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Trains in old movies but not necessarily train movies

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, April 14, 2020 9:11 AM

JC UPTON
Then there are the several versions of Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express"
 

The BEST one is from 1974, don't bother with the more current remake.  Ick!

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Posted by JC UPTON on Tuesday, April 14, 2020 8:07 AM
Then there are the several versions of Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express"

from the Far East of the Sunset Route

(In the shadow of the Huey P Long bridge)

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Monday, April 13, 2020 10:42 AM

There's a British film done in the 30's called "Knight Without Armour," starring Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat.  Set in Russia during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution it's got some railroad scenes in it with British locomotives remarkably dressed up to look like Russian ones.  I can't find any YouTube clips of the rail scenes but when I saw the movie on TCM I was VERY impressed with the modifications on the locomotives.  

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Posted by 54light15 on Monday, April 13, 2020 10:13 AM

The 39 Steps- oneof my favourites since I was a kid! It was a thrill to ride over the Forth Bridge 16 years ago. I had no idea it was painted red. The author of the story, John Buchan, as Lord Tweedsmuir became the governor general of Canada in 1935. 

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, April 13, 2020 9:41 AM

Of course, there are the movies where trains play an essential part in the action, but not from an enthusiast's standpoint.

Like the Red Shoes, with Moira Shearer.  Or Hannay's escape in the 39 Steps.

My mom and I both loved the scene from Brief Encounter when Celia Johnson's Laura comes in pathetically saying (and no one, not even Merle Oberon, could do that like Celia) she 'just wanted to see the express go through'...

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Posted by York1 on Monday, April 13, 2020 9:20 AM

M636C
The Lady Vanishes (1938) (directed by Hitchcock)

 

Great!  I had forgotten about that one.

 

Of course, we're talking about movies that are not "train movies" but have trains in them.

My favorite "train movie" still has to be "Silver Streak".

York1 John       

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Posted by Convicted One on Monday, April 13, 2020 8:55 AM

Lithonia Operator
Unstoppable, with Denzel Washington, is very entertaining.

I'd have to agree.  I recall following the original incident here. So after about the first 10 minutes of the movie I realized I was watching a dramatization based on the event I actually knew something about....making it all that much more enjoyable.

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Posted by MMLDelete on Monday, April 13, 2020 12:50 AM

Unstoppable, with Denzel Washington, is very entertaining. It has the best cinematography of trains that I've ever seen, and I don't mean the chase scenes. I mean lots of very evocative shots which really convey the essence of railroading, done by top Hollywood film crews. Just lots of great scenes. 

The story is a good one, a based on a true runway train incident, and I find Washington to be a very engaging actor. Now, tbh, some of the action is super far-fetched, way over the top to the point of laughable.

Still, I thinI any railroader or railfan would thoroughly enjoy it.

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Posted by ORNHOO on Sunday, April 12, 2020 12:01 AM
49th Parallel has some scenes on the Canadian National, plus the line "He's not on the manifest! Send him back!"
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Posted by 54light15 on Saturday, April 11, 2020 10:52 PM

"Use enough dynamite there, Butch?" Classic! 

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Posted by MidlandMike on Saturday, April 11, 2020 10:03 PM

"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" had a few trains in it.  One of the mail car recreations wound up at the Ridgeway (Colorado) rail museum.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, April 11, 2020 10:41 AM

Ever hear of "Last Train From Gun Hill?"

There's "train" in the title, and some nice run-bys and station shots, but not a train movie.  A great Western none the less, with an almost "Greek tragedy" storyline for both the male leads, Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn.  Even though the viewer pretty much knows it's going to end badly for one of them it keeps you hoping that somehow it won't, right up to the movies end.

Here's the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_qXQQZ2wHs  

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Posted by seppburgh2 on Friday, April 10, 2020 9:44 PM

I remember a long time ago Borgnine being interviewed on his many roles and "Shack" was his favorite since it didn't take much to get "in-character".  Also this clip seems so real in Techno-Color as compared to today's layering of CGI. Gee you think you were there with real-live action actors. 

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Posted by M636C on Friday, April 10, 2020 8:33 PM

While we are all here, I thought I'd mention two old English movies which are train movies but since are both available in full on Youtube so could each provide around 90 minutes of distraction.

These are :

Rome Express (1932)  and

The Lady Vanishes (1938) (directed by Hitchcock)

These two movies used some of the same sets and some footage was shared.

Rome Express had very extensive sets built, including a complete full size, if foreshortened train in the station in Paris. As well as the usual small models, a 1/12 scale model of a PLM Pacific was built by Bassett-Lowke which was used for close ups of the locomotive, including the valve gear, at speed.

I think the same interior sets were used for The Lady Vanishes, as was the exterior locomotive mock up from the station scene when the passengers take over the train to escape from the foreign conspirators.

