Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

stephen-317 Made ten years before the Beeching report yet seems to predict it. I showed this film to a Danish friend after playing 'The Blue Lamp'. He chose this as the better film.

writers_reign Not for the first time and probably not the last it seems that I've been watching a different film to the majority of people who have posted a review here. I recall seeing this film on TV when I was in my teens and being disappointed. Then I saw the DVD in a Charity Shop figured, what the hey, bought it, and checked the reviews here on IMDb. They painted such a glowing picture it convinced me I was mistaken so I put it in the DVD player with high hopes. Alas, seems I was right all along. For one thing, apart from Stanley Holloway Ealing is fielding very much a second or even third eleven and when you give pedestrian actors a pedestrian screenplay the result is ... yes, I can see you're ahead of me. John Gregson was as wooden as usual, so much so he could easily have doubled as one of the sleepers on the track. The females were unknown to me and presumably sunk without trace. All in all a waste of 84 minutes.

bkoganbing Watching The Titfield Thunderbolt I'm wondering if Paul Henning got the idea for Petticoat Junction from this film. Certainly the folks who wanted to keep that railroad that ran from Hooterville to Pixley were of the same mind that these rural British people had in keeping their railroad line operational.On Petticoat Junction that was a running plot line to keep the Hooterville Cannonball going. Here in Titfield the main transportation with the outside world is that railroad that runs from Titfield to Mallingford and back. The Labour government under Clement Attlee in the new post war Great Britain nationalized their railroads, but a loophole in that law will permit a private company to be organized if they can maintain the railroad up to certain standards.Now that's not sitting too well with folks that have franchised a bus line to be the new transport between Titfield and the wider world. So now we also have the elements of the plot of hundreds of westerns in the USA, the railroad versus the stagecoach. This one's done with a little more style.It's quite a crew of outraged citizens from Titfield that have taken this crusade up for many different motives. They range from the local vicar George Relph to the local squire Stanley Holloway to the local poacher Hugh Griffith. The ingenuity of the locals is really something to see as they overcome many disadvantages and some deliberate sabotage.The cinematography of the British countryside by their ace cameraman Jack Cardiff reminds me of The Quiet Man. Another reminder of The Quiet Man is the presence in the cast of Jack McGowran of the Abbey Theater players. You might not remember the name, but you can never forget McGowran who plays a toady like character here for the bus line in the same manner he was Victor McLaglen's factotum in The Quiet Man. With that squinty face of his, McGowran was born to play parts like that.The Titfield Thunderbolt both as a period satire of some of the problems that the new Socialist Great Britain was undergoing and as a comedic piece with some timeless comedy gags holds up well. It's a great credit to the Ealing Studios and the wonderful humor that they gave the post war United Kingdom and the world.

MartinHafer Before I begin, I wonder if anyone else noticed that the plot to this film is actually very, very similar to one of Harold Lloyd's films, SPEEDY. It, like the TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT, is about an older form of transportation that is supposed to be phased out in favor of the new, but people band together to keep their old line. In the case of SPEEDY, it was a trolley in New York in the late 1920s. Here, with the THUNDERBOLT, it's a train in a rural English town near the Welsh border (in the fictional town of Titfield which is supposedly near Bath). And, in both cases, the competition does its best to prevent the old line from fulfilling its obligation--thus putting the old company out of business. TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT is a bit different, as it's more of an ensemble film and the humor is a lot more subtle, but otherwise the films sure are similar.The film begins with an announcement that the old train line will be closed and replaced by the new bus service. However, the vicar and some of the other locals have a nostalgic love of the old service and approach the government to buy the line and run it themselves. However, again and again, the bus company does its best to make sure the train won't run on time and thus lose its contract. The final straw seems to be when the train is vandalized and made unusable on the night before the government inspector is due to inspect the railroad. What will they do--and why is the word 'Thunderbolt' in the film's title?! This is a nice gentle sort of film that hearkens back to bygone days--to an England that no longer exists. As such, the film is a great historical document and both entertains AND reminds us of our past. Additionally, a lovely ensemble cast, nice and leisurely direction and lovely color (a rarity in Ealing films) make for a memorable trip down memory lane.