The film is set in Cornwall. Several passengers leave a train, and find no other train available at the train station. They are stranded there during a rainy night, and learn that the station is supposedly haunted by a ghost train.
Tommy Gander, a music hall comedian, pulls the communication cord on a GWR express train, bringing it to a stop so he can retrieve his hat. Returning to the train, he escapes an angry conductor by ducking into a compartment occupied by attractive blonde Jackie Winthrop, with whom Gander flirts. Another passenger, Teddy, has his eye on Jackie as well, but her companion Richard Winthrop ejects both of them from the compartment.
When the train stops at Fal Vale Junction, Cornwall, these four get off to change trains, as do Herbertand his fiancée Edna, spinster Miss Bourne, and the tippling Dr Sterling. However, the stationmaster, Saul Hodgkin tells them the last Truro-bound train has gone, and that they cannot remain at the station, as he is locking up for the night. The passengers insist on staying, as it is raining heavily and the nearest village is 4mi (6.4km) away.
Hodgkin warns them the station is haunted. A branch line once crossed the river on a swing bridge close to the station. One night 43 years ago, then stationmaster Ted Holmes had a fatal heart attack while attempting to close the bridge, causing a train to plunge into the river. Ever since, a phantom train has been heard periodically on the abandoned track. It is said to kill anyone who looks upon it.
With that, he reluctantly leaves them. As the passengers make themselves as comfortable as they can, they hear footsteps outside. Richard opens the door, and Hodgkin collapses into the room. Dr Sterling pronounces him dead. Later, a terrified young woman in black appears. She, Julia, pleads for help, saying that someone is pursuing her. A car spins off the road and crashes into a tree. The driver is unhurt, but his car is damaged. Back in the waiting room, he introduces himself as John Price and explains that he is searching for his sister Julia, who he says suffers from delusions. Julia protests that he is lying. Price further explains that she thought she had seen the ghost train, and became obsessed with it ever since. The passengers tell him that Hodgkin has died. When Price insists on seeing the body, they discover it has mysteriously vanished.
Price leaves to arrange transportation. Then an approaching train is heard. As it thunders past, Julia smashes a window to look at it, then screams and faints. They hear singing from the nearby railway tunnel mouth. Julia claims that Ben Isaacs, the sole survivor of the accident, is coming back. Teddy shoots at the "ghost", causing it to flee back into the tunnel, leaving behind a bloodstained cloth.
Teddy shows the others the cloth and orders the others, at gunpoint, to stay put until the police arrive, but Richard punches him, knocking him out. The passengers carry him to the bus Price has obtained. When Teddy comes to, he is furious with Richard, as now there will be no one to intercept the train on its return journey. When Gander remarks that he had returned the bridge to the open position, Dr. Sterling suddenly orders the bus driver to stop, while his confederate, Price, produces his own gun. Sterling orders the driver to turn back so they can warn the train.
Meanwhile, guns are being loaded aboard the "ghost train"; a very much alive Hodgkin flags the train off and climbs aboard. Teddy explains that the train is really being used by Nazi fifth columnists to secretly transport arms. While Price heads down the embankment with Julia and the driver to try to stop the train, Teddy knocks Sterling out and gains control of the situation. The train plunges into the river.
The first sound film version was released in 1931 with Jack Hulbert. The Askey version was announced in August 1939.[3] The script had to be rewritten to accommodate Askey; the actions of Hulbert's part were divided between the comic star and Richard Murdoch.[4]
Filming did not proceed immediately; in January 1941 reports said Carol Reed would direct and Edward Black would produce.[5] Eventually the job of directing went to Walter Forde who had made the earlier sound version.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The film is a remake, with up-to-date dialogue, of Arnold Ridley's famous play, and is extremely well directed and produced. The photography is most effective, and of course, since Arthur Askey plays the part of Tommy Gander, comedian, the fun is fast and furious in spite of the increasing tension as the plot develops. There are three other most admirable performances in this film, to wit, Kathleen Harrison spinster visiting evacuees, Morland Graham as Dr. Sterling and Herbert Lomas as the stationmaster."[7]
Sight & Sound called it "funnier and more ghostly than the original".[8]
British film critic Leslie Halliwell said: "Adequate remake with the lead split into two characters, which doesn't work quite as well."[9]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch, the stars of the hit radio show Band Waggon, were reunited for this flag-waving remake of the classic play by Arnold Ridley about a haunted country station. Try as director Walter Forde might to inject some atmosphere, there's a predictability about both the proceedings and the comedy. Askey was never at his best on screen and his energetic overacting has dated badly."[10]
TV Guide noted the film was "good for a few laughs and a couple of chilling surprises."[11]
Soundtrack
Arthur Askey – "The Seaside Band" (Kenneth Blain) – (UK DECCA F 9944 10" 78 rpm shellac PICTURE LABELS)[12]
Related Research Articles
Richard Bernard Murdoch was an English actor and entertainer.
