Quote: Billy Bunter @ 2nd February 2023, 3:35 PM

I watched it mainly because both the Talking Pictures info and IMDB had Gordon Harker as the first name on the cast, suggesting he was a leading character (although I note that IMDB does not have a character name for him). But I failed to catch sight of him; I have my doubts that he was ever in it.

Surprised when, after the first break for adverts, as you say, it became a "talkie", when, prior to that, it had been completely a silent film.

An enjoyable film nevertheless.

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Yes, I've always liked Gordon Harker and can highly recommend his three Inspector Hornleigh films, as they are a real hoot - I think I have them on DVD somewhere. Watch out for them on TPTV, if they are repeated.

Anyway yes, I don't think he was in this film and is a mistake on the IMDb's part, with TPTV copying the mistake.

I'm going to dig it out of the deleted folder of my digi-box and run through the start of the film, just in case I missed him, but I'm sure I would have noticed, being a fan of his.

What did you think of Harbottle not looking like Harbottle at all!?

Well, of course, it's always difficult to know what a well made-up actor looks like under the make-up but, yes, I agree, one would never recognise the two characters as being one and the same person.

And yes, I included the Inspector Hornleigh films in my post on the "top 50 British Comedy Films" back in the day. I have the three (unofficial) DVDs. Also amongst my favourites are Saloon Bar and Small Hotel, both of which I believe we've discussed before, and 29 Acacia Avenue and Friday the Thirteenth (with Jessie Matthews).

Gordon Harker was in a 1929 film The Wrecker, which is similar to The Flying Scotsman, and includes what is recognised as the most spectacular staged steam locomotive crash in the history of British cinema, using 22 cameras and actually destroying a real locomotive, and I wonder if IMDB has got its wires crossed with that title.

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 2nd February 2023, 4:44 PM

Gordon Harker was in a 1929 film The Wrecker, which is similar to The Flying Scotsman, and includes what is recognised as the most spectacular staged steam locomotive crash in the history of British cinema, using 22 cameras and actually destroying a real locomotive, and I wonder if IMDB has got its wires crossed with that title.

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Good point

Well, whizzed through the recovered film and Harker is definitely not in it. Only the four main stars are mentioned in the titles, but sadly the closing credits were cut off by TPTV

I did even make a point of checking out the Railway Superintendant and the manager of the Staff Bar, but neither were Gordon Harker.

Did notice, when checking "The Wrecker" that the same girl Pauline Johnson was in both films.

**EDIT I'll inform IMDb if I get a chance, but it is such a rigamarole with them

Thanks for checking. I probably wouldn't have recorded it if I'd known he wasn't in it. Glad I did see it though. Yes, I think IMDB must have confused the two films. I can confirm though that Pauline Johnson was in The Wrecker (I have the DVD with booklet) so they haven't got that wrong.

Yes, I'm a big fan of Harker too, as you may have gathered, but I went for the film mainly becase Moore Marriott was in it and I wanted to see what he looked like.

Melvyn Hayes gave it a good review in his 1930s film slot - do you watch them?

You can always pick holes if you try hard enough with films, especially old ones, and the thing that stuck out for me was at the end of the film, when the guard stepped down from the cab, after helping to get the train to Edinburgh and when Marriott was talking to his daughter and Ray Milland, looking down at them from his cab - their heads were level with the engine's number, whereas it should have been about 4 feet above them!

But then, it was clearly a studio mock up (and very good one too) and I don't suppose there was much to it below what we could see on screen, and you get a sense of how big that engine was when Marriott steps down from the real engine, which towers above him, and the wheels towered over him!

I looked at the scene again when the girl walked along the outside of the train, and was gobsmacked that she agreed and did such a stunt, as that was seriously dangerous! And she must have done it at least twice as there two shots taken from totally different angles.

I'm going to shut up now.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 3rd February 2023, 11:42 AM

Y

Melvyn Hayes gave it a good review in his 1930s film slot - do you watch them?

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?

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 4th February 2023, 4:12 PM

?

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Sorry, I got waylaid. No, I don't watch it as a matter of course - only if the film itself appeals as in this case.

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 4th February 2023, 8:36 PM

Sorry, I got waylaid. No, I don't watch it as a matter of course - only if the film itself appeals as in this case.

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Same here, and he can be a bit long winded sometimes, but I suppose informative.

What made me laugh though, was when the series was about to start, and was announced on Footage Detectives as coming up, Noel Cronin, the silly old fool, called him Mervyn Haynes.................... snigger

Invisible Invaders (1959)

I'm a sucker for these films, if only to see how bad they can be, and this one lived up to way above my expectations!
How on earth the one reviewer on the IMDb could recommend this is beyond me as it was abysmal - with so many holes in the plot, it was farcical.
I would call it a poor man's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", which was a half decent film - this one being aliens taking over dead people's bodies to invade and destroy Earth for no apparent reason.
2/10

I watched a documentary on Kathy Kirby on one of these channels the other day then wished I hadn't as it was quite depressing seeing her used and tossed aside by the industry.

The Magnetic Monster (1953)

Could it get any worse than the "Invisible Invaders" (1959) I watched and reviewed yesterday? Well yes, it could and here's living proof, with an absolute load tosh, and no scarier than a sparkler on bonfire night, which is what the magnetic "monster" (er, no) looked like. How they all kept a straight face is a wonder.

Had the same leading lady, as it happens, and she still looked like a plain Jane.

Even the cars were boring, and that's not usual with 1950's American iron.

Worse than yesterday, so 1/10

"Now Barabbas was a robber..." (1949)

The title intrigued me, and then when I read the cast list, which included Richard Burton, I just had to give it a look.

"Porridge" with no humour, you could say and quite dark, especially seeing the 1950's super clean hero Robin Hood (Richard Greene) playing a man condemned to hang for murder - quite tense those scenes.

Add to those two, Mr Partridge (Leslie Dwyer) as a bigamist with 9 children, with one of his wives played by Kathleen Harrison, Stephen Murray (vicar), Ronald Howard (Leslie's brother), Alec Clunes (Martin's dad), Dr Who (William Hartnell) as the hard nose guard, Harry Fowler as the cockney hard nut, Kenneth More as a lying kleptomaniac living in his own fantasy world and finally Sir Cedric Hardwicke as the humane governor who tries, but finds it very difficult, to be fair to one and all.

The only weird thing for me, was they had Richard Burton playing a convicted IRA man called Paddy (with a Welsh accent). It was his second ever film.

All in all, a very good film

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 6th April 2023, 12:22 PM

"Now Barabbas was a robber..." (1949)

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I've got it recorded to watch in due course. Like you I was intrigued by the cast list.

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 6th April 2023, 5:10 PM

I've got it recorded to watch in due course. Like you I was intrigued by the cast list.

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Enjoy 🙂