Grand National Night (1953) [DVD]

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The original West End cast included Leslie Banks, Hermione Baddeley, Frederick Lloyd, Olga Edwardes, Campbell Copelin and Vincent Holman.

Maybe not his "latest and greatest screen role" as it said in the publicity blurb, but it's not a bad vehicle for a star who does enough here to keep it interesting, if not exactly intriguing with what must have been a fairly limited budget. In this British crime thriller directed by Bob McNaught, adapted from the play by Dorothy and Campbell Christie, a British racehorse owner (Nigel Patrick) manages to win the Grand National with his horse. He drives her to Liverpool to try and get her medical attention, but he discovers that she had died and leaves her in the car which belongs to a friend of hers. Previous to this film version Grand National Night had been presented as a BBC Radio serial as well as the original stage play, which was produced in 1945 and 1946. Nigel Patrick is assured and convincing in the central role of a gentlemen horse trainer who becomes involved in a game of cat-and-mouse with a Scotland Yard inspector who suspects him of murder.she insists on taking his pregnant mare out for a ride, which eventually causes the horse to go into labour prematurely.

I hope the foregoing will give you sufficient, but not too much, information to form your own opinion.

The film was based on Campbell and Dorothy Christie’s 1945 play, which was also presented as a BBC Radio serial in 1946. noel purcell and beatrice campbell do some sterling support and colin gordon is the wonderfully name buns darling. The ‘train’ seems to be that which appeared in A Run For Your Money and Stop Press Girl (both 1949) showing what is thought to be a GWR ‘Castle’ but it turns into a model! It is also rather confusing in the fact that the train that comes to a halt is a Southern Region 4 SUB EMU, yet Nigel Patrick then jumps down to track level from a GWR coach!