The Ghost Train (1931 film)
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Angus MacPhail
Sidney Gilliat
Phil C. Samuel
| The Ghost Train | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The film's main characters in the station's waiting room | |
| Directed by | Walter Forde |
| Written by | Lajos Bíró Angus MacPhail Sidney Gilliat |
| Based on | The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon Phil C. Samuel |
| Starring | Jack Hulbert Cicely Courtneidge Ann Todd Cyril Raymond |
| Cinematography | Leslie Rowson |
| Edited by | Ian Dalrymple |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Woolf & Freedman Film Service |
Release date |
|
Running time | 71 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Ghost Train is a 1931 British comedy thriller film directed by Walter Forde and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge and Ann Todd.[1][2] It was written by Lajos Bíró, Angus MacPhail and Sidney Gilliat based on the 1923 play The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley. The film's art direction was by Walter Murton.
In 1992 the British Film Institute classed The Ghost Train as a lost film,[3] included in its campaign to locate missing films. It was subsequently found[4] and it now held in the BFI National Archive.[1]
In 1979 the comedian Bob Monkhouse, an expert on the history of silent cinema and a film collector, owned an intact copy of the full film and many others that were abruptly seized by the police. The case went to trial for eleven days before the judge dismissed the jury and told Monkhouse there was no case to answer. All charges were dropped, but law enforcement incinerated this film and others.[5][full citation needed][6]
Plot
On a speeding train, Teddy Deakin pulls the emergency communication cord, stopping the train. He and his fellow passengers are obliged to spend the night in a nearby eerie isolated station. The grumpy stationmaster, Saul Hodgkin, tries to get rid of them by telling a scary story about a Ghost Train, but they nonethless stay. Many adventures later, it transpires that Deakin is a detective, and he uncovers a gang of smugglers using the Ghost Train story to mask their criminal activities.[7]
Cast
- Jack Hulbert as Teddy Deakin
- Cicely Courtneidge as Miss Bourne
- Ann Todd as Peggy Murdock
- Cyril Raymond as Richard Winthrop
- Allan Jeayes as Dr. Sterling
- Donald Calthrop as Saul Hodgkin
- Angela Baddeley as Julia Price
- Henry Caine as Herbert Price
- Tracy Holmes as Charles Bryant
- Carol Coomb as Elsie Bryant