The Ghost Train (1931 film)

The Ghost Train is a 1931 British comedy thriller film directed by Walter Forde and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge and Ann Todd.^[1] It is based on the play The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley. The film's art direction was by Walter Murton.

The Ghost Train
The film's main characters in the station's waiting room
Directed by	Walter Forde
Written by	Lajos Bíró Angus MacPhail Sidney Gilliat
Based on	The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley
Produced by	Michael Balcon Phil C. Samuel
Starring	Jack Hulbert Cicely Courtneidge Ann Todd Cyril Raymond
Cinematography	Leslie Rowson
Edited by	Ian Dalrymple
Production company	Gainsborough Pictures
Distributed by	Woolf & Freedman Film Service
Release date	21 September 1931 (1931-09-21)
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Thought to have been lost for some years, parts of the film (five reels of images with two reels of sound) were recovered in a very decomposed state. It was part of the British Film Institute campaign in 1992 to locate missing movies.^[2]

In 1979, comedian Bob Monkhouse, who was also an expert on the history of silent cinema and a film collector, had an intact copy of the full film and many others that were abruptly seized by the police. The botched case went to trial for eleven days before the judge dismissed the jury and told Monkhouse there was no case to answer. All charges were dropped, but law enforcement incinerated the film.^[3][4]

Cast

• Jack Hulbert as Teddy Deakin
• Cicely Courtneidge as Miss Bourne
• Ann Todd as Peggy Murdock
• Cyril Raymond as Richard Winthrop
• Allan Jeayes as Dr. Sterling
• Donald Calthrop as Saul Hodgkin
• Angela Baddeley as Julia Price
• Henry Caine as Herbert Price
• Tracy Holmes as Charles Bryant
• Carol Coomb as Elsie Bryant

References

1. "The Ghost Train: Detail View". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
2. Botting, Jo. "Lost Then Found". British Film Institute Screenonline. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
3. Rose, Simon (1994). "Profiles: Bob Monkhouse - Film Collector". Empire. Bauer Media Group.
4. Brew, Simon (26 April 2021). "Bob Monkhouse, his movie collection, and the bizarre Serious Crime Squad case". Film Stories. Retrieved 16 February 2025.

External links

• The Ghost Train at IMDb