Train of Events
Encyclopedia
Train of Events is a 1949 British
film made by Ealing Studios directed by Sidney Cole
, Charles Crichton
and Basil Dearden
.
A portmanteau work, it tells the various stories of the passengers who are on a train which crashes into a stalled petrol tanker at a level (grade) crossing.
-bound train waiting to depart from Euston station in London. The train leaves with various characters on board.
After dark, the train is still travelling north at speed when a light being waved by the trackside is seen by the driver. He applies the brakes, but a road tanker stalled across a level crossing is looming up just ahead. Plainly, there is not enough room to stop. Just as the collision is about to occur there is a fade out, which is succeeded by a general view of the railway locomotive sheds at Euston, three days earlier.
Several personal stories are then told in a series of flashbacks which make up the train of events referred to in the title.
Peter Finch plays Philip, an actor on board the train who has a dark secret. He has been visited by his estranged wife, and in a tense scene set in his lodgings we learn that she has been unfaithful while he was serving in the Army. She jeers at him, and he is roused to one supreme effort of revenge, strangling her while a gramophone plays These Foolish Things. The theatre party to which he belongs is travelling on the train, en route to a tour of Canada
. Also on board is a costume hamper, which contains the body of his wife. He is hoping to "lose" it somehow on the Transatlantic crossing, but two suspicious detectives have been tracking him, and are on board the train too.
Also among those troubled on this journey are a desperate couple, Richard and Ella (Laurence Payne
and Joan Dowling
). He is a former prisoner of war on the run, who hates the idea of returning to Germany
. They have endured a miserable life of subterfuge in a succession of seedy lodgings, and Ella is hoping that they can start again on the other side of the Atlantic. However, Ella has stolen money from her landlady's cashbox in order to pay for the journey, and there was only enough for one of them to emigrate. Selflessly, she intends that it will be him.
A lighter note is sounded by the tale of composer Raymond Hillary (John Clements), who is travelling to a performance away from London with his star pianist, the temperamental Irina (played by Irina Baranova). Although married, he has a string of dalliances behind him, and Irina is the latest of these.
The fourth story takes place at the front of the train, centred on engine driver Jim Hardcastle (Jack Warner
). He is facing his own crisis, because he is a candidate for a job in management at the locomotive sheds. This would take him off the footplate and allow him to work office hours for the first time in his career, which is the heartfelt wish of his wife Emily (Gladys Henson). However, in order to protect his daughter's future husband when he was accidentally absent, Jim illicitly worked the younger man's shift, and this innocent deception could cost him the promotion.
The scene returns to the train, which is now roaring through the dark of the evening. Again, there is the light by the track, and the tanker just ahead. This time, we see the whole collision.
The derailed and damaged train is lying in ruins. Jim Hardcastle groggily recovers consciousness in a pile of coal from the overturned tender, and shocked passengers wander about. One of them is Richard, but Ella cannot wander. She is on a stretcher and evidently badly hurt, and dies before she can be taken away for treatment.
Philip, meanwhile, seems unhurt and tries to make a dash for freedom. But as he tries to evade the detectives he runs dangerously close to the wreckage, just in time to be caught as the end of an unstable coach collapses on top of him.
Irina and Raymond are only bruised, and their company is able to continue with their performance, albeit in bandages.
There is a happy ending for driver Jim. The final scene shows him waving goodbye to his wife, as he prepares to cycle across to the locomotive sheds on his first day in that nine-to-six job.
No. 46126 Royal Army Service Corps. Two Royal Scots, No. 46100 Royal Scot and No. 46115 Scots Guardsman, and several Jinties are preserved today, including No. 47327 at the Midland Railway - Butterley
.
Jack Warner was permanently injured while making this film. He had insisted on learning how a steam engine is driven to get his posture right, and hurt his back in an incident during this familiarisation. He had a slight limp ever afterwards as a result, which became noticeably worse as he aged.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
film made by Ealing Studios directed by Sidney Cole
Sidney Cole
Sidney Henry Cole was a British film and television producer and editor.Cole was educated at the LSE, and entered the film industry as a scenario reader for Stoll Picture Productions, a company founded by Sir Oswald Stoll...
, Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton was an English film director and film editor. He became best known for directing comedies produced at Ealing Studios...
and Basil Dearden
Basil Dearden
Basil Dearden was an English film director.-Life and career:Dearden was born at Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. He graduated from theatre direction to film, working as an assistant to Basil Dean...
.
A portmanteau work, it tells the various stories of the passengers who are on a train which crashes into a stalled petrol tanker at a level (grade) crossing.
Plot
The film opens with a long shot of a LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
-bound train waiting to depart from Euston station in London. The train leaves with various characters on board.
