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As we all know, this year’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run has been cancelled due to COVID-19. As a tribute to this great event and to anticipate its return in 2021, here are twenty facts about Genevieve – one of the greatest films of all time:

1. The shooting took place over 57 days in October and November 1952.

2. The final chase along the Albert Embankment resulted in such traffic chaos that the police eventually expelled the cast and crew from the location.

3. The director Henry Cornelius first planned to have a Humber or Wolseley as the McKims’ “Genevieve” and a Lanchester for Ambrose Claverhouse. However, the Veteran Car Club (VCC) suggested a 1904 Darracq 10/12 hp Type O Roadster and a Spyker 14/18 hp “Roi des Belges” Open Tourer as more appropriate choices

4. “Genevieve”’s real name was “Annie”, and only seven years before filming commenced, she was languishing in a scrap yard on Lea Bridge Road in London Cornelius shot some 35 veteran cars in Hyde Park at the start of filming together with footage of the actual 1952 Lon-don to Brighton.

5. The newsreel commentator interviewing John Gregson is Leslie Mitchell, famous for his Movietone narrations.

6. When filming commenced, Gregson was a non-driver; one reason for the VCC recommending a Darracq was that he would find it easier to pilot than a Lanchester. For most of the moving shots, he was either doubled by the veteran car mechanic Charlie Cadby or the Darracq was carried on a “Queen Mary” flatbed lorry that once transported military aircraft. However, the actor did have to take the wheel when McKim drives into The Strand’s rush hour traffic, and the actor does look very nervous. 

7. The weather was frequently terrible, but Cornelius explained ‘if there is enough light to get a bare exposure, I just have to shoot. I know it’s asking a lot, but there is no other way I can make the picture’. Sunshine was often provided by a generator and 24 arc lamps.

8. Motoring enthusiasts are known to wince at the scene with the red Allard K1, but it survived its pranging. The Clapham firm provided much assistance to the film company and even created a dummy cockpit to accommodate the frame of the actor Reginald Beckwith.

9. The film is notable as being one of the least studio-bound productions of its era.

10. The cinematographer Christopher Challis later recalled ‘Everything was shot within a few miles of the studio because of the short days and the expense.

11. We would set off each morning, whatever the weather, and take advantage of whatever turned up,  often stopping to ask an astonished local if he or she knew of a water splash, a sharp left-hand bend  or a small pub with a courtyard, depending on what requirements had been forced on us by the  weather and the ever-changing schedule’.

12. The McKims live in Rutland Mews South while the A3044 near Stanmore appears to be doubling for the London-Brighton road. The Allard crash took place at Moor Lane near Uxbridge while the Ford scene took place at  Hawksmoor Lane

13. The supporting automotive cast includes an Austin A70 Hereford, the Ford V8 “Woody” camera-car, a Hillman Minx Phase I Drophead and a 1932 Morris Minor.

14. The dis-used tram line sequence on Westminster Bridge was the cause of some problems as the council had removed the tracks. The director had to shoot the close-ups of the Spyker’s wheels in Lewisham.

15. The supporting cast included two ubiquitous actors of post-war British films; Michael Balfour in the jazz band and Fred Griffiths as an ice-cream vendor

16. Cornelius’s daughter played the irate small girl on the zebra crossing in Old Kent Road.

17. The One Pin pub was sadly demolished in 2010.

18. In the night club scene, Kay Kendall is miming to Kenny Baker’s trumpet playing.

19. Genevieve premiered on 27th May 1953 at the Leicester Square Odeon.  Members of VCC were guests of the Rank Organisation even if the opening credits bore the disclaimer ‘Any resemblance between the deportment of the characters and any Club members is emphatically denied-by the Club’. 

20. Today, the Darraq and the Spyker both reside in the Louwman Museum -  https://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/spyker-12-16hp-double-phaeton/

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