appearance in this film, the locomotive is technically an A1 (only being rebuilt and classified "A3" in 1947). The locomotive is the only member of its class to have been preserved. All of the stunts were filmed on the moving locomotive with the actors. Most dangerously, at one point actress Pauline Johnson walks along the edge of the moving train wearing high heeled shoes, transferring from the coaches to the locomotive while travelling at speed. Allegedly Sir Nigel Gresley, chief engineer of the LNER, was so concerned at the unsafe practices shown in the film, such as the decoupling of the locomotive from the train while in motion, he insisted that a disclaimer was placed in the opening credits explaining that such things could not happen on the LNER. The notice stated "For the purposes of the film, dramatic licence has been taken in regard to the safety equipment used on The Flying Scotsman". Film historian John Huntley claimed that Gresley subsequently forbade any further filming on the LNER. Along with Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail, this was one of the first British sound films. Like that film, it was initially intended to be a silent film, with the decision to switch to speech made during production. As a result, early scenes feature speech captions and music instead of recorded voices, with character dialogue only appearing towards the end of the film. It is unclear whether it was initially released with sound, with some film historians such as John Huntley claiming it predates Blackmail to be the earliest British sound film. The BFI film database claims that the soundtrack was added in March 1930. References External links The Flying Scotsman at SilentEra Review of restored 2011 DVD release 1929 films British black-and-white films Films shot at British International Pictures Studios Warner Bros. films Films set on trains Films directed by Castleton Knight