.

T.E.B. Clarke, journalist, policeman and writer, was responsible for many of these films including Hue and Cry and The Lavender Hill Mob. Charles Crichton also directed a number of the films including both Hue and Cry and The Lavender Hill Mob. He was to continue directing for many decades, finally collaborating with John Cleese in 1988 for A Fish Called Wanda.

The film was, in many ways, prophetic. Small rail lines continued to be closed from the 1950s on, leading to the nationalisation of transport systems in the UK. Here, a small rail line is threatened, a wealthy personage wants to keep it open (especially for the rather liberal licensing laws). However, buses were coming into their own and the bus company challenges the villagers who want to restore the train line.

While films like this belong to a past that has long since gone, the themes are a reminder of social questions which continue even in far more advanced technological times.

1. How attractive a comedy? The gentle title and the irony?

2. The film as a British comedy of the fifties, Ealing Studios, small scale, pleasant, the focus on people, their eccentricities and British traditions? How well presented?

3. The impact for the fifties? Now? The changes in Britain?

4. Comment on the detail of life in the village, the variety of characters and their characteristics, the way of life in the country, the way of speaking, interests etc.?

5. The hold of British tradition and its influence on British character? How plausibly presented here?

6. The train as a symbol of British tradition? The old train contrasted with the new? With the buses?

7. The bus people presented as villains? How appropriate?

8. The test trial, the inspection, the suspense climax whether the rail line would keep open?

9. The film as a warm and affectionate look at people and institutions?