Toot Toot! The Little Engine that Could becomes a tale of the little town that could, when their tiny rail service is discontinued. A crackerjack cast of Ealing regulars — Stanley Holloway, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson — band together to take over the little spur line and keep it running. We get to see a vintage locomotive from the early 1800s in action, but the appeal isn’t limited to lovers of trains — Ealing’s knack for inspired, understated comedy is all over this show. Plus, it’s the company’s first feature in Technicolor, and is beautifully remastered.
The Titfield Thunderbolt
Blu-ray
Film Movement Classics
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / Street Date , 2020 /
Starring: Stanley Holloway, George Relph, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson, Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Griffith, Gabrielle Brune, Sidney James, Reginald Beckwith, Edie Martin, Michael Trubshawe, Jack MacGowran, Ewan Roberts.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Seth Holt
Original Music: Georges Auric
Written by...
The Titfield Thunderbolt
Blu-ray
Film Movement Classics
1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / Street Date , 2020 /
Starring: Stanley Holloway, George Relph, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson, Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Griffith, Gabrielle Brune, Sidney James, Reginald Beckwith, Edie Martin, Michael Trubshawe, Jack MacGowran, Ewan Roberts.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editor: Seth Holt
Original Music: Georges Auric
Written by...
- 1/11/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The British actor and director had been suffering from cancer.
Alan Rickman, the British actor best known for his roles in Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the Harry Potter films, has died in London aged 69.
His death was confirmed on Thursday by his family, according to The Guardian, which reported that Rickman had been suffering from cancer.
Rickman began his acting career in theatre, where his credits include a Tony nomination for his performance in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
His feature film debut came in 1988 alongside Bruce Willis in Die Hard, playing scene-stealing villain Hans Gruber. Rickman went on to appear in more than 40 films, including the entire Harry Potter series, Sweeney Todd and Love Actually.
Rickman was awarded a BAFTA in 1992 for his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In the same year, he was also BAFTA-nominated for his lead role in...
Alan Rickman, the British actor best known for his roles in Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the Harry Potter films, has died in London aged 69.
His death was confirmed on Thursday by his family, according to The Guardian, which reported that Rickman had been suffering from cancer.
Rickman began his acting career in theatre, where his credits include a Tony nomination for his performance in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
His feature film debut came in 1988 alongside Bruce Willis in Die Hard, playing scene-stealing villain Hans Gruber. Rickman went on to appear in more than 40 films, including the entire Harry Potter series, Sweeney Todd and Love Actually.
Rickman was awarded a BAFTA in 1992 for his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In the same year, he was also BAFTA-nominated for his lead role in...
- 1/14/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...
- 8/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The British actor-director revealed stories from Die Hard, Harry Potter, Robin Hood and his latest film, A Little Chaos.
Alan Rickman entertained a select audience in London last night with stories from nearly 30 years in movies.
Speaking on stage at the latest BAFTA: A Life In Pictures event, the actor-director revealed how his first exposure to film was at school with titles like Ealing comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt, before going to art school and encountering his first major influences: Antonioni and Fellini.
“But I don’t know that I thought this would be part of my life,” he recalled. “To be perfectly honest, having a film career at all is a bit of a surprise.”
After going to Rada at 25, Rickman established himself on stage and TV, and didn’t star in his first film until his early 40s. That film just happened to be the blockbuster action hit Die Hard.
He won the...
Alan Rickman entertained a select audience in London last night with stories from nearly 30 years in movies.
Speaking on stage at the latest BAFTA: A Life In Pictures event, the actor-director revealed how his first exposure to film was at school with titles like Ealing comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt, before going to art school and encountering his first major influences: Antonioni and Fellini.
“But I don’t know that I thought this would be part of my life,” he recalled. “To be perfectly honest, having a film career at all is a bit of a surprise.”
After going to Rada at 25, Rickman established himself on stage and TV, and didn’t star in his first film until his early 40s. That film just happened to be the blockbuster action hit Die Hard.
He won the...
- 4/16/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The very first feature film to be shot entirely in Technicolor by the renowned Studio and now celebrating its 60th year anniversary since its original release in 1953, Charles Crichton's esteemed British comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt makes its way onto DVD and Blu-ray this Monday (14 January), all thanks to UK distributors Studio Canal. To celebrate this momentous home entertainment rerelease, we've decided to offer our readership the opportunity to win one of Three DVD copies of the film over the next seven days. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 1/17/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Catch up with the last seven days in the world of film
The big story
You know the score: weird little statuettes, fulsome compliments and a few off-colour jokes, evening gowns and tears, yada yada yada. That's the normal run of things with the Golden Globes. Then Jodie Foster had to go and wreck everything by saying something that actually meant something.
