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The Titfield Thunderbolt
- 178 statements
- 33 feature instances
- 9 referencing feature instances
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A 1953 comedy film produced by Ealing Studios and directed by Charles Crichton, set on a fictional British branch line between Titfield and Mallingford which has been condemned for closure by British Railways.Sam Weech (George Relph), the village vicar, and Squire Gordon Chesterford (John Greyson), the grandson of the founder of the branch line, decide to buy the branch line and operate it themselves, with the help of a sizable donation from Walter Valentine (Stanley Holloway), a wealthy regular at the local pub.This plan is bitterly opposed by the local bus company, Pearce and Crump, who were looking forward to a monopoly with the closure of the railway and call those wanting to run the railway "amateurs". They are also viewed with some trepidation by George Blakeworth (Naunton Wayne), the town clerk.After an inquiry where both sides put forward their arguments for and against the railway being run by the amateurs, those wishing to run the railway are granted month's trial period before a railway inspector comes to decide if they can sufficiently operate a railway service.Weech puts himself in the position of driver, Valentine puts forward Dan Taylor (Hugh Griffith), a retired railwayman, for the position of fireman and Chesterford takes up the position of guard.Despite the bus company's attempts at sabotaging the railway's work, including blocking a crossing with a lorry full of bricks and shooting holes in the water tower, the railway becomes a huge success. The bus company then offers a merger between them and the railway, which is outright refused. So, on the eve before the inspection, the bus company derail the branch line's only engine and carriage and the town clerk is mistakenly arrested for derailing the train after trying to stop it before it crashed.Meanwhile, Valentine and Taylor get drunk and take a pump trolley to Mallingford to steal another engine for the railway. This plan goes awry when they drive the engine through the town, across a park, and into a tree, resulting in their arrest.After discovering their misfortune, Weech figures out where they can get an engine from for the inspection and rushes to the police station to release the town clerk. As they are wheeling the old engine out of the museum Weech realises that they haven't got a carriage, to which the clerk says that Taylor can help them. So they they take Taylor's home, an old railway carriage, and mount it on a flat wagon.The next morning, the Inspector arrives to see the ensemble the railway has put on, but not before Ollie Matthews (Godfrey Tearle),the Bishop of Welchester — a fellow railway enthusiast and an old friend of Weech's — shows up for a visit and is drafted in as fireman. They are told by the local handyman that he's had to use rope to connect the engine to the flatbed because of the incompatible couplings between the two. Because the engine only has a weak handbrake, if they stop the train suddenly using the brakevan's stronger brake, the weight of the whole train would be put on the rope connecting the flatbed to the tender.The lorry taking Taylor and Valentine to prison crashes with the bus from the rival bus company, the owners of which assume they've been rumbled causing one of them to admit their crimes.Back at the station the train starts to leave, but is stopped and commandeered by the police to take them to Mallingford with the prisoners, now consisting of Valentine, Taylor and the two bus company owners. The train then continues until the inspector decides to test the emergency brake and the rope snaps, leaving the carriage and brakevan at a standstill and the engine continuing onwards. With the inspector none the wiser, Chesterford ropes in several locals to help push the stranded train down the hill to catch up with the engine which had come to a halt by the now repaired water tower. On the way they borrow a set of chains from the steamroller they jousted with, to replace the rope.Once the train is recoupled to the engine they set off again, feeling there is now no hope of them making it on time after all the delays. They arrive at Mallingford ten minutes late and fear all is lost. The inspector informs them that actually, they only just passed (and almost failed because their average speed was almost over the limit). The villagers celebrate and the other drivers at the station blow their engines' whistles in celebration of their success. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_1392fbe7 | type |
Drunk Driver | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_1392fbe7 | comment |
Drunk Driver: Dan and Valentine, in the process of stealing an engine, end up driving it away on the road. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_1616e13 | type |
Ripped from the Headlines | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_1616e13 | comment |
Ripped from the Headlines: As with many Ealing comedies, this film targets the widespread closure of smaller lines by British Railways and the increase in road traffic. It also deals with the then-novel concept of preserved railways. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_1c751b35 | type |
The Vicar | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_1c751b35 | comment |
The Vicar: Reverend Weech, and to a lesser extent, the Bishop of Welchester. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_22cf536c | type |
Chekhov's Gun | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_22cf536c | comment |
Chekhov's Gun: Sam's postcard of the Thunderbolt, Dan's railway carriage home, Sam's warning about the rope coupling. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_39b8d3d6 | type |
Boring, but Practical | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_39b8d3d6 | comment |
Boring, but Practical: During the scene where the townsfolk clean up the station (clearly neglected by BR in anticipation of closing it) they're also seen moving in a large covered shelter for the train itself.While this is of rather stark design and out of keeping with the station it does illustrate an important point, now the train is based at Titfield they need somewhere to store it and do maintenance that would previously have been done in a BR railyard somewhere. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_3d038b36 | type |
Rhetorical Question Blunder | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_3d038b36 | comment |
Rhetorical Question Blunder: From the random train-goer who has the temerity to take Mr. Valentine's spot at the bar. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_47fea76b | type |
Butt-Monkey | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_47fea76b | comment |
Butt-Monkey: If anyone is going to get doused in water or wrongfully arrested for wrecking a train, it'll be Mr. Blakeworth. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_52488c54 | type |
Drowning My Sorrows | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_52488c54 | comment |
Drowning My Sorrows: When the engine is destroyed by Crump and Pearce the night before the railway inspection, Dan steals the surviving booze from the buffet car and gets completely blotto. He's soon joined by a similarly lamenting Mr. Valentine and they hatch a plan to steal another engine which leads to... | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_5989e3b6 | type |
Enemy Mine | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_5989e3b6 | comment |
Enemy Mine: Harry, the steamroller driver, loathes the railway and refuses to provide any assistance... until Miss Hampton promises to marry him. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_7dd9580a | type |
Free Wheel | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_7dd9580a | comment |
