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.
Acting
Arthur Askey's motor-mouth vaudeville energy never stops.
Production
Fog-drenched station set practically breathes mildew.
Writing
Play adaptation keeps the door-slamming farce tight.
Director
Walter Forde
Arthur Askey
Tommy Gander
Richard Murdoch
Teddy Deakin
Kathleen Harrison
Miss Bourne
Peter Murray-Hill
Richard G. Winthrop
Carole Lynne
Jackie Winthrop
Morland Graham
Dr. Sterling
Stuart Latham
Herbert Perkins
Herbert Lomas
Saul Hodgkin
Raymond Huntley
John Price
Linden Travers
Julia Price
Wallace Bosco
Ted Holmes
George Merritt
Inspector
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during the Blitz, this Ealing comedy-horror was literal escapism—audiences fleeing real bombs for fake ghosts. The 'don't open the door' tension hit different when blackout curtains were law.
Arthur Askey demanded rewrites to expand his part, infuriating playwright Arnold Ridley—who later created Dad's Army and allegedly never forgave him.
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