Even though practically everyone on the planet already knew, Foster "came out" by thanking her ex-partner Cydney Bernard as she picked up a lifetime achievement award. Her speech prompted immediate dissection by the digital classes, with both pro and anti positions.
In the kerfuffle, everyone seemed to forget there was an awards ceremony going on, at which the Brits – especially Les Misérables – did rather well.
Here's what the Guardian film team thought.
In the news
Nicole Kidman's Grace Kelly biopic 'inaccurate', say Monaco royals
Al Pacino and...
The big story
You know the score: weird little statuettes, fulsome compliments and a few off-colour jokes, evening gowns and tears, yada yada yada. That's the normal run of things with the Golden Globes. Then Jodie Foster had to go and wreck everything by saying something that actually meant something.
Even though practically everyone on the planet already knew, Foster "came out" by thanking her ex-partner Cydney Bernard as she picked up a lifetime achievement award. Her speech prompted immediate dissection by the digital classes, with both pro and anti positions.
In the kerfuffle, everyone seemed to forget there was an awards ceremony going on, at which the Brits – especially Les Misérables – did rather well.
Here's what the Guardian film team thought.
In the news
Nicole Kidman's Grace Kelly biopic 'inaccurate', say Monaco royals
Al Pacino and...
- 1/17/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★★★ The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953), starring legends of British screen Stanley Holloway, Hugh Griffith and Sid James, is one of those rare things seldom found in cinema - a film which is virtually perfect in every respect. Made by the iconic Ealing Studios and directed by Charles Crichton (who'd been responsible for the studio's previous hits Dead of Night [1945] and 1951's The Lavender Hill Mob), this story of a group of villagers who fight to save their local railway line when it's threatened with closure, is as fresh now as when it was released sixty years ago - which makes this new StudioCanal rerelease all the more enjoyable and satisfying.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 1/15/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Although Ealing Studios did not exclusively make comedies – actually, less than ten percent of their output was comic – it is the run of comedies from the late ’40s into the ’50s that the studio is best remembered for, and it’s not difficult to see why. Under the leadership of Michael Balcon, the legendary British producer who also founded Gainsborough Pictures, they produced incredibly sharp, witty and likeable comedies ranging from the whimsy of a film like Passport to Pimlico to the razor-sharp black comedy of Kind Hearts and Coronets, also released in 1949.
The movies were quintessentially British, and often got funnier as they got darker precisely because the characters had to uphold good British virtues while getting away with political upheaval (Passport to Pimlico), theft (The Lavender Hill Mob, one of their best) or murder (Kind Hearts and Coronets). This paradox is prevalent in Passport to Pimlico,...
Although Ealing Studios did not exclusively make comedies – actually, less than ten percent of their output was comic – it is the run of comedies from the late ’40s into the ’50s that the studio is best remembered for, and it’s not difficult to see why. Under the leadership of Michael Balcon, the legendary British producer who also founded Gainsborough Pictures, they produced incredibly sharp, witty and likeable comedies ranging from the whimsy of a film like Passport to Pimlico to the razor-sharp black comedy of Kind Hearts and Coronets, also released in 1949.
The movies were quintessentially British, and often got funnier as they got darker precisely because the characters had to uphold good British virtues while getting away with political upheaval (Passport to Pimlico), theft (The Lavender Hill Mob, one of their best) or murder (Kind Hearts and Coronets). This paradox is prevalent in Passport to Pimlico,...
- 6/12/2012
- by Adam Whyte
- Obsessed with Film
Martin Kemp's werewolf embarrassment, David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia rides again and Ealing classics get a spruce-up
One in the eye for Martin
How must Martin Kemp feel? The Krays star, EastEnder and sofa seller was also once, of course, a member of Spandau Ballet. He can now be found contributing an ill-starred cameo to the dreadful, straight-to-dvd British comedy (I think) Strippers vs Werewolves. In the film's opening scene, Martin, aroused by a stripper dressed in schoolgirl uniform, turns into a werewolf and she, taking fright, stabs him in the eye. That's him over with, after just two minutes.
Then the opening credits kick in… set to "Hungry Like the Wolf", by his 80s arch rivals Duran Duran. Oh the infamy. Always believe in your soul, Martin - at least the BBC are bound to play "Gold" a lot during the Olympics.
Arabian nights at this year's...
One in the eye for Martin
How must Martin Kemp feel? The Krays star, EastEnder and sofa seller was also once, of course, a member of Spandau Ballet. He can now be found contributing an ill-starred cameo to the dreadful, straight-to-dvd British comedy (I think) Strippers vs Werewolves. In the film's opening scene, Martin, aroused by a stripper dressed in schoolgirl uniform, turns into a werewolf and she, taking fright, stabs him in the eye. That's him over with, after just two minutes.
