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Time for a stiff upper lip

Angela Kelly
19/ 3/2008

MENTION Carnforth Station to any movie buff and you’re quite likely to get impressions of 20th century English stiff upper lip repression at its best.

For this now-famous Lancashire venue was the setting for the classic romantic 1945 film Brief Encounter, directed by Sir David Lean.

It is now about to play its own important role in national celebrations to mark the centenary of the distinguished British director’s birth.

A week of events from March 27 to 29 will honour Lean’s work and will include the screening of some of his most memorable films, including Doctor Zhivago and, of course, Brief Encounter.

The wartime film has captured the imagination of audiences for more than 60 years and ranks second in the British Film Institute’s Top 100 list.

The millions who have already viewed the black and white masterpiece will understand why. It all started "just through me getting a little piece of grit in my eye," as actress Celia Johnson narrates in her joint starring role with Trevor Howard as the doomed couple Laura and Alec.

The action – if it’s accurate to describe such a restrained film in this way – takes place at Milford Junction Station, alias Carnforth Station, with the memorable refreshment room scenes filmed at Denham Studios.

It’s a story about how an ordinary housewife is tempted to have an affair. The couple, who come together by chance on the station after he tries to get an annoying bit of grit from a steam train out of her eye, continue to meet each Thursday in the refreshment room.

There are no graphic sexual scenes, no overt emotion at all and no happy ending. It is a wonderfully underplayed film, typical of Noel Coward’s clever writing and taken from his successful play, Still Life. For humble Carnforth Station – opened just south of the Lake District in 1846, completely rebuilt in 1937 and probably best known otherwise to those travelling by train between London and Glasgow – it was the start of a brush with fame which has happily endured.

The Ministry of War Transport specially chose it because it was remote and safe from attack. Filming had to take place at night between 10pm and 6am so as not to interfere with daytime train operations, and external shooting of the Milford station shots involved film ‘flats’ specially erected on the platform.

Since then, the station has been voted the eighth most romantic film location in the country.

In 2008, the visitor centre boasts plenty of wartime and Brief Encounter memorabilia, with the film running continuously. You can even finish your nostalgic visit with a light bite in the Brief Encounter Refreshment Room, and if you want to sample travel by steam train a restored locomotive takes regular trips around the region’s picturesque, sweeping landscape on a route that goes into the Lakeland mountains. Now the station has secured funding from the David Lean Foundation to screen some of the director’s best-known films. It has got together with nearby Lancaster’s Folly and the Dukes Theatre for the programme and is also offering a chance to enjoy a performance of Still Life by the After Dark Theatre, plus an exhibition about David Lean and his work.

During his 41-year career, Lean directed 16 feature films, becoming one of Britain’s most popular cinema figures. His signature directorial style involved character and emotion, with a special sense of place and time.

Sheila Ashcroft, Carnforth Station Visitor Centre’s manager, said she was "hugely pleased and proud" the Foundation had provided the resources for the station to "celebrate its place in the legacy of one of Britain’s most influential film producers.

"And also take its place in the history of British cinema."

For details ring 01524 735165 or visit www.carnforthstation.co.uk