I remember hearing the name Arthur Askey when I were but a lad, but had not until this point experienced his comedy stylings. Yeesh.
I recognize the phrase "Ayethankyew" as one that was part of the lexicon of my formative years, but for the life of me cannot understand how this man found success. That said, the film itself is actually solid entertainment, largely because it is less a vehicle for him than a film that seems to have been constructed without him and had him foisted upon it. And, what's more, most of the characters in the film seem to share the irritation that any rational person would experience when confronted with this strident gnome who has no concept of personal space and a massively inflated view of his lovability.
The film was a very cozy Halloween choice, with solid character actors (including a couple of very familiar faces - notably Linden Travers (she's the one in the middle, between Teddy and R.G.)
(The Lady Vanishes) and Raymond Huntley
(too many things to count - we know him from Night Train to Munich and one of the Inspector Hornleighs, but he's probably most well known for Upstairs, Downstairs)) and a great World War II Fifth Column plot (which is a bit of a coincidence, as we've also just watched the 1970s Peter O'Toole adaptation of Rogue Male (free on YouTube) featuring ever-so-British Nazi Quive-Smith.) Not to give too much away, but a train drops off an assortment of characters: beautiful young woman Jackie Winthrop
(played by actual stunner Carole Lynne, who seems to have leveraged her beauty into marrying a very rich man), her cousin (first thought to be her husband), cricket-and-boxing star R. G. Winthrop (who finds Askey the most annoying), Teddy Deakin, who appears to be almost as annoying as Askey's Tommy Gander (and equally borderline harassing to the all-too-patient Jackie), albeit almost twice his height, but who reveals a secret later; eccentric parrot-fancying God-botherer Miss Bourne;
the tippling Dr. Sterling, and about-to-be-married young couple from Camberwell, Edna and Herbert;
on to the platform at a fictitious small station on the way from London to Truro (they're heading for the "Cornish Riviera").
They're expecting to change trains, but they have missed their connection, probably because Tommy Gander pulled the cord to stop the train because his hat blew out of the window. So the bulk of the film plays out on this one lonely station in the middle of the night, and manages to be very atmospheric (spooky and cozy in equal measures) in so doing.
They meet a station master (with a very bizarre accent - I think he was trying to do a West Country accent, but I see that the actor was from Lancashire, which explains the difficulty) who is very resistant to letting them stay inside the station, despite it being a filthy storm outside, and even more resistant to staying himself, as he tells the tale of a ghost train that passes on the tracks on the other side of the station that (he says) haven't been used for decades, since a station master dropped dead and failed to close the bridge (that opens to let boats through) causing a train to plummet into the river. He gives all sorts of details about the time of death and the time the train appears that later seem to be coming true...
Late arrivals, after the motley crew have bickered and rallied round to make tea and share snacks, are the aforementioned Travers and Huntley, the former apparently being chased by the latter, as he claims she is his sister who has been institutionalized because of her unhealthy obsession with the ghost train. A death occurs
(or does it?) A shooting occurs (at a ghost?) A twist happens. Many people are not who they seem. A teetotaler discovers the delights (and side-effects) of brandy. Matches are mistaken for chocolate. And Tommy Gander (accidentally?) saves the day. A slow start, but canters to a very satisfactory finish. But it does not make me want to seek out more Arthur Askey, I'll tell you that for nothing.
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