Railroads In The Movies, Part II

[Aa3rt]

Does anyone remember this piece of schlock from 1972?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068309/

I never watched it myself and was only reminded of while looking through an old book.

[David Benton]

set in China , lots of train scenes , through breathtaking scenery .
a chinese love story i couldnt follow , but the images are worth watching the film for .
http://www.sonyclassics.com/zhou/

[Gilbert B Norman]

There is a TV movie currently making rounds of the various Starz channels titled "Derailed". The only actor in such "I've heard of" is Jennifer Anniston.

Nevertheless, there is considerable footage of Chicago METRA trains; some shot at Union Station, more along the UP (C&NW) lines. However, there are inaccuracies such as METRA identifies their lines by color, such as the "Red Line" (they don't, even if the CTA does). The screenplay is based upon a book that was set in the New York area and making mention of the LIRR.

The interior of the METRA railcars is a stage set and regretably looks it. Apparently, the production was largely filmed in the UK, with a "Chicago Unit" and necessary cast "deployed" to film the on location scenes. Neither METRA nor Amtrak, as owner of CUS, received any production credit (railroads generally don't want it).

The storyline is a real "thriller'; and leads one to believe it is best to think twice about with whom you strike up conversation aboard trains.

[David Benton]

sounds like its based on a book of the same name i read , Mr Norman . I think the author is James Siegel ( sp ?).Worth a read if you like twists in the tale .

[2nd trick op]

Hot Spell(1958) -- Shirley Booth, Anthony Quinn and Earl Holiman in a tale of a marriage under the stress of advancing age. Like Picnic, it dates from the time when producers tried to compete with TV by presenting adult subject matter in a tasteful manner -- Hollywood's finest hour, IMHO.

In the final scene, a newly-widowed Booth boards a passenger train headed by (if memory serves me correctly) one of IC's 2600-series 4-8-2's. Despite the relatively late date of the film (with regard to access to steam power), nothing's out of place in this scene.

[Gilbert B Norman]

The Johnny Cash/June Carter bioflick "Walk the Line' (presently making rounds at the various HoBO channels) contains an "ever so brief" pan of the Memphis Amtrak station.

For a movie set in the "mid '50's", there still remain plenty of buildings in that area contemporary to the era. The area was in the past of the 'don't walk alone at night" genre, but I understand today it is becoming "gentrified' with conversions of the existing buildings, including the Amtrak/ICRR station, into "loft" condos. When I "was last that way" during August '03, this appeared to be the case.

[The Metropolitan]

Danger Lights (1930) came on TCM this evening. I'm not usually a tremendous steam buff, but durned if it wasn't fascinating to watch, with the Milwaukee Road and Chicago VERY prominently featured!

[2nd trick op]

In his book "Corn Belt Route", historian H. Roger Grant makes note of the fact that religious and fraternal ties often determined the ethnic makeup of many of the employees of a particuler road. Thus, a Southern road might have a large contingent of Shriners, the Burlington and CGW were historically known as "Protestant railroads", and the Milwaukee was long noted for a large proportion of Irish-Americans. Probably without intending to do so, the producers of "Danger Lights" managed to convey that trait of the Milwaukee's culture.

[TRAINSFORBRAINS]

Opening scene, George Clooney and two other guys escape a chain gang and while still chained together try jumping into a boxcar in a train pulled by a steamer. Not to ruin the slapstick humour that comes next I'll leave that out... soon after they hitch a ride with a blind guy on a pump-cart that happens by. Probably my favorite comedy.

[TRAINSFORBRAINS]

THE FUGITIVE - Harrisson Ford almost bites it when the train derailed and wrecked. Not a bad scene but they used a model (1-1/2"=1'-0" scale I think) and it was kind of noticeable.

[geraldg]

I didn't see "The Valley of Lost Hope" of the list of movies involving trains. That movie contained the first train wreck staged of a movie. Two locomotive were crashed on the Alley Popper railroad line in Philipsburg, Pa. It was produced by th Lubin Film Company.

[james1787]

THE FUGITIVE - Harrisson Ford almost bites it when the train derailed and wrecked. Not a bad scene but they used a model (1-1/2"=1'-0" scale I think) and it was kind of noticeable.

From what I read they used a real train in the wreck

http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/fugitive.html

http://www.thesatya.com/albums/westnort ... /1842.html

There was a better page on it somewhere...

[Ron Newman]

So ... not a word yet about 3:10 to Yuma?

[Gilbert B Norman]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080507

This flick is "low bud', save remunerating Dame Peggy Ashcroft for her perfomance, but of interest to railfans in that the "stage props" are some railcars mostly parked at Ostende, but also on location scenes at Linz Austria, Frankfurt Hbf, and Dover UK.

As IMDB suggests, the storyline is priceless, and Dame Peggy is a superb actress and works well with the remaining cast comprised of 'who's he's?' (all I'm sure in awe of playing with a master of the craft).

The flick occasionally makes rounds on the various "indie" movie channels, and may be available somewhere on video. If you learn of its availability, grab it.

[2nd trick op]

In "Carmen Jones", Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge cavort on a string of flatcars pulled by one of Espee's ubuiquitous light-duty 2-8-0's. This film went unnoticed for many years due to the Hollywood "Red Scare".

And in the 1956 Warner version of "East of Eden", James Dean hops a steam-powered freight from Monterey back to Salinas. The posing of Dean on a set in front of a screen is obvious, but the other details are complete down to the official SP station marker, which had more import for dispatching purposes under the operating rules of the time.

And finally, the little-remarked "Edge of the City" (1957). John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier play two freight handlers from very different backgrounds, in a story for everyman. The rail scenes are minor, but the film is a reminder of the time when every major Eastern road had at least one pier on Manhattan.