Then the opening credits kick in… set to "Hungry Like the Wolf", by his 80s arch rivals Duran Duran. Oh the infamy. Always believe in your soul, Martin - at least the BBC are bound to play "Gold" a lot during the Olympics.
Arabian nights at this year's...
- 4/28/2012
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
Continuing my London theme from last week, this wonderful three-color poster for the Ealing Comedy Hue & Cry was the work of renowned British illustrator Edward Bawden.
Directed by Charles Crichton, Hue & Cry was the first in what was to be a rich decade of comedies made by Ealing Studios. Shot on location in war-ravaged London, the film centers on a gang of boys who foil the plans of a master crook played by the redoubtable Alastair Sim (drawn by Bawden as black as night and stroking a cat in full Dr. Evil mode).
Edward Bawden (1903-1989), a favorite artist of Edward Gorey who lamented that Bawden wasn’t better known, was a prolific illustrator, graphic designer and painter. In the 1930s, as a commercial artist, he produced posters for Fortnum & Mason and the London Underground, among many other commissions. During the Second World War he was selected as one of...
Directed by Charles Crichton, Hue & Cry was the first in what was to be a rich decade of comedies made by Ealing Studios. Shot on location in war-ravaged London, the film centers on a gang of boys who foil the plans of a master crook played by the redoubtable Alastair Sim (drawn by Bawden as black as night and stroking a cat in full Dr. Evil mode).
Edward Bawden (1903-1989), a favorite artist of Edward Gorey who lamented that Bawden wasn’t better known, was a prolific illustrator, graphic designer and painter. In the 1930s, as a commercial artist, he produced posters for Fortnum & Mason and the London Underground, among many other commissions. During the Second World War he was selected as one of...
- 11/25/2011
- MUBI
To celebrate the DVD release of The Halfway House available on DVD now, Optimum Home Entertainment have given us three copies of the movie to give away on DVD. The movie was directed by Basil Dearden and stars Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns and Sally Ann Howes.
2011 sees the centenary of the birth of Ealing stalwart Basil Dearden, who directed more Ealing films than any of his peers – 18 – including The Blue Lamp, Saraband for Dead Lovers and The Halfway House. He was also the director of the ground-breaking Victim, starring Dirk Bogarde.
The Halfway House is an enjoyable mystery tale of a group of strangers driven to take shelter at a remote Welsh Inn during a storm. Each has a personal problem to hide, but they are soon brought together by unsettling events perhaps precipitated by their hosts, the enigmatic innkeepers. Starring Mervyn Johns and real-life daughter Glynis, The Halfway House...
2011 sees the centenary of the birth of Ealing stalwart Basil Dearden, who directed more Ealing films than any of his peers – 18 – including The Blue Lamp, Saraband for Dead Lovers and The Halfway House. He was also the director of the ground-breaking Victim, starring Dirk Bogarde.
The Halfway House is an enjoyable mystery tale of a group of strangers driven to take shelter at a remote Welsh Inn during a storm. Each has a personal problem to hide, but they are soon brought together by unsettling events perhaps precipitated by their hosts, the enigmatic innkeepers. Starring Mervyn Johns and real-life daughter Glynis, The Halfway House...
- 6/24/2011
- by Competitons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Technicolor technician visited the London Film School, a bedrock of anarchic creativity, in 1968 and set a keen student on his way. Don Boyd has never forgotten his masterclass
I first met the great cinematographer and director Jack Cardiff when he came to the London Film School in 1968 to show his film The Girl on a Motorcycle, which starred Marianne Faithfull. I was a student there, and he presented a mesmeric lecture, which in simple, unpretentious terms explained the complexities of that film's almost hallucinogenic colour photography. He also talked about the lessons he had learned from the great painters about colour and light, lessons which had come from spending hours at the National Gallery.
In October 1968 the London Film School was a bedrock of anarchic creativity. Many of the students were engaged in the political flotsam and jetsam of the time – the Vietnam war being the most obvious target...
I first met the great cinematographer and director Jack Cardiff when he came to the London Film School in 1968 to show his film The Girl on a Motorcycle, which starred Marianne Faithfull. I was a student there, and he presented a mesmeric lecture, which in simple, unpretentious terms explained the complexities of that film's almost hallucinogenic colour photography. He also talked about the lessons he had learned from the great painters about colour and light, lessons which had come from spending hours at the National Gallery.
In October 1968 the London Film School was a bedrock of anarchic creativity. Many of the students were engaged in the political flotsam and jetsam of the time – the Vietnam war being the most obvious target...
- 5/6/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.