wjstix I could be wrong but it appears to be a black-and-white movie that's been 'colorized'. At the time, movie studios didn't buy their own passenger cars and paint them in fantasy paint scheme, they shot 'on location' using real railroad equipment in cooperation with the railroad. No railroad at the time that I'm aware of had a two-tone green scheme like that one. My guess is the person doing the color did a little (but not enough) research and found something saying "in the old days, most passenger cars were Pullman green" and so figured a green train would look right. I suspect the cars were actually in the two-tone gray Pullman scheme. Similarly, the interior shots in the observation (not parlor) car are pretty good, but at the time most railroads had more color to their interiors - they would be muted / pastel colors, but they normally wouldn't be all greens. There'd be some reds or browns or blues mixed in.
I could be wrong but it appears to be a black-and-white movie that's been 'colorized'. At the time, movie studios didn't buy their own passenger cars and paint them in fantasy paint scheme, they shot 'on location' using real railroad equipment in cooperation with the railroad. No railroad at the time that I'm aware of had a two-tone green scheme like that one. My guess is the person doing the color did a little (but not enough) research and found something saying "in the old days, most passenger cars were Pullman green" and so figured a green train would look right. I suspect the cars were actually in the two-tone gray Pullman scheme.
Similarly, the interior shots in the observation (not parlor) car are pretty good, but at the time most railroads had more color to their interiors - they would be muted / pastel colors, but they normally wouldn't be all greens. There'd be some reds or browns or blues mixed in.
"Leave Her to Heaven" was originally released in Technicolor. The interior shots were most likely made in the 20th Century-Fox studios. You're right, real lounge car interiors would have been more colorful, but most likely since the interior shots were made in a sound stage, the blues and greens that predominate the scene were chosen on purpose in order to highlight the two main actors and to subconsciously set the mood of the scene.
I said earlier that the cars could have been Pullman betterment sleepers, but possibly they were instead standard sleepers that were gussied up to make them look somewhat steamlined to match the chic of the main characters. Could you imagine the Gene Terney character getting off from a standard Pullman dressed they way she was? I wouldn't , and most likely neither did 20th Century-Fox. If the cars were standard Pullmans that were redecorated for the scene, I wouldnt be surprised if the only one half of the car was redone. The side not being filmed would still be in Pullman green.
Considering the state of movie technology of the time, i.e. huge Technicolor camera and the extra-bright lights needed for the same it's a certainty that lounge car is a set as well. The set designers and builders hit a home run on the same. Great piece of work!
By the way, that's what a lounge car looks like! Amtrak's eastern LD
trains use table cars with bright lights. They don't have a clue of
what a lounge car is!
I suspect what we're looking at is a consist that was a permanent part of a Hollywood studio complex. They'd paint the cars and dress the station set to represent whatever part of the country the film took place in.
And oh yeah, those Forties actresses! Wow!
By the way, ever see that movie? Watch out Cornel, Gene Tierney's NUTS!
LOL...Balt....what's a matter with me? Har har har. Of course it's Cornel. I did that the other day telling somebody about the movie he made on the life of Chopin.
It looks like the actors are getting off from a pair of "betterment" Pullmans, heavyweight sleepers that have been updated with full diaphragms, a newer paint job, side skirting and sheathing. The windows give away the cars age.
FlyingCrow I don't see "Santa Fe". The Joshua Trees sort of suggest the Mojave Desert somewhere. And that sure looks like an SP trainset to me. Oscar Wilde & Gene Tierney
I don't see "Santa Fe". The Joshua Trees sort of suggest the Mojave Desert somewhere. And that sure looks like an SP trainset to me.
Oscar Wilde & Gene Tierney
Looked like SP's Lark paint scheme. Wasn't that Cornel Wilde?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
If there was a head-end shot of the train, it's not in the YouTube cut; but there is a whistle; and when they get off the train "Santa Fe" is legible - as well as working full width diaphragms - the first I've ever seen (or remember seeing) in motion. Could this be the Blue Goose, or just a train made up for Hollywood; as I've read that only the one 4-6-4 was painted in the colors? Either way, there are some nice interior shots - and the male lead does an expert job fumbling with a hot match. See the clip at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r3ZotQacms
Ross - Irvine, CA
monaross75@hotmail.com
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