The Ghost Train (1941)
1h 25m | PG-13
Mismatched travellers are stranded overnight at a lonely rural railway station. They soon learn of local superstition about a phantom train which is said to travel these parts at dead of night, carrying ghosts from a long-ago train wreck in the area.
Director: Walter Forde
Studio: Gainsborough Pictures
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Video: 720p
Cast
Arthur Askey
as Tommy Gander
Richard Murdoch
as Teddy Deakin
Kathleen Harrison
as Miss Bourne
Peter Murray-Hill
as Richard G. Winthrop
Carole Lynne
as Jackie Winthrop
Morland Graham
as Dr. Sterling
Reviews
A storm causes a disparate group of passengers to become stranded overnight at a rural railway station. Before the superstitious station master leaves them for the night, he regales them with a tale of a phantom train that reputedly travels the adjacent closed line at night. He returns shortly afterwards, dies of shock - and we get treated to a rather theatrical mystery as they investigate what's going on... Kathleen Harrison is quite good as the dipsomaniac "Miss Bourne" as is Raymond Huntley as "Price" but the rest of the cast struggle to eclipse the domineering performance of the film's star Arthur Askey who, frankly, annoys his fellow travellers and the audience in equal measure. I suspect that those who enjoy this film will be fans of his Vaudevillian style of comedy; I'm afraid it doesn't much work for me and what could have been a fun little ghost story ended up being quite disappointing.