Rent The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953)

Comic Nostalgia. - The Titfield Thunderbolt review by Steve

This is generally thought of as a lesser Ealing comedy. And it is insubstantial, but the plot is the ultimate example of the values this series of films represents. After the war the studio developed projects in support of the Attlee government. By the fifties, this enthusiasm had burned out. The Titfield Thunderbolt is a conservative film, with a small 'c'.

When British Rail plans to close down a branch line, local enthusiasts unite to keep the railway going, led by the parish vicar (George Relph) There is the usual parochial ragbag of eccentrics, rascals and dreamers. The road lobby, represented by the owner of a regional bus company, sabotages this ramshackle operation, just as the man from the ministry arrives for an audit.

So the underdogs steal the ancient Victorian puffer from a museum to make the crucial journey. This is gentle whimsy. The characters are paper thin and there are no major stars. And there isn't much of an impression of the local community. But whenever a later film maker evokes the magic of the Ealing comedies, it is most particularly this they are drawing on.

It would be another ten years before most of these local lines were closed down after the Beeching Report. The film is a light comedy which has acquired a lustre of nostalgic regret on the loss of a much loved national resource. A film which once seemed ephemeral fluff, now feels more complex; a nation offering resistance in a time of immutable change.