A friend is looking for information about an old movie, 1950s-1960s, that used equipment from the Edaville Railroad that was about an old railroad that was about to go bankrupt and the people's efforts to save it to save the cranberry crop. It was a suspense/comedy movie.
Does anyone know the title?
Thanks!
dlm
Your friend might be thinking of a 1959 Doris Day film called "It Happened To Jane." It was set in New England and was filmed on the New Haven Railroad. More about lobsters than cranberries, here's the story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Happened_to_Jane
Flintlock,
I'm not sure that's what he was looking for but now that you brought it up, that was a really fun picture!
I have always wondered but will probably never know, was the railroad president as portrayed in the movie intended to suggest Patrick McGinnis? I think so. But again, we will probably never know.
FMC
Fred M Cainwas the railroad president as portrayed in the movie intended to suggest Patrick McGinnis?
Fred M Cain was the railroad president as portrayed in the movie intended to suggest Patrick McGinnis?
That's a good question. The thing is, would a Hollywood scriptwriter even know who the president of a railroad 3,000 miles away was, unless said scriptwriter was a railfan? Or a stockholder in any New England area railroad? As you said, we'll never know.
I am thinking that Doris Day and some of those other "Hollywood Types" had second homes in southwestern Connecticut right around the time that McGinnis was in power. It could well be that they were familiar with the New Haven Railroad's commuter trains and many of the travails of the road.
Paul Newman had a mansion in Westport, CT for many years. While he was not involved in this movie, I do think there were others in the movie who were familiar with the area and the New Haven Railroad.
I recall seeing at least one other movie from that era (I cannot recall which one) where the character lived in Connecticut and was complaining about the commuter rail service. He didn't like the departure times or something.
But the thing we can both agree upon is that we will never know for sure. I guess the producer left some things up to the imagination of the viewer.
Regards,
Fred M. Cain
Fred M CainI recall seeing at least one other movie from that era (I cannot recall which one) where the character lived in Connecticut and was complaining about the commuter rail service. He didn't like the departure times or something.
The movie "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse" had Cary Grant build a house in Connecticut, and he had heard the train left for NYC at a certain time, only to find out the train only left at that time on the weekends. Weekdays it left much earlier. That could be the movie you have in mind.
York1 John
YorkJohn,
YES ! I think you're right! I think that's the one!
This tends to support - but not prove - that some of the Hollywood people were familiar with that part of the country in which the New Haven Railroad operated.
Incidentally "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" was a popular book before it was a movie, much as "Gone With The Wind" was, and (while not as amazing as the movie!) it and its sequel deserve to be read. Technically, the action predates the McGinnis era.
My guess is that the side of the 'movie biz' that well understood New Haven and the McGinnis porcinity was the advertising and promotion folks, not 'creative' in the actual moviemaking sense, by the time "It Happened to Jane" came along. On the other hand, I suspect contemporary moviegoers might have been well familiar with both Robert R. Young and Patrick McGinnis by the late Fifties, and I note many of the stereotypical 'values' carried over into the Petticoat Junction years.
One thing that I could say here to address the original question, is that trying to find an old movie based on a vague description can be very, very hard to do especially if you don’t know the name of the movie or the names of any of the main actors in it.
Fred M Cain I asked them if anyone recalled a certain movie that I’d seen.
I don't know where to find a central listing of these kinds of shows in the 'golden age of television' but as I recall, there is. Some fan pages for shows have lists of plot summary and not just the often-cryptic episode titles.
(Incidentally this would probably have been from before the era of videotape, and not shot live or in studio so surviving only in kinescope, so there may be a good chance the actual program survived on film and could be seen via someplace like the Museum of Broadcasting...)
Overmod,
Yeah, I remember watching this show on TV sometime around in the early '60s. But the show/movie could've been older but yet still post WWII since a television was used in the props.
One guy on the telephone forum suggested a weekly show, I cannot recall if it was "Code 3" or some other show.
Needless to say, I have never found it.
Maybe "outer limits" or another of the sci fi programs. Maybe even Hitchcock series.
Well I found a list online of 150 railroad-related movies, none sound like what the OP described. If they could remember something else, especially one actress or actor that was in it, it would be a lot easier to find.
https://www.railserve.com/trainmovies/
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