Arthur Bowden Askey, was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation and catchphrases including "Hello playmates!", "I thank you" and "Before your very eyes".
Jan Sterling was an American film, television and stage actress. At her most active in films during the 1950s, Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty (1954) as well as an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. Her best performance is often considered to be opposite Kirk Douglas, as the opportunistic wife in Billy Wilder's 1951 Ace in the Hole. Although her career declined during the 1960s, she continued to play occasional television and theatre roles.
William Arnold Ridley, OBE was an English playwright and actor, earlier in his career known for writing the play The Ghost Train and later in life in the British television sitcom Dad's Army (1968–1977) as the elderly bumbling Private Godfrey, as well as in spin-offs including the feature film version and the stage production.
The Ghost Train is a stage comedy-thriller, written in 1923 by the English actor and playwright Arnold Ridley.
Gloucester, formerly known as Gloucester Central, is a railway station serving the city of Gloucester in England. It is located 114 miles 4 chains (183.5 km) west of London Paddington, via Stroud.
Back-Room Boy is a 1942 British comedy mystery film directed by Herbert Mason, produced by Edward Black for Gainsborough Pictures and distributed by General Film Distributors. The cast includes Arthur Askey, Googie Withers, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. It marked the film debut of Vera Frances. The original story was written by J.O.C. Orton, Marriott Edgar and Val Guest. A man from the Met Office is sent to a lighthouse on a remote Scottish island to monitor the weather, where he hopes to escape from women, but soon finds the island overrun by them.
Stolen Face is a 1952 British film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Paul Henreid, Lizabeth Scott and André Morell. A plastic surgeon falls in love with a pianist, but she is engaged to someone else, so he remodels the face of an ex-convict to resemble the pianist, and marries her instead.
Arthur Crabtree was a British cinematographer and film director. He directed films with comedians such as Will Hay, the Crazy Gang and Arthur Askey and several of the Gainsborough Melodramas.
Spøgelsestoget is a 1976 Danish family film directed by Bent Christensen. It is based on Arnold Ridley's 1923 play The Ghost Train.
A ghost train is a phantom in the form of a train.
Holmes Herbert was an English character actor who appeared in Hollywood films from 1915 to 1952, often as a British gentleman.
I Thank You is a 1941 black and white British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. It was produced by Edward Black at Gainsborough Pictures. The title of the film is the literal version of Arthur Askey's famous catch-phrase which he idiosyncratically pronounced as "Ay-thang-yaw".
De Spooktrein is a 1939 Dutch horror film, directed by Carl Lamac.
Band Waggon is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch and Moore Marriott. It was based on the BBC radio show Band Waggon.
The Ghost Train is a 1931 British comedy thriller film directed by Walter Forde and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge and Ann Todd. It is based on the play The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley. The film's art direction was by Walter Murton.
The Ghost Train is a 1927 German-British crime comedy film directed by Géza von Bolváry and starring Guy Newall, Ilse Bois and Louis Ralph. It is an adaptation of Arnold Ridley's play The Ghost Train. The film was a co-production between Gainsborough Pictures and Phoebus Film and was shot at the latter's Staaken Studios in Berlin. The film was released in France as Le Train Fantome.
Vincent Holman was a British stage, film and television actor. On stage, he was in the original cast of Arnold Ridley's The Ghost Train at Brighton's Theatre Royal and London's St. Martin's Theatre in 1925-1926.
The Ghost Train is a 1933 Hungarian comedy mystery thriller film directed by Lajos Lázár and starring Jenö Törzs, Marika Rökk and Ella Gombaszögi. It is an adaptation of Arnold Ridley's 1923 play The Ghost Train. It was shot at the Hunnia Studios in Budapest. The film's sets were designed by the art director István Szirontai Lhotka. A Romanian version of the story was also produced the same year.
A Train in the Night is a 1934 French mystery film directed by René Hervil and starring Dolly Davis, Georgius and Alice Tissot. It is an adaptation of Arnold Ridley's play The Ghost Train.
References
↑ "The Ghost Train". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
↑ "ONWARD AND UPWARD!". Smith's Weekly. Vol.XXII, no.45. New South Wales, Australia. 4 January 1941. p.19. Retrieved 3 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