After dark, the train is still travelling north at speed when a light being waved by the trackside is seen by the driver. He applies the brakes, but a road tanker stalled across a level crossing is looming up just ahead. Plainly, there is not enough room to stop. Just as the collision is about to occur there is a fade out, which is succeeded by a general view of the railway locomotive sheds at Euston, three days earlier.
Several personal stories are then told in a series of flashbacks which make up the train of events referred to in the title.
Peter Finch plays Philip, an actor on board the train who has a dark secret. He has been visited by his estranged wife, and in a tense scene set in his lodgings we learn that she has been unfaithful while he was serving in the Army. She jeers at him, and he is roused to one supreme effort of revenge, strangling her while a gramophone plays These Foolish Things. The theatre party to which he belongs is travelling on the train, en route to a tour of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Also on board is a costume hamper, which contains the body of his wife. He is hoping to "lose" it somehow on the Transatlantic crossing, but two suspicious detectives have been tracking him, and are on board the train too.
Also among those troubled on this journey are a desperate couple, Richard and Ella (Laurence Payne
Laurence Payne
Laurence Payne was an English actor and novelist.-Early life:Laurence Stanley Payne was born in London. His father died when he was three years old, and he and his elder brother and sister were brought up in by their mother, a Wesleyan Methodist in Wood Green, London...
and Joan Dowling
Joan Dowling
Joan Dowling was an English character actress.-Biography:Joan Dowling was an English Actress of the 1940–50s era. She was the illegitimate daughter of Vera Dowling and was brought up by her great grandmother in Uxbridge...
). He is a former prisoner of war on the run, who hates the idea of returning to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. They have endured a miserable life of subterfuge in a succession of seedy lodgings, and Ella is hoping that they can start again on the other side of the Atlantic. However, Ella has stolen money from her landlady's cashbox in order to pay for the journey, and there was only enough for one of them to emigrate. Selflessly, she intends that it will be him.
A lighter note is sounded by the tale of composer Raymond Hillary (John Clements), who is travelling to a performance away from London with his star pianist, the temperamental Irina (played by Irina Baranova). Although married, he has a string of dalliances behind him, and Irina is the latest of these.
The fourth story takes place at the front of the train, centred on engine driver Jim Hardcastle (Jack Warner
Jack Warner (actor)
Jack Warner OBE was an English film and television actor. He is closely associated with the role of PC George Dixon, which he played until the age of eighty....
). He is facing his own crisis, because he is a candidate for a job in management at the locomotive sheds. This would take him off the footplate and allow him to work office hours for the first time in his career, which is the heartfelt wish of his wife Emily (Gladys Henson). However, in order to protect his daughter's future husband when he was accidentally absent, Jim illicitly worked the younger man's shift, and this innocent deception could cost him the promotion.
The scene returns to the train, which is now roaring through the dark of the evening. Again, there is the light by the track, and the tanker just ahead. This time, we see the whole collision.
The derailed and damaged train is lying in ruins. Jim Hardcastle groggily recovers consciousness in a pile of coal from the overturned tender, and shocked passengers wander about. One of them is Richard, but Ella cannot wander. She is on a stretcher and evidently badly hurt, and dies before she can be taken away for treatment.
Philip, meanwhile, seems unhurt and tries to make a dash for freedom. But as he tries to evade the detectives he runs dangerously close to the wreckage, just in time to be caught as the end of an unstable coach collapses on top of him.
Irina and Raymond are only bruised, and their company is able to continue with their performance, albeit in bandages.
There is a happy ending for driver Jim. The final scene shows him waving goodbye to his wife, as he prepares to cycle across to the locomotive sheds on his first day in that nine-to-six job.
"The Engine Driver"
- Jack WarnerJack Warner (actor)Jack Warner OBE was an English film and television actor. He is closely associated with the role of PC George Dixon, which he played until the age of eighty....
as Jim Hardcastle - Gladys HensonGladys HensonGladys Henson was a British actress whose career lasted from 1932 to 1976 and included roles on stage, radio, films and television series...
as Mrs Hardcastle - Susan ShawSusan ShawSusan Shaw was an English actress.Shaw began her film career in 1946 when she was signed to a contract by the J. Arthur Rank Organisation...
as Doris Hardcastle - Patric DoonanPatric DoonanPatric Doonan was a British stage and screen actor. He featured in films of the time as The Blue Lamp, Train of Events and The Cockleshell Heroes but never played the leads...
as Ron Stacey - Miles MallesonMiles MallesonWilliam Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, particularly known for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the...
as Timekeeper - Philip Dale as Hardcastle's fireman
- Leslie PhillipsLeslie PhillipsLeslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...
