Tuesday 16 June 2020

Titfield Thunderbolt Film Posters

Some months ago when I was browsing on Abebooks (my first choice for books, particularly second-hand railway books) I came across BENITO ORIGINAL MOVIE POSTER based in Spain who were offering an original English poster for the 'Titfield Thunderbolt' film, showing the theft of the '14XX' by Dan and Mr. Valentine.


I'm afraid it would have set you back over £800 plus shipping but the Spanish poster for the film below was available at under £300.



You will note that, for Spanish-speaking audiences, the film had been re-titled 'LOS APUROS DE UN PEQUEÑO TREN' which, apparently, means 'The Troubles of a Small Train'.

I also found another poster for the film which used a mirror-image of the '14XX' artwork above but with the Spanish title.

Intrigued, I also found a poster on offer from CineMateriel for the French re-release. I discovered that 'Tortillard' is a term for a train, particularly a slow or roundabout local train, which I found rather charming.


Until I spotted the '14XX' poster above on the internet, I only remember having previously seen the Edward Bawden film poster, which I mentioned in my post The Titfield Thunderbolt and is repeated below, but a little more exploration showed that there are quite a few other film posters and artwork for DVD releases around. 

The Legend of the Titfield Thunderbolt lives on!