TRAIN OF EVENTS

UK, 1949, 89 minutes, Black and white.
Valerie Hobson, John Clements, Jack Warner, Gladys Henson, Peter Finch, Irina Baronova, Susan Shaw, Patric Doonan, Joan Dowling, Laurence Payne, Mary Morris.
Directed by Basil Dearden, Charles Crichton, Sidney Cole.

Train of Events contains three short stories linked by the story of the engine driver of the train doomed to crash. The film is an Ealing Studios production, a studio that was to move into comedy and become famous for these films (many of which starred Alec Guinness). The film is from the production team of Michael Relph and Basil Dearden, who worked together for over twenty years. Basil Dearden directed the actor and the German prisoner of war sequences. Charles Crichton directed the episode about the composer . Sidney Cole directed the engine driver sequences. Director Basil Dearden participated in the writing of the screenplay, as did T.E. B. Clarke, who was to write a number of the Ealing comedies including The Lavender Hill Mob.. The film has an interesting cast, an early British Peter Finch performance included. The stories vary widely, some ultraserious, some seemingly trite. The film is enjoyable in its way - though not one of the great collections of film short stories.

1. An interesting collection of stories? Range? Serious and comic? Enjoyable?

2. British film production: black and white photography, differibg atmospheres and styles for each of the stories? The blend of realism and artificiality? The open comic touch, the dark sinister tones? The structure of the film and the focus on the crash, the introduction of the four stories - and audience curiosity as to the results? Musical score?

3. The title and its play on words: on the train itself, on the particular events and their consequences which led to the characters being on board the train?

4. The linking story of the engine driver: Jack Warner's genial presence as Hardcastle? The sequences of family life, his wife, daughter? The friend and his covering for him? Relationship wdth his daughter? The ticket salesman and the conversation about birds? The ordinary slice-of-life touch? The engine driver's possible promotion, retirement? Audience and suspense as to whether the driver would survive?

5. The story of the crazed actor? Peter Finch and his intensity? The blend of the music: 'These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You' and the scenes from Richard II? Philip and his place in the theatre company? The members of the company and their interactions? His hiring the private detective to find his wife? Her turning up? The cat-and-mouse games between the two? Philip nd his intense jealousy? His wife and her flippant attitudes? The suggestions of his madness? Hallucinations? The ugliness of his murdering his wife? Of hiding her body? The macabre comic touches as his luggage was taken from the flat? The heaviness of the trunk? His joining the company, the play and his ambiguous role? The discovery of the truth? His journey on the train - the train of events and poetic justice for him?

6. The German prisoner-of-war story: the intensity of Richard and his place in England, wanting to escape? His friendship with Ella? Her devotion to him? Trying to help? His pressures on her? The pursuit of the law, hiding? The move towards the train, the ticket? The repercussions of the crash for them?

7. The light touch of the story of the vain musician: Raymond and his condicting abilities, the advertisements, thecrehearsals?' The humour with the two women responding to him? Irina and her Russian background, her prima donna style, her presumption about Raymond's devotion to her, her playing up to him, the train trip and her thinking she was going off with him? The contrast with Stella and her relationship with her husband? Her devotion? Her sureness of her husband? His continuaj'philandering and her accepting of it? The train trip and the lighter repercussions?

8. A gallery of British characters? Tensions? Resolutions? Interesting characters? Situations?