BaltACDMy biggest complaint with railroads being shown in any kind of movie or video. Continuity - either the railroad is from some other area or time frame than the story that is being told.
A different kind of continuity problem drives me wilder -- mercifully, one that is limited to a comparatively small number of production years, roughly from the point that SMPTE developed cameras, lighting, and emulsions permitting 'feature' filming on board moving trains to the point that movies no longer treated 'train travel' as the normal way people got somewhere.
The problem is in tight alternating dialogue shots where one 'view' is out the train window. When the director doesn't pay attention to what is outside the window during takes, you're like as not to see boxcars speeding past, then one remark later, nothing; then 15 seconds later speeding passenger cars... it gets to the point VERY quickly not just that your attention seizes on the 'backdrop' action, but you actually start dreading what you will see and how it's an artifact of poor production rather than clever train operation or the chance to see historical railroad details.
My biggest complaint with railroads being shown in any kind of movie or video. Continuity - either the railroad is from some other area or time frame than the story that is being told. A WW II film HQ'd in Europe and the rail shots are of SP's Sunset Limited moving through the desert SW being diesel power as a GLARING example.
Yes - I am a nit picker when that kind discontinuity gets displayed.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
54light15 I'm inclined to think that the "Trailer" video was recorded entirely in Australia. Some of the cars are vintage Holdens and the semphore signals show British practice which was common in Oz. The four-wheel boxcars, maybe, maybe not.
I'm inclined to think that the "Trailer" video was recorded entirely in Australia. Some of the cars are vintage Holdens and the semphore signals show British practice which was common in Oz. The four-wheel boxcars, maybe, maybe not.
The four wheel boxcars have the lettering "R.N.", an abbreviation of RENFE.
The diesel railcar passing the two performers is definitely Spanish.
The other rail scenes are definitely shot around Junee NSW before the semaphore signals were replaced by colour lights.
Peter
M636CCoastal Railways (Scotland East Coast) 2230-2330
We are getting this series on one of our channels here. I haven't watched it yet.
York1 John
Again, not strictly on topic...
In the absence of live sport, rail documentaries have become prolific in Australia.
Today we have one hour of Michael Portillo's Great Continental Rail Journeys (Germany) on one network 1630-1730, and on another network Mighty Trains (Rocky Mountaineer) 2030-2130, Railway Restorations with Peter Snow (Isle of Wight Coach) 2130-2230, Coastal Railways (Scotland East Coast) 2230-2330 and Paddington Station 24/7 2330-0030....
I don't know what to say...
While not strictly a movie, I referred to a band "The Proclaimers" in another thread. While looking for other work of theirs, I found a version of Roger Miller's "King of the Road" on Youtube.
Apart from the song being sung with strong Scots accents, there are a number of rail scenes in the video. The recording of the actual performance appears to be in Spain, in a railway museum with one shot of a diesel railcar passing.
However, interspersed throughout the video are clips of trains and some stunt road driving filmed in Australia. One assumes the target market in the UK might have taken both of these to be the USA.
The Australian scenes were shot, quite some time ago, around Junee in southern NSW, including the locomotive roundhouse and scenes at crossing gates.
Anyway, here is the video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbXapBdTT4o&feature=emb_rel_pause
Overmod That's a shame, as Powers could certainly have been the equal of, say, what Cybill Shepherd portrayed only a little over a decade later.
That's a shame, as Powers could certainly have been the equal of, say, what Cybill Shepherd portrayed only a little over a decade later.
And let's not forget that Stephanie's older brother was Jeff Moreau, author of many RR history books. I have a copy of Central California Traction in my collection.
Overmod There was, and is, no one quite like Diana Rigg. Of course she is a modern Emma Hamilton -- and, be it remembered, the only Mrs. James Bond.
There was, and is, no one quite like Diana Rigg. Of course she is a modern Emma Hamilton -- and, be it remembered, the only Mrs. James Bond.
Yes, and strangely this was remembered by James Bond through subsequent movies, even though the actors involved (both Bond and Blofeld) changed...
Flintlock76 Oh wow, Diana Rigg as Mrs. Peel, a TV legend! Who wasn't crazy about Mrs. Peel? Smart, sophisticated, drop-dead gorgeous, and not afraid of anything! "The Avengers" was everything "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E" should have been. A paen to Mrs. Emma Peel is called for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idtYckLIZnI
Oh wow, Diana Rigg as Mrs. Peel, a TV legend! Who wasn't crazy about Mrs. Peel? Smart, sophisticated, drop-dead gorgeous, and not afraid of anything!
"The Avengers" was everything "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E" should have been.
A paen to Mrs. Emma Peel is called for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idtYckLIZnI
"The Avengers" is still run on TV in off peak times in Australia, although only a few episodes are run and re-run.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avengers_(TV_series)
All series were run in Australia and I recall that in series 1 John Steed was conventionally dressed (with a normal hat rather than a bowler).
In the second series, I remember Honor Blackman as Cathy Gale,, later replaced by Diana Rigg as Emma Peel. Both these two played Bond girls in contemporary James Bond movies, Blackman as "*** Galore" in Goldfinger and Diana Rigg as "Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo" in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
One of the later Avengers episodes involved a plot to kill the Prime Minister by exploding a bomb in a train passing his special train on the West Coast Main Line, which, of course they prevent at the last minute.
(I note the full name of the Goldfinger character didn't make it through the filters)
OK, train connection!
This talk of The Man from Uncle got me thinking about my favorite show of the 1960s, after Star Trek, of The Avengers.
Of course, being a teenager in the 1960s, Diana Rigg was one of my true loves.
