The Iron Maiden ** (1963, Michael Craig, Alan Hale Jr, Jeff Donnell, Cecil Parker, Noel Purcell, Roland Culver, Anne Helm) – Classic Movie Review 12,718

Gerald Thomas’s 1963 British Eastmancolor film The Iron Maiden stars Michael Craig, Alan Hale Jr, Jeff Donnell, Cecil Parker and Anne Helm in this traction engine comedy set against the background of the dawn of supersonic jet flight.

Director Gerald Thomas’s 1963 British Eastmancolor film The Iron Maiden [The Swinging Maiden] stars Michael Craig, Alan Hale Jr, Jeff Donnell, Cecil Parker, Noel Purcell, Roland Culver, and Anne Helm in this traction engine comedy set against the background of the dawn of supersonic jet flight. There are also minor roles for Carry On regulars Jim Dale and Joan Sims, while veteran character actor Sam Kydd appears with his six-year-old son Jonathan Kydd.

A young aircraft designing plane maker called Jack Hopkins (Michael Craig) has a passion for traction engines, owning one called The Iron Maiden. He at first flies into turbulence when he battles with rival designer Humphrey Gore-Brown (John Standing). Next Jack’s boss Sir Giles Thompson (Cecil Parker) wants to sell the new supersonic jet aircraft Jack has designed to American millionaire airline mogul Paul Fisher (Alan Hale Jr), newly arrived in England with his wife Miriam (Jeff Donnell) and daughter Kathy (Anne Helm). But then Jack is alright when he wins a big contract from Paul Fisher through his love for machines. Later, Jack is desperate to enter the annual Woburn Abbey steam rally with his now damaged The Iron Maiden.

Craig stars pleasantly, there is a good cast of comedy experts (especially Cecil Parker, Noel Purcell, Roland Culver, Jim Dale and Joan Sims), while the Duke of Bedford (Ian Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford as himself) and his Woburn stately home pop up, all helping the film to try to evoke the ghost of Ealing Studios.

But, in the end, it only succeeds in being a mild, partly amusing, now faded, minor movie in the Carry On vein, failing to achieve the stature of Rank’s similar 1953 Genevieve, with vintage cars instead of traction engines, or Ealing Studios’ 1953 The Titfield Thunderbolt, but then these are enduring comedy classics.

The Iron Maiden is made by Peter Rogers Productions and released in the UK by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors.

It runs 98 minutes.

It premiered in London on 3 January 1963 and was released in the UK on 4 February 1963.

It helps considerably that there is copious location filming, The Duke of Bedford’s Woburn Abbey House, Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is the scene of the steam traction engine rally where The Iron Maiden competes against the traction engine driven by Admiral Sir Digby Trevelyan (Noel Purcell) and the Vicar (Brian Oulton). The studio work is at Pinewood Studios, near London, England.

The Iron Maiden (Great Dorset Steam Fair 2007).

The traction engine playing The Iron Maiden is a John Fowler & Co showman’s road locomotive built in September 1920 for heavy haulage work. It survives and appears at events and venues such as the Scarborough Fair Collection, the Great Dorset Steam Fair and the Yorkshire Air Museum.

Jack Hopkins’s supersonic jetliner is played by a Handley Page Victor military bomber, featured in scenes filmed at Radlett Aerodrome.

The cast include Michael Craig, Alan Hale Jnr, Jeff Donnell, Cecil Parker, Noel Purcell, Roland Culver, Anne Helm, Duke of Bedford, Joan Sims. Judith Furse, John Standing, Brian Oulton, Sam Kydd, Richard Thorp, Brian Rawlinson, Tom Gill, Jim Dale, George Woodbridge, Ian Wilson, Raymond Glendenning, Cyril Chamberlin, Anton Rodgers, Jonathan Kydd, and Peter Byrne.

The British actor and screenwriter Michael Francis Gregson, aka Michael Craig, was born on 27 January 1929 in Poona, British India. His career goes right back to an uncredited role in Passport to Pimlico (1949). His younger brother was the film producer Richard Gregson, who was married to Natalie Wood, making Craig an uncle of the actress Natasha Gregson Wagner.

He is celebrated for Campbell’s Kingdom (1957), Sea of Sand (1958), The Silent Enemy (1958), Sapphire (1959), Doctor in Love (1960), Cone of Silence (1960), Mysterious Island (1961), The Iron Maiden (1962), Modesty Blaise (1966), Turkey Shoot (1982), Ride a Wild Pony (1975) and Appointment with Death (1988).

Canadian-born actress and children’s author Anne Helm (born September 12, 1938) played Elvis Presley’s love interest in the 1962 film Follow That Dream.

British actor, voice-over artist, narrator, writer, producer and podcaster Jonathan Kydd has his first acting role in The Iron Maiden, appearing aged six as the Son of Fred (played by his real-life father Sam Kydd, who was in nearly 300 films).

The cast are Michael Craig as Jack Hopkins, Anne Helm as Kathy Fisher, Jeff Donnell as Miriam Fisher, Alan Hale Jr as Paul Fisher, NoFel Purcell as Admiral Sir Digby Trevelyan, Cecil Parker as Sir Giles Thompson, Roland Culver as Lord Upshott, Joan Sims as Nellie Trotter, John Standing as Humphrey Gore-Brown, Brian Oulton as Vicar, Sam Kydd as Fred Trotter, Judith Furse as Mrs Webb, Cyril Chamberlain as Mrs. Webb’s Cabman, Richard Thorp as Harry Markham, Jim Dale as Bill, George Woodbridge as Sid Ludge, Ian Wilson as Sidney Webb, Brian Rawlinson as Albert, Village Constable, Peter Burton as Thompson’s Salesman, Raymond Glendenning as the Rally’s MC, Ian Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford as himself, Anton Rodgers as Concierge, Jonathan Kydd as Fred’s Son, Tom Gill as Rally Steward, and Peter Byrne as Race Starter.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,718

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