Waterloo Road (1945)

A drama set during WWII. A tale of adultery & desertion.

Director:

Sidney Gilliat

Writers:

Val Valentine (story), Sidney Gilliat

Stars:

John Mills, Stewart Granger, Alastair Sim

Cast

Cast overview:
John Mills	...	Jim Colter
Stewart Granger	...	Ted Purvis
Alastair Sim	...	Dr. Montgomery
Joy Shelton	...	Tillie Colter
Alison Leggatt	...	Ruby
Beatrice Varley	...	Mrs. Colter
George Carney	...	Tom Mason
Leslie Bradley	...	Mike Duggan
Jean Kent	...	Toni
Ben Williams	...	Cpl Lewis
Anna Konstam	...	May
Vera Frances	...	Vera Colter
Wylie Watson	...	Tattooist
George Merritt	...	Air Raid Warden

Storyline

A drama set during WWII. A tale of adultery & desertion.

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Plot Keywords:

train station | punched in the face | awol | pushed down stairs | face slap | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 1945 (UK)

Also Known As:

A Estrada de Waterloo

Filming Locations:

Gainsborough Studios, Islington, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gainsborough Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (BAF Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the fight scene near the end of the film, Jim Colter (John Mills) pulls Ted Purvis' (Stewart Granger) jacket down over him arms to disable him. In a split second and a change of camera shot, dapper man about town Ted is wearing his jacket correctly again.

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Connections

Featured in War Stories (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Tell Me the Truth"
(uncredited)
Written by Harry Leon and Jimmy Messini

User Reviews

Well crafted and a must see for genre fans.

Waterloo Road is sometimes forgotten among the hundreds of films made by the late, great Sir John Mills, but it gave him one of his best roles at a time when British Film studios were churning out a handful of films each week for to satisfy the public.

He plays Jim Colter, a former railway employee, now called up who goes AWOL to find Ted Purvis (Stewart Granger), a spiv and draft dodger who is seeing his wife (an excellent performance by Joy Shelton). The action takes place over a single day in, and around, Waterloo Station. In almost social realism style the camera follows the action through real streets, and includes an early amusement arcade (check those machines and the customers), a dance hall, tea shop and a tattoo parlour in a road called 'The Cut'. I watched this with my Mother(now 79)as its her favourite John Mills Film, and she remembers passing by this parlour and seeing the 'tattooed lady' poster when, as a 14 year old shop assistant, she worked at Waterloo Station during the blitz.

It is a well crafted film: not many scenes are wasted and the script is tight and balanced between light and serious dialogue. Another surprise is how energetic Mills is. He leaps across tables and through windows like an acrobat. The fight scene is as well filmed and choreographed as any American Film Noir of the time, and even allowing for library clips of the blitz (which can be seen in other wartime films), the bombing sequence is as close to the real thing as the studio could make it.

My favourite performance and /or character? Ben Williams playing the hapless Military Policeman Corporal Lewis forever chasing Mills around 'The Cut'. How often are films today enhanced by the Extra Players?