Nostalgia & History > "Slightly Inaccurate Day at Black Rock": SP film trivia

Took the liberty of re-depositing this topic over here on Nostalgia & History. It was originally posted on the Western board:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2057295

"Bad Day at Black Rock" has one of the coolest opening sequences in movie train history -- a set of SP Black Widow F-units drawing a full "Daylight" streamlined consist through thrilling aerial shots and dramatic runbys. Trouble is, it was apparently supposed to take place in about 1945. So there were some liberties taken, all likely due to production concerns and what the SP was willing to provide the film crew in 1954, the year of the film's copyright date. (It premiered in 1955.)

There are trailers available for viewing if you do a Google or Bing search for "Bad Day at Black Rock".

I went and loaded my DVD into the 'puter. Sure enough, not only were there 'time period' issues, there were also two consists used to represent the same train. One is for what I'd call the 'B Train', used for what was likely second-unit photography, and another for the 'A Train', used with the actors for principal photography. Different days, maybe even different weeks or months; I don't know the film's shooting history.

Here's what you see, in glorious M-G-M Cinemascope, as the movie opens -- and though there are no 'spoiler alerts' necessary, there's definitely a 'trivia bandwidth' warning!

;-)


The ‘B’ Train:

Shot 1 is an aerial wide shot, and we can see a Black Widow A&B, three “Daylight” articulated Chair Cars, and one 77’ or 79’ “Daylight” single unit lightweight.

Shot 2 is overhead the train, and starts the credits. We see the nose of F3A #6151, an F3B, three artics, and one Parlor-Observation. It’s a dramatic pass right under our noses; very cool for 1954. Must have felt like 3D!

Shot 3 is the train passing l. to r. and away from us, under more credits. We see what are clearly an F3 A&B, and two articulated class 66-ACM/ACW Chair Cars with baggage elevators. That feature indicates 1939 or 1941 construction.

Shot 4 is the title shot, panning with the train l. to r. on the entire consist. The Parlor-Obs, though, is not completely in frame at the cut.

Shots 5-8 continue the credits with angles on the same consist. Shot 8 has prominent SFX of what sounds like a Nathan M-series chime horn, but SP 6151 is visibly equipped with dual single-tone horns.

Shot 9 is a pacing shot with credits, of the locomotives and the first set of artics.

Shots 10, 11, 12 are low level pacing, with angles on the whole consist. The Parlor-Obs is completely visible for the first time in Shot 11, and in all three shots the silvered window shades are clearly drawn – likely to hide the vacant interiors.

No baggage elevator appears visible on the Parlor-Obs; that indicates a 1937-built car. And that narrows it down to SP 2951, since identical car SP 2950 was being used as the structural basis for homebuilt dome SP 3600, likely happening at Sacramento General Shops while the movie was filming.

Shot 13 is a dramatic swoop down and ‘pull’ of the locomotive filling the frame, with the director’s credit. That must have also been a thrill to 1950's Cinemascope fans. The engine has ‘X6151’ in the numberboards, which is how it would have operated on the SP, I imagine, while filming. No effort was made to fake an SP-style train number there.


The ‘A’ Train

Shot 14 of the opening sequence (Scene One, train approaches Black Rock) has the train passing again from l. to r., keeping the ‘screen direction’ consistent as the train approaches the ‘Black Rock’ depot. But now the consist has changed: the first car is now a “Daylight” Coffee Shop. This is the ‘A Train’, used for principal photography with the leading actors. And this is likely a different day than any of the shots preceding.

Shot 2 of the next scene (Scene Two, train arrives) reveals the lead unit as a 6300-series late F7 trailing a mid-production F7B. Heard in SFX now is perhaps the same Nathan M-series horn you can see on the lead unit.

Shot 6 overhead clearly shows the lead unit’s 48” dynamic brake fan, characteristic of late F7s; you can also see the 36” fan on the B-unit, along with its steam heat boiler vents. The consist is now visible as Coffee Shop, articulated Chair Car, single-unit "Daylight" car with rooftop radio antenna – but it’s not clear what that car is yet.

Shot 8 as the train approaches its ‘uncharacteristic flag stop’ shows the unit road numbers: SP 6384 and 8127. The auto in shot could be a 1940 Chrysler.

Shot 11 of this scene, an overhead angle on arrival, shows the consist as a “Daylight” Coffee Shop, a 1937 “Daylight” non-baggage-elevator articulated Chair, and the first three windows of the following car, indicating a 1937 “Daylight” Tavern Car.

Shot 12 is the train arriving, and Spencer Tracy steps down. The attendant is in Pullman uniform, rather than the uniform of an SP Chair Car Attendant. Those more familiar with uniforms might note the Conductor’s cap as well; I think it’s more crowned than standard SP issue but I’m not sure.

Some neat details for “Daylight” freaks: the attendant’s step box is “Daylight” painted, and the original 1937 boarding step light is still in place on the Chair Car skirt, a nice touch we could use today. The car passing behind Tracy as the train departs is SP 10311, the first car number we can make out; it’s a 1937 Tavern Car with its “Daylight” logo painted out in Socony Red.