Free Wheel: When the railway's first locomotive is derailed. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_7eebe99c | type |
The Alcoholic | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_7eebe99c | comment |
The Alcoholic: Idle Rich Valentine as a key plot point; Weech and Gordon are able to secure funding from him based on his propensity for drinking as, in their words, "He's been standing people drinks for years, why wouldn't he stand us a railway?". | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_8513bc0f | type |
Accidental Public Confession | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_8513bc0f | comment |
Accidental Public Confession: When Pearce and Crump crash into the police van, Pearce blurts out, "We didn't do it, I tell you!" The policeman's response? "What didn't you do?" | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_853df68b | type |
Rail Enthusiast | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_853df68b | comment |
Meta example: T. E. B. Clarke, the screenwriter, became a Rail Enthusiast in the course of researching the film. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_90e31482 | type |
Laser-Guided Karma | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_90e31482 | comment |
Laser-Guided Karma: Pearce and Crump's efforts to sabotage the railway amount to a Humiliation Conga of Pyrrhic Victories. By the end of the story they're bankrupt and imprisoned. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_a632f7fa | type |
Cool Train | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_a632f7fa | comment |
Cool Train: Two of them; The first is a generally normal-looking tank engine, a BR 14xx "auto tank" engine to be exact, used to joust against a steamroller. Not forgetting the titular Thunderbolt. It should be noted that Lion, the engine that played Thunderbolt, was well over 100 years old at the time the film was made. The air-smoothed express train seen briefly at the beginning is pretty cool, too. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_aaece264 | type |
Rousing Speech | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_aaece264 | comment |
Rousing Speech: Just when it looks like the inquiry will insist the branch line be closed anyway, Gordon delivers one of these letting the town know exactly what the death of their railway will entail. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_acf33d00 | type |
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_acf33d00 | comment |
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Pearce and Crump's sabotage serves to wreck their lorry, to put Harry's steamroller out of action and to get lots of publicity for a tiny little country branch line. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_ad1db87c | type |
Oh, Crap! | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_ad1db87c | comment |
Oh, Crap!: A comedic example arises when their amateur railway seems to be a roaring success. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_b1dde8fd | type |
Loophole Abuse | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_b1dde8fd | comment |
Loophole Abuse: Gordon points out to their would-be benefactor Valentine that, whilst licensing laws prevent pubs from opening in the morning, there are no rules to limit the serving of alcohol on trains at any time. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_b3f0fc91 | type |
Track Trouble | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_b3f0fc91 | comment |
Track Trouble: The sabotage employed by the bus company includes this. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_be6c0705 | type |
Streisand Effect | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_be6c0705 | comment |
Streisand Effect: In-universe, the line gets lots of negative publicity due to the bus company's sabotage efforts, and as a result becomes so well known that it becomes one of the only profitable branch lines in Britain. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_c2393191 | type |
Show Within a Show | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_c2393191 | comment |
Show Within a Show: When Pearce and Crump take a dejected Harry aside to discuss sabotage, we cut to a wild-west film playing in the bar where a bunch of cowboys are discussing sabotaging a train. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_d40e1a9f | type |
Break Out the Museum Piece | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_d40e1a9f | comment |
Break Out the Museum Piece: The titular Thunderbolt provides the trope image. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_d46ddfa2 | type |
CloudCuckooLander | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_d46ddfa2 | comment |
Cloud Cuckoolander: Mr. Valentine, though being incredibly drunk all the time helps. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_dca70c44 | type |
Reasonable Authority Figure | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_dca70c44 | comment |
Reasonable Authority Figure: The Ministry official is stern and humourless, but ultimately gives the line his blessing. Mr Blakeworth isn't a fan of the line at first, but comes around. The Bishop of Welcester is less concerned with reprimanding his absentee vicar than with getting his hands dirty on the engine. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_e2023325 | type |
StrawmanPolitical | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_e2023325 | comment |
Strawman Political: The Union official seen briefly at the town meeting, who's determined to stop all worker exploitation whether it actually exists or not. | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_e4b69188 | type |
Very Loosely Based on a True Story | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_e4b69188 | comment |
Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Although inspired by the real life Talyllyn Railway, in reality very little beyond the basic concept of volunteers taking over a closed railway made it to the screen. A couple of episodes in the film have parallels in LTC Rolt's Railway Adventure though - notably the scene where the passengers refill the locomotive's water tanks from a nearby cottage using pots and pans. There's also some truth in the central conceit of using the ancient "Thunderbolt" to keep the line running - there were periods in the Talyllyn Railway's history where the only available motive power was the extremely elderly, worn-out locomotive "Dolgoch". | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_e4b69188 | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_e624f0e8 | type |
Suspiciously Specific Denial | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_e624f0e8 | comment |
Suspiciously Specific Denial: "We didn't do it! It wasn't us!" At this point, nobody had accused them of anything... | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_edbb1357 | type |
List of Transgressions | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_edbb1357 | comment |
List of Transgressions: The Long List of charges against Valentine and Taylor, amounting to stealing a locomotive and driving it through a town, devolves into increasingly minor offenses: | |
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Drives Like Crazy | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_f96f188c | comment |
Drives Like Crazy: How about driving a railway locomotive along the road? | |
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Vehicle Title | |
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Vehicle Title | |
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The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_ffad4e9f | type |
Shown Their Work | |
The Titfield Thunderbolt / int_ffad4e9f | comment |
Shown Their Work: The film almost completely avoids Just Train Wrong, except when Rule of Funny is involved. See Drives Like Crazy. | |
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