as Stacey's Fireman
"The Prisoner-of-War"
- Joan DowlingJoan DowlingJoan Dowling was an English character actress.-Biography:Joan Dowling was an English Actress of the 1940–50s era. She was the illegitimate daughter of Vera Dowling and was brought up by her great grandmother in Uxbridge...
as Ella - Laurence PayneLaurence PayneLaurence Payne was an English actor and novelist.-Early life:Laurence Stanley Payne was born in London. His father died when he was three years old, and he and his elder brother and sister were brought up in by their mother, a Wesleyan Methodist in Wood Green, London...
as Richard - Olga LindoOlga Lindo-Filmography:* The Shadow Between * Royal Cavalcade * Dark World * The Last Journey * A Romance in Flanders * Luck of the Navy * The Stars Look Down * What Men Live By...
as Mrs. Bailey
"The Composer"
- Valerie HobsonValerie HobsonValerie Hobson was a British actress who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s...
as Stella - John ClementsJohn ClementsSir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.Clements attended St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge University then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet's Shakespearean Company. He made...
as Raymond Hillary - Irina BaronovaIrina BaronovaIrina Mikhailovna Baronova , FRAD was a Russian ballerina who was one of the Baby Ballerinas of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, discovered by George Balanchine in Paris in the 1930s...
as Irina - John GregsonJohn GregsonJohn Gregson was an English actor.He was born Harold Thomas Gregson, of Irish descent, and grew up in Wavertree, Liverpool, where he was educated at Greenbank Road primary school, later St Francis Xavier School...
as Malcolm - Gwen Cherrell as Chairman
- Jacqueline Byrne as TV Announcer
"The Actor"
- Peter FinchPeter FinchPeter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
as Philip - Mary MorrisMary MorrisMary Morris was a British actress.-Life and career:She was the daughter of Herbert Stanley Morris, the botanist, and his wife Sylvia Ena de Creft-Harford. She was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.She made her stage debut in Lysistrata at the Gate Theatre, London, in 1935...
as Louise - Laurence NaismithLaurence NaismithLaurence Naismith was an English actor.Naismith appeared in films such as Carrington VC , Richard III , Sink the Bismarck! , Jason and the Argonauts , and Diamonds Are Forever . He also starred in a children's ghost film The Amazing Mr Blunden...
as Joe Hunt - Doris Yorke as Mrs Hunt
- Michael HordernMichael HordernSir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...
as Plainclothesman - Charles Morgan as Plainclothesman
- Guy Verney as Producer
- Mark DignamMark DignamMark Dignam was a prolific English actor.Born in London, the son of salesman in the steel industry, Dignam grew up in Sheffield and was educated at the Jesuit College where he appeared in numerous Shakespearean plays....
as Bolingbroke - Philip Ashley as Actor
- Brian ColemanBrian ColemanBrian Coleman FRSA is a Conservative Party politician and member of the London Assembly for Barnet and Camden, England. He is a Councillor in the London Borough of Barnet, and was Mayor for 2009-2010....
as Actor - Henry HewittHenry Hewitt-Selected filmography:* School for Scandal * Stamboul * Madame Guillotine * The Written Law * Betrayal * Admirals All * Rembrandt * The High Command * Old Iron...
as Actor - Lyndon BrookLyndon BrookLyndon Brook was a British actor, on film and television.Born in York, Brook came from an established acting family. His father, Clive Brook, had been a star of the silent movies and had moved to Hollywood to play quintessential Englishmen in a host of films...
as Actor
Production information
The locomotives used in the film included two LMS Class 3F "Jinty" 0-6-0Ts Nos. 47327 and 47675, and LMS Royal Scot ClassLMS Royal Scot Class
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway Royal Scot Class is a class of 4-6-0 express passenger locomotive introduced in 1927. Originally having parallel boilers, all members were later rebuilt with tapered type 2A boilers, and were in effect two classes.-Background:Until the mid-1920s, the LMS...
No. 46126 Royal Army Service Corps. Two Royal Scots, No. 46100 Royal Scot and No. 46115 Scots Guardsman, and several Jinties are preserved today, including No. 47327 at the Midland Railway - Butterley
Midland Railway - Butterley
The Midland Railway – Butterley is a heritage railway, formerly known until 2004 as the Midland Railway Centre, at Butterley, near Ripley in Derbyshire.-Overview:...
.
Jack Warner was permanently injured while making this film. He had insisted on learning how a steam engine is driven to get his posture right, and hurt his back in an incident during this familiarisation. He had a slight limp ever afterwards as a result, which became noticeably worse as he aged.