Where and what film?

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

Here's one for the film buffs......

Yesterday (Wednesday October 24) we visited South Wales in Myfannwy, our X150 XK; the location of picture 1 is the end of a coastal lane which featured towards the end of a well known film, east of Penarth; picture 2 is of a location from the same film which has been,over the years, much sought out and photographed.

But exactly where, and in what film.

Clue : it wasn't Gavin and Stacey!

Answers, on a Jaguar service book, to this thread.    Don't stay awake all night wondering.

 

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

Ah well, MOH says perhaps we set the bar too high.........

Picture One is at the end of the coastal lane east of Penarth (Glamorganshire) which runs to overlook Sully Island at Swanbridge................at the end of the 1959 film "Tiger Bay" the police car carrying John Mills and his very young daughter, Hayley Mills, is seen rushing along here, keeping in sight the ship which has just left Cardiff Docks carrying the fugitive.   The islands of Flat Holm and Steep Holm, visible in this photo,  can be seen in the film of 60 years ago.

Picture Two is of the church in Tiger Bay where Hayley Mills' character, Gilly, is a choir member and where she flees from the fugitive (Horst Bucholz) who later becomes a "friend".....the door behind our XK is clearly seen in the film, although in 1959 it was an old wooden door with metal straps.   Apparently, much sought out by fans of the film.

The film was set in the Tiger Bay part of Cardiff, much changed now since the opening of the Cardiff Bay area, although quite a number of the set locations remain.   MOH clearly remembers, as a young lad, walking the tunnel beneath the bay (seen in the film), and seeing some of the filming taking place.   One oddity is that the fugitive leaves his ship on arrival at Cardiff Docks, and is seen minutes later crossing a suspension bridge, whuch is actually at Newport, some 12 miles away........must have a rapid walking speed (or borrowed a Jaguar?!)

 

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

Whilst on the Tiger Bay topic, this (first photo) is the dock area, with the Custom House behind, as it is now............the wooden jetty supports are visible in the film, as is the Custom House.   Dr Who and Torchwood fans will doubtless recognise!

Photo two, with the XK, is the esplanade at Penarth, which featured in Gavin and Stacey, as did Penarth Pier (photo three) which is where the intrepid "gang" went to bingo..........."alright, leaper, how ya doin', alright".......which will mean nothing to folk who didn't watch Gavin and Stacey!

The XK was great fun along the coast roads; we would have liked to travel down the M5, M50 and onwards to South Wales in the XJS but that is in with the JLR Classic recommended indie having the front suspension bushes/rack mounts, anti-roll bar links and bushes, track rod ends etc etc replaced with new, plus the front beam mount bushes, so that she is as new in that area.  No polybushes, just the standard Jaguar as Mr Jaguar intended.   Note : this was brought on after a Hunter's alignment check showed that instead of 3 degrees of toe-in on the front, we had 15 degrees of toe-out, hence a slightly odd feel and a bit of tyre squeal!    All will be well once complete........the JLR recommended place we use is run by three ex-Jaguar Development and Testing Engineers from the E-type/XJ/XJS era, so they know what they are at.

Happy growling and/or leaping

 

 

[Guest]

Your first post had me puzzling for a while Carole and I have to admit that, much to my chagrin, I had completely forgotten the movie 'Tiger Bay'. The ensuing miff however did lead to a plot to post a photo of an Austin K2/Y - Matchbox version of course - in a sand pit by way of reciprocity. Hopefully that verbal image will be sufficient to identify the movie and the cast?

In defence of my Movie Buff credentials I have to admit that the leading actor of Tiger Bay, and many other productions, fell from my personal grace many years ago while he was filming that dreadful 'Quatermass' tv show. By chance I happened to be in Stoke on Trent while the film was in production and witnessed that gentleman loudly berating a lady for not using his proper title when she asked for an autograph - a knight in name only I am sad to say. 

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

Congratulations, Steve..........you are hereby awarded a pebble signed by Claude, freshly picked from the causeway at Sully island, near to where our photo was taken.

Reference the Austin K2/Y,   well, we have, in the past, enjoyed re-runs of "Ice Cold in Alex" featuring the aforementioned John Mills (oops.....Sir Mills J), Sylvia Syms, Anthony Quayle and Harry Andrews.      Filmed where it was hot and there was lots of sand, so not Penarth!

Ditto opinion on the Quatermass film/s; even in MOH's boyhood years he realised how bad it was.   The pits, you could say.  Doh.     Sad to learn of the unchivalrous behaviour; the opposite was true of (Sir) Stanley Baker, who MOH came across several times whilst, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, teaching and coaching swimming, when  a relative of Sir Stanley was one of the group.   Relevant, we suppose, to the forum because he was driving a Mk2 Jaguar at the time!

At quite an early age, MOH also came across Mary Ure (later to become wife of the late Robert Shaw) on a Cardiff trolleybus.   MOH's father asked the said Mme Ure (clearly not realising who she was) what the time was.  The theatrical response which came...."time, time, what is time; time doesn't worry about you, so why should you worry about time".      There was, actually, a very good reason....they were en-route to Tiger Bay to catch the White Funnel Fleet steamer to Weston-Super-Mare.       Oh, and by the way, Mme Ure was later seen getting into a chauffeur driven Mk9 Jaguar at the Cardiff New Theatre......just in case somebody thinks the story isn't relevant!

Happy growling, mind how you go