Genevieve [1953]

[domvar]

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0045808/



RIP Dinah Sheridan who passed away today

[DoctorWho8]

And for those not familiar with her real name, 30 years after this film, she became Chancellor Flavia.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[rob49152]

and she just passed away on the weekend.  
http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2012/11/dinah-sheridan-1920-2012.html

[Volpone]

So happy to see a box with the "old" paint scheme, in color. Now I know what shade the light blue boxes with blue trim are.* 

Also neat to see an "old" box with a hard date on it.  If the filming was in 1952, I'd put '53-54 as the timeframe for the white windows.


*Like there aren't any variations in paint ever.

[hb88banzai]

Not sure I follow. I might be wrong, but the windows in this shot look distinctly white to me, so that means the date for white windows (with medium blue paint here) would be earlier than the filming dates, not later.

"Genevieve" was shot between October 1952 & February 1953, and per a Turner Classic Movies article, "There was no budget for studio rear projection, so the production crew rigged up a large flatbed truck (known as a "Queen Mary") that had been used to transport military aircraft, with a mockup of the car in the back, and camera, lights, and crew in the front." In fact, this same Box shows up in the background twice in the film, about a minute apart (despite the fact they are supposed to be continuing on towards central London), so they reused the same stretch of road at least a couple times.

Unfortunately, there is no internal consistency in the sequence of shots for the closeups compared to the full driving shots so adjacent scenes/shots can't really be used to try to localize where this Box was.

Note also that as this film was shot in Technicolor, the actual hue of blue might be a bit different, though this is usually more of a problem with reds.

[domvar]

Yep they look white to me ill try and get the other shot later on and add it to the thread

[Volpone]

I defer to you guys on this. You're much better at spotting these things. Heck, in low light I think the windows on my TARDIS are blue and I know they're white.  I must be seeing the shadows of the trim on the glass and thinking that is the trim.

[hb88banzai]

OMG - OMG - OMG!!!

I've finally located this Box!

It's L11 on Old Kent Road in Walworth.

While looking for another Box I checked out L11 again and the situation tickled some part of my brain. Looked at the Genevieve clip yet again, and in cruising up and down Old Kent Road in streetview I was able to identify the area they show in the film during the immediately adjacent race shots (showing the dual set of tram tracks just before they were pulled up) by comparing the large buildings visible in the film to ones that are still there just southeast of the Box site. Then I looked up the bus routes on the few numbers I could make out and they all fit.

I still wasn't sure whether the Box clip itself wasn't just a cutaway like the ice cream cone spillage scene in the middle of the race shots (filmed in a totally different area - something they did a lot in this movie), but in looking at the streetview there was just enough to raise hope.

The Genevieve snip (1953) --



A roughly equivalent current street view --



https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rowcross+Street,+Walworth,+London,+UK&hl=en&ll=51.487403,-0.075134&spn=0.000013,0.01074&sll=51.481757,-0.085616&sspn=0.015154,0.03386&hnear=Rowcross+St,+London+SE1+5HS,+United+Kingdom&t=m&layer=c&cbll=51.487297,-0.074991&panoid=fhoL_hyqHuZ5ZaLPXWOmEw&cbp=12,326.29,,2,1.48&z=17

Things have changed a lot, and not much of what was in frame is still there, but as I said, just enough to make one wonder.

Then when looking at the 1951 OS map it all came together (despite the new problems with the OS map site). Here's about the best snip I can currently get --



There's the corner, the Metbox ("PCB" near centre frame, with the Police Box location marked just to the low right of that "B") and in exactly the same relative position is the GPO Kiosk (marked "TCB", with that box shown just above its "B") nestled into the niche next to the forecourt of the neighboring building, again just like in the film.

Finally, in the original screen capture you can see that both windows are open, making it a Mark 3 - exactly the type of Metbox installed on L Division in 1937.

It all fits!

[hb88banzai]

Showing a bit more of the buildings I'm talking about --



Though everything beyond it is gone, the building on the far corner is essentially the same as it was, save the glazed add-on structure above the ground floor store extension/sign ledge. On close examination that upper part appears a very recent, and fairly makeshift, addition.

The building on the near corner also looks to be essentially the same as the one in the clip. Note the pillars in the facade, brightly painted in 1953, but still the same shape and location.



They are visible just above the K6 Telephone Box.

The building that was behind the GPO Kiosk is gone (visible on the OS map), as are the buildings with their fenced forecourts immediately adjacent, but a payphone is still at about the same site as the K6 occupied --



Also note the three-plate pavement access point about where the Met Box was located, well illustrating the staggered installation of the Police Box relative to the GPO Kiosk visible in both the film and on the OS map.

Wonder if the tree visible in the first (POV matching) streetview is the same one as in the film. Seems to be around the same position.

[bfg1981]

Has anybody noticed the other Police Box in Genevieve?

Richard.

[galacticprobe]

Enlarged, sharpened as much as possible, and lightened just a touch (just to make sure):



Yup. Definitely a Police Box (or a very clever Ganger .

Dino.

[petewilson]

What's interesting this second box is painted in the darker blue livery in 1953 (No trick of the light the sign is now lighter in this new find!)
So the film must of been made during the transition period (which I guess could of lasted several years)

[dr hue]

See Is this M12 ? For second Box info

http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=10281.0

[alexcutler]

What's interesting this second box is painted in the darker blue livery in 1953 (No trick of the light the sign is now lighter in this new find!)
So the film must of been made during the transition period (which I guess could of lasted several years)

I suspected this might be the case, but delighted you have spotted evidence that proves it.  It seems very unlikely that all 200+ boxes would be repainted at once, it may have taken a couple of years, and perhaps some were not repainted until the next cycle of repainting. Especially since it seems this was not centrally controlled.