Please don’t miss this one – such a charming British film telling a simple story of two children running away from home to see the Coronation in 1953 in London – and the adventures they have on the way – and we too with them
Below I have located a set of Front of House Stills from the film which are perfect – and fit the mood and the era so well.
ABOVE: I really love these – the colour is slightly faded and the printed words belong to another time – but aren’t they good
Thanks Goodness for Talking Pictures – who have given this film a number of showings and judging by the visits to the pages of this Blog -covering the film – it must have been watched by a great many people.
Also BELOW I have managed to copy some pictures from Reel Streets giving the locations around Beaconsfield where filming took place.
Beaconsfield ABOVE
Waterloo Station ABOVE
ABOVE – Near Amersham
Beaconsfield and other locations ABOVE
I often wonder what became of Colin Gibson and Lesley Dudley. If still alive, they must be well into their seventies by now. For me, the film was spoiled by having Sid James as one of the children’s parents. He seemed to crop up in everything back then, in the most inappropriate films. He had the most terrible accent and voice and was never funny, just annoying.
David.
I have found a snippet on Lesley Dudley that might interest you which says :-
Lesley was born in Camberwell, South London in 1946. Her older brother Raymond was also a child actor:
Lesley dated actor Dennis Waterman in the mid-1960s. He talks about her in his autobiography ReMinder. He says that she was two years older than him – he was born in 1948. She attended the Corona Stage School. Her family lived in Chiswick and her father ran a haulage business – Dennis sometimes worked for him. Dennis says that she was for a time a presenter on TV show Crackerjack. They split up when she decided to go America as an au pair.
Neil
Lesley did return to the UK and married twice. She has two sons. She lived in Kent for many years but now resides in Los Angeles. Her brother Raymond also attended the Corona Stage School. He currently lives in London.
Thanks for the info, Neil. One of Lesley’s very first uncredited film appearances, if not thee first, was as one of the children singing in the Sunday School scene alongside top starred Andrew Ray in “THE YELLOW BALLOON” , filmed in 1952 and one of the first ‘X’ films. Also there was an uncredited 8 years old Richard O’Sullivan. All the children in the scene, with the exception of Andrew Ray, were probably from the Corona Stage School.