spinalman

I watched this classic a few years ago and was struck by the relatively heavy use of west London locations for the setup "heist". The one with the Aston Martin leaping the hump back bridge, the gasworks in background, a railway crossing and a pub (The Lordship Tavern IIRC).

I searched through maps of west london at the time, on a hunch, looking for crossings, industrials and a couple of road names caught fleetingly in the backgrounds. i pinned it down to a couple of spots in industrial sites in West Uxbridge...now heavily redeveloped. Dose anyone know if these locations still exist in any recognizable form?

Paul

Steve Crook

Location spotting anywhere in the West London / Heathrow corridor is almost impossible because of the way it's changed so much because of the airport, the M4 & the M25. The roadhouse scenes at "The Bull" (possibly a made up name) in The LIfe and Death of Colonel Blimp are out that way somewhere, almost certainly on the old A4, just inside the M25. But it's changed so much it's impossible to recognise anything now. We need someone who knew it as it was before all the rebuilding.

Steve

alan gowdy

Hi guys - I can help a bit here. The bridge where the Aston Martin becomes airborne is on Cowley Mill Road in Uxbridge. The staged heist is at the junction of that road with Waterloo Road - still recognisable locations. There is a gasworks on Cowley Mill Road but the absence of a railway line (extant or seemingly historical) puzzles me. The level crossing by the gasworks must be elsewhere - but where?

The airfield where Sellers' character attempts an escape is Denham so the chase scenes on the way there are presumably in the adjacent lanes and not far from the old Denham studio.

Drew

I've just watched this film again and absolutly love it - Sellers and Jefferies are a delight together - such a good film

The heist is on Cowley Mill Road as Alan mentions and The Lord Hill pub is still there, although I'm not sure of its name today:







The only thing I can see regarding the location of the level crossing are the first letters of what I assume is the name of the crossing on the wall in the pic below "FA"

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spinalman

Thanks for that info Drew. I tried to identify that crossing too..it can't be too far from that area and there were a lot of sidings etc around that part of Uxbridge.


PS try Shift-Apple-4 and use the crosshairs to mark out the area for frame grab. The resulting grab will be called Picture.png

Paul

Drew

Yeah unfortunatley iDVD doesn't allow screen grabs whilst there's a DVD running, hence the rather ropey photographs of my screen(!)

BTW that Aston Martin sounds georgous in those chase scenes and whoever (actually) drives it certainly gives it some wellie!

I've had a quick look on Flash Earth maps and there is a line that runs the otherside of Uxbridge and a street called North Street looks like it may have crossed the line...

see what you think....

Map of Cowley Road & Waterloo Road showing 3 old gas tower remains:


Possible level crossing??

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spinalman

Hi Drew, Ah, I have never done grabs of DVD via shift apple 4...doh! Snapz Pro might do it though..it certainly does from Quicktime.

Re: crossing and gas holders....not sure. I'll have to delve further into that one. Stand By, Stand By! (sorry -wrong film)

Paul

Nick Dando

Try using VLC from http://www.videolan.org/

Nick

Alan F

Sorry chaps, you’re looking in the wrong area.
The level crossing was in Bushy Park Road – Teddington, although its official name was Fairfax Road level crossing, hence the FA seen in the film. I say was because the crossing was removed and replaced by a footbridge in 1973. The site of the gasholder has recently been built on, but the area across the road where Nervous O'Toole and his gang sit on the roof is still derelict. I have been down there this evening to take a few pictures.

alan gowdy

Well done Alan F - good result

Jackdaw

Excellent, Alan F, top geeking!

Automotivehistorian

Nice mixture of vans in the stills... Bedford CA with doors open, and Commer BF being passed by a Morris LD.

Drew

Well done Alan F!! Excellent sleuthing, thanks for the pics
Brilliant

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Alexis

I can 100% confirm that it was the Fairfax Road crossing in Teddington - I lived just down the road and watched the scene being set up and filmed - didn't see Peter Sellers when I was there though.

spinalman

Wow, excellent work Alan....you were right: plenty of thunder left. can you apply your talents to the other long term quest - windyridge and appleby from "the Green Man"? see current thread
http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/lo...locations.html


Looking at the frame grabs....why is it modern views always look less appealing?

Paul