This picture is from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stapleford_Miniature_Railway
Flintlock76 Overmod And then, of course, there was April. April Dancer. The less said about "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E" the better.
Overmod And then, of course, there was April. April Dancer.
And then, of course, there was April. April Dancer.
The less said about "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E" the better.
Notice how I said nothing about "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E."
It was surprising to me even then that the 'formula' that worked so well at making the older show was not used in the 'female' version. Of course it would have had to be adapted into something other than what 'attractive' women in that line of work would be, in that time. That's a shame, as Powers could certainly have been the equal of, say, what Cybill Shepherd portrayed only a little over a decade later. (And think of her being given a strong female 'foil' with alternative characteristics to work with...)
The late Andy Rooney owned a Subeam Tiger. In one of his columns he wrote how he was thinking of giving the car to one of his sons but, "He's getting too old for a car like that." Fortunately, the car is owned by one of his daughters and has been fully restored.
Nothing against Stephanie Powers by any means, she was a hottie! Or against Noel Harrison for that matter. That show was just dull, dull, dull.
Leo G. Carroll -- was in quite a few Hitchcock movies. In this forum thread, he was in the mentioned movies Strangers on a Train and North by Northwest.
The movie "The Rebel" is playing today here in Australia.
It is a vehicle for an English comedian of the 1950s, Tony Hancock.
Hancock leaves his office job in London to become an abstract artist in Paris, despite having no abilities as an artist. However, work by a friend is mistaken for that of Hancock and he becomes a celebrity.
At the beginning of the movie, Hancock is travelling to London on Southern Region electric trains. Instead of joining the crowd on the London platform, he stands on the opposite platform. Trains arrive from both directions at once, and Hancock just crosses through one train and boards the other, getting his seat before those on the correct platform can board. This of course requires the hand operated doors used by the trains at the time.
Otherwise similar to many British comedy movies of the period.
I mentioned "Number Seventeen" earlier. Most of the movie is relatively disjointed and attempts to fit the "Film noir" style, with dark scenes and ominous shadows.
The rail scenes show Gresley A1 2547, from the second batch of Pacifics built by North British. The first scene shows the locomotive from above in a yard with the safety valves blowing off. It then departs with a freight train with a number of well lit night views.
I think the Pacific might have been chosen since a number of good scale models were available for a number of scenes, including final crash scene.
One interesting feature was that full size mock ups were built for some scenes where criminals climb over wagons during the journey and even climb over the tender and kill the loco crew (for no clear reason...). But as they climb over the tender, and shoot the fireman, it is clear that the (mock up) tender is a corridor tender...
Don't feel bad man, it's the same trouble everyone had!
Leo G. Carroll was Cosmo Topper!
And of course you just knew Mr. Waverly was just as adventurous as Napoleon and Illya are in his younger days, just from his demenor around those two.
Fine actor, Leo G. was!
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffin' glue.
Says it right in there. Law and Enforcement.
Kids hear what they expect to make sense, I guess...
Funny how McCallum's accent doesn't sound at all Russian any more, either. And let's not go into why I had trouble separating Cosmo Topper from Alexander Waverly.
Overmod"Law AND Enforcement?" I thought it was just 'Law Enforcement'.
I thought so, too. But Wikipedia has the word and in there. Maybe they don't have it right.
"Law AND Enforcement?" I thought it was just 'Law Enforcement'.
I also thought with that picture of the UN in the opening credits that it was United Nations related somehow and that's why men of 'all nations' were on the teams. I actually remember looking around while walking from the Hippodrome Garage (no machine guns) to see if I could spot Del Floria's tailor shop...
I loved the Sunbeam Tiger as the 'Aston Martin lite'. Not too far from the ACECA Ace given the same motor, when you think about it...
I still chuckle thinking about the Cone of Silence. And Max having an afterthought and getting his nose clipped...
I had to look it up:
UNCLE = United Network Command for Law and Enforcement
THRUSH was a little harder. Wikipedia says that it was never disclosed what it meant. Other sites agree.
One site claims it meant, "Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity".
Maybe it was better we didn't know what it meant.
Did you hear Mort Drucker, the best cartoonist that "Recently departed magazine" had died recently?
When Mort drew a celebrity in one of their satires, there was never any doubt as to who the subject was! RIP Mort, you'll never be forgotten by those us who remember.
A couple of trivia questions.
What does "U.N.C.L.E." stand for?
And this one's a trick question, what does "THRUSH" stand for?
(It's OK if you cheat and look it up, you'll be as surprised as I was!)
And I found Don's Sunbeam Tiger!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbeam_Tiger#In_popular_media
Flintlock76 And I suppose by now you have to be at least 65 to remember who Illya Kuryakin was, unless you caught the show in re-runs. Time flies, doesn't it?
And I suppose by now you have to be at least 65 to remember who Illya Kuryakin was, unless you caught the show in re-runs. Time flies, doesn't it?
I thiought it was Ilya Nutcrakin as in:
"What does A.U.N.T.I.E. stand for?"
"Association for Unbelievably Nauseating Television and Idiotic Entertainment and thank God I'm through with it!"
(From the "Middle of the Road Issue" of a recently departed magazine)
Sigh, just realized that issue came out maybe a few days from 55 years ago.
Makes you wonder, where's Don's car now? It's doubly-collectible when you come right down to it.
Get Smart! I loved it! Written by Buck Henry and Mel Brooks, two pioneers of television. Max early in the series drove up in a Sunbeam Tiger and if you're not familiar with those, it's a little English sports car with a Ford V-8 crammed into it. Worth a fortune today and that was Don Adams own car, by the way.
Sure has two Ls in the season 1 credits, too. I doubt you can get more authentic than that...
I think the double L has it:
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