But anyone with around three hours to spare could check out the two movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlbKFIhE-JI

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x239ehl

It can't be worse than the TV news...

Peter

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Posted by 54light15 on Friday, April 10, 2020 8:21 PM

Enh, there's only one Fugitive and that's David Janssen. There were a few railroad scenes in the orignal show which I think was pretty damned good. 

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Posted by Convicted One on Friday, April 10, 2020 7:37 PM

LOL, I must have gotten my "Tommy Lee Jones" movies crossed up, I don't know why I remembered it being a crashed plane sitting on the train tracks.Dunce

I suspect I must have gotten confused thinking about the water at the dam that Kimble jumped off of, with the water that the plane ended up in from the other movie?

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, April 10, 2020 7:28 PM

If I remember correctly that sequence was shot on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in North Carolina, and the hulks were left behind as an attraction on the scenic ride.

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Posted by Penny Trains on Friday, April 10, 2020 7:18 PM

Overmod

 

 
Convicted One
And what about that improbable scene from the Harrison Ford remake of the Fugitive  where the wrecked plane is sitting in the path of the train?

 

You mean the one where he winds up crouching under the very recognizable axle and gear of a demotored truck?  Devil

 

 

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

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Posted by 54light15 on Friday, April 10, 2020 2:39 PM

Oh yeah, forgot about Shack. I wasn't too crazy about that movie- it's of the 1970s with the split-screen gimmick of which I've never seen the point. But he was scary as hell. He said his best scene in "Eternity" was when Pruitt stabbed him in the alley and he said, "You've killed me. What did you want to kill me for?" That scene was filmed and it was in the book but it was left out of the final film. 

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, April 10, 2020 9:33 AM

Actually, I think Ernie Borgnine's meanest role was as "Shack" the sadistic conductor in "Emperor Of The North."  My God, he's so terrifying in that role I've only watched the movie once, and never again.

Shows just what a good actor Ernest Borgnine was, all those who knew him said he was an absolute prince and one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet.

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Posted by 54light15 on Thursday, April 9, 2020 11:07 PM

I need to see Bad Day again. Borgnine in his meanest role since Fatso Judson. 

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Posted by Convicted One on Thursday, April 9, 2020 11:54 AM

 

"You mean the one where he winds up crouching under the very recognizable axle and gear of a demotored truck?"

I always felt that the way the train plowed up dirt was just a little too "CGI ish" as well. But hey it's not a documentary, it's entertainment. Let's try to avoid the "that's not the way you connect brake lines" type rivet counting. Angel

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Posted by York1 on Thursday, April 9, 2020 11:53 AM

How about the train scenes in "Bad Day at Black Rock".

 

York1 John       

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, April 9, 2020 11:45 AM

Convicted One
And what about that improbable scene from the Harrison Ford remake of the Fugitive  where the wrecked plane is sitting in the path of the train?

You mean the one where he winds up crouching under the very recognizable axle and gear of a demotored truck?  Devil

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Posted by Convicted One on Thursday, April 9, 2020 11:25 AM

And what about that improbable scene from the Harrison Ford remake of the Fugitive  where the wrecked plane is sitting in the path of the train?  The scene where the derailed train pursues him over the bridge abutment always  opens up my adrenaline ports.

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Posted by Convicted One on Thursday, April 9, 2020 11:21 AM

And that Glen Ford movie "the Sheepmen"...although the involvement of trains is minimal, I've found the confrontation scene where they are unloading the sheep from the train to be enjoyable.

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Posted by Convicted One on Thursday, April 9, 2020 11:19 AM

Speaking of John Wayne, I recall some interesting use of trains (and train depots)  in the movie "Three Godfathers"

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, April 9, 2020 10:38 AM

I just remembered this one, keeping with the theme of trains in movies that aren't train movies.

Anyone remember the John Wayne movie "The Sons Of Katie Elder?"  The opening credits have some nice run-bys of a Durango and Silverton train running through the Animas River canyon.  Actually, I think it was still the Denver & Rio Grande Western at the time, the movie was filmed in 1965. 

Anyway, if you don't mind the credit overlays, here you go.  Wait for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4KUMb41lqs   

One of the best Western movie themes, EVER!  

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Posted by Erik_Mag on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 10:19 PM

Becky,

Second picture is of the "Chloe" which is now on display in the Grizzly Flats Enginehouse (AKA Carbarn 7, also AKA Jimminy Cricket) of the Orange Empire Railway Museum. Spent most of my weekends 1991-92 assisting with the finishing of the building.

The Chloe is also the prototype of the LGB model.

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 10:16 PM

Convicted One
And the CGI T-1 in the movie "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"  was a pleasant yet unfortunately brief surprise.

Not unfortunately brief to the kids in the car, though...

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