Shot 13 contains a typical continuity error, as the Tavern passes for the second time behind Tracy and the Conductor has lost some progress he gained in the previous shot! It’s deceptively hard to coordinate train movements with the call for ‘action’, especially in the days before film crews all carried walkies. The last car is confirmed as Parlor-Observation SP 2951, with the logo painted out and the original neon tailsign blanked.

Whew.

IMDB says the film is set in 1945 but there weren’t F3’s on the property until 1947, let alone F7s. The neon tailsign on SP 2951 could still have been in place in 1954 when film was shot, but I’m not positive. Clearly SP requested (or the production designer chose) that the “Daylight” heralds be obscured, though oddly, not the ball-and-wing; probably a balance thing because the boards would have looked naked if blanked out completely.

SP 2951 was likely the same car used in both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ picture trains. But the rest of the consist changed, since the ‘B’ train had three late “Daylight” artics, but the ‘A’ or principal photography train had a single 1937 unit.

The autos visible seem to be pre-war, at least at this part of the film.

As in previous posts on the original thread, the train is probably not the best representation of SP in 1945. Quoted in part from the other post:

According to St. Strapac (hi, Joe!) the first black widow F3 appeared on SP property in June of 1947, to help dieselize Tehachapi. So right there, no dice for a black widow F in the California desert in 1945-46. Whereas "Daylight" equipment was in place by 1941 and already migrating off the "Daylight" assignments by 1945, I believe, so technically the train consist might be feasible -- though a complete "Daylight" lightweight consist in 1945 in this locale is unlikely.

What's in the film is (I would surmise) basically something SP threw together for the filming day/days, and is much more reflective of their available 1955 equipment. I'm not fluent in 1945 SP practice, but I'd say the train that Spencer Tracy steps off of might have been better represented by Olive Green heavyweights and a Pacific -- which technically may have been available for filming during the 1955 season. No doubt the production designer either didn't do the research, didn't ask for accuracy, asked and the SP provided what they provided, or simply liked bright cars and snappy diesels better. That's a factor in film design that sometimes outweighs the desire for historical accuracy -- something just "looks better" to the artist's eye, and except for our little cadre of special interest, no one else ever notices or cares.

And it just could have been -- in the balmy days of 1954 -- that the SP wanted to put its best foot forward for movie audiences, and show off what it still considered its pride and joy "Daylight" fleet.

But what a spectacular Cinemascope treat nonetheless!

~ Bob Z.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/09 20:36 by Notch16.

The real question is where they parked all that equipment on the Jawbone.

What town doubled for 'Black Rock'? Or I should say, where on the Jawbone did the film crew create 'Black Rock'?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/09 20:24 by Notch16.

From what I understand, it was built at a rural grade crossing one mile north of the Lone Pine Depot. That would place it just north of the Owens River crossing. There is NOTHING left at that location, you would be amazed that anything was ever constructed there, even a movie set.

Note in the opening scenes, the train can be seen passing thru a thru-truss bridge just before stop at "Black Rock", all in the same continuous shot, that bridge was the Owens River Bridge.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/09 20:58 by BNSF6400.

Cool info. Thanks!

As far as the exact date the film is suppose to be set, it has to be 1945 or possibly 1946. There are several lines of dialog that mention the war just ending, the use of fuel rations, and the Japanese Internment Camps still operating (the main characters letter being returned from them). This all points to 1945 or 1946.

I know it can be done but how would Spencer Tracey ( portraying a one handed?? man ) tie his tie so neatly? They didn't have clip ons then and it showed it to be a regular one when he used it in the 'molatov'.

Come on guys....it was a great movie and the pocket streamliner was simply a nice bonus.

To Hollywood, a train is a train is a train. If you miss the idea that it's supposed to be happening in '45, the RR stuff works pretty well by me. There are far worse atrocities on film! Cheers, Kurt.

It's H-O-l-l-Y-W-O-O-D.. Whats your dream?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/09 08:22 by WAF.

IMDB says that the film was reversed in the opening scenes for some reason. If that's the case, is there any smoke in the opening scenes and if so, does it reverse back into the engines?

Reversed or "flipped"? Any lettering show up backwards?

Didn't notice any. But that could have been true for wide shots where the lettering would be nearly illegible, in order to keep to the same 'screen direction'. Okay, now I have to look again for 'flopped' car or locomotive features! Heh heh...

~ BZ

At this (years) late date I will simply add the reason for the 2 different SP train sets. After the movie was completed and reviewed, those in control decided they did not like the opening credits. They desired the SP "streamliner" to be re-filmed, this time used for a background in the title and opening credits. SP Film Bureau and Bakersfield Trainmaster set up the movie train, still not an accurate consist for a "streamliner" but looking great for the camera. So the released film shows the F3 SP 6151 A, matching F3B unit, 3 beautiful articulated coaches and a parlor observation with not a single passenger on board.