Last night, I dreamt I was in London again …
Actually I was talking about traveling with a friend of mine and started to reminisce about my lovely times in Londontown. That led me to this topic – a look at the London Underground from the world of cinema.
The Tube/The Underground – whatever you call it (just don’t call it a SUBWAY), is an attraction unto itself for visitors to the English capital city. It has also been the setting for many an interesting films and pivotal scenes in those films. Here is a cool map that conveys this very message. For a larger view of the map, click here.
In my continued admiration for the U.K. capital city and in honor of the 150th anniversary of the London Underground system, I have gathered a few of my favorite cinematic scenes from The Underground:
THE WINGS OF THE DOVE (1997): couldn’t find the actual clip but there is a snippet of the scene in the trailer. If you do happen to watch the pivotal scene starts with the opening title sequence.
V FOR VENDETTA (2005)
SLIDING DOORS (1998): this sequence sets the stage for the rest of the film
ATONEMENT (2007): this is just the trailer; if I showed you the scene, it would give away a major plot point.
SKYFALL (2012): What’s NOT to like? This clip is the culmination of a great underground chase sequence, mind you – but I decided to add it anyway because it DOES include an Underground train 🙂
In related news, earlier this year, the BFI (British Film Institute) took a retrospective look at some great (British-made) films that featured the underground system .
Let me conclude my post by sharing another take on the London Transport system as depicted in the cinema, courtesy of fellow blogger and Anglophile – Ruth @ Flixchatter!
For MORE Tube-related Trivia …
Read 150 fun facts about “The Tube” (Source: Telegraph.co.uk).
Great post, Iba. That is quite a remarkable system and movie location in the U.K. One day I hope to actually ride on it. That said, neither you or Ruth listed the one sequence staged there that’s my favorite. It’s the one from ‘An American Werewolf in London’:
http://youtu.be/_ss0nT5DGHw
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Yeah – waiting for someone to come up with that one. For my part I must admit that the prospect of this film scared me as child. So much so that it has still middle been watched in my advancing years. 🙂
Thanks for including the clip!
While the underground scene in Skyfall was amazingly well staged, what irked me was that it was the wrong train on the wrong line! It was a Jubilee line train and Jubilee line trains don’t go to that station!
Jaina recently posted..Much Ado About a Trailer
Jaina I totally empathize! Happens all the time here in NY with subway and suburban commuter rail lines. In fact one of my favorite films – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’s train scenes are supposed to be shot out on the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) but instead they were running on the New Haven line (my hometown station doubled as a stop on the LIRR). The background shots are from whereabouts I grew up!
It’s a relief to know that I’m not the only one this irks!
Jaina recently posted..Much Ado About a Trailer
🙂
Awesome Iba!! I love the London Tube! Thanks for the link love. I might update it later on and I definitely would put the Skyfall one on here, great picks!
ruth recently posted..Happy Birthday Timothy Dalton & Gary Oldman – 5 Fave Roles of two of my favorite Brits
Most certainly Ruth. As I was writing my piece, I thought to myself – hold on. I KNOW I have seen a similar post. And lo and behold – did a quick search on your site and made sense to give you some luv 🙂
Thanks again, how very kind of you! Hope you had a nice weekend, Iba.
ruth recently posted..FlixChatter Review: Olympus Has Fallen
Thank you, thank you…I’m gonna watch V for the Vendetta this week. 🙂
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