The Harassing Harrier
16mm film Black & White Silent 1950s 11:40
Summary: This delightful amateur fiction film tells the story of three groups of people enjoying the counrtyside and their unfortunate encounters with the "Harrasing Harrier" In this case the persistent attacker is a young boy leaving a trail for a paper chase.
Title number: 20070
LSA ID: LSA/26516
Description: The film begins with a young boy tearing up the title cards and placing the pieces in a shoulder bag. The boy and other passengers alight from a steam train at Chorley Wood station. The boy is dressed in a white vest and plimsoles and he sets of at a fast pace leaving a paper trail as he goes. the other passengers split into three groups to enjoy the beautiful weather in the countryside.
We next see the groups meet up at the Cock public house where, after getting drinks in the pub garden, they each take it in turns to regale the others with their adventures.
After consulting a signpost the first group realise they have been going the wrong way and decide to head over a field. Nailed to a tree is a sign that reads "Notice Trespassers Will Be Shot On Sight By Order". Whilst the two men in the party try to escape back over the fence, the woman is clearly made of stronger stuff and convinces them to carry on. A farmer with shotgun under his arm appears from behind some bushes and shouts at the walkers. They run for it as he sights along his gun and pulls the trigger. Nothing seems to happen and he laughs heartily as they make their getaway.
Once out of sight of the farmer they start to make a camp fire for a much needed cup of tea, when they discover a small hole in the water bottle. The woman sends the men to fetch water when they see the pub sign and rub their hands in glee! The woman continues to make a fire when the paper chase boy runs straight through their camp scattering the fire.
We cut back to the pub and the second group start their story.
This group consists of a younger man and woman and an older male botanist who appears to be looking for a particular specimen. After searching for a while and a couple of misses they wait on a bridge and consult a map but a freak gust of wind means the map soon ends up in the stream. After a much needed cup of tea they discover a daisy that makes the botanist very excited but unfortunately it is promptly flattened by the boy leading the paper chase!
We move onto the story of the third group of travellers. They set up a picnic on a blanket with a group of tennis playing girls nearby. After a tennis ball ends up in the picnic they pack up whilst one man admonishes one of the girls. As they leave another girl hits him on the back of the head with a football! They make a new picnic site by the side of a stream, ad the paper chaser runs straight through the new set up, trips and ends up sprawled in the stream, surrounded by the plates and cups. The pack up again and trudge dejectedly on.
We return for the last time to the pub where all three groups get ready and leave and again the boy runs through the group leaving more paper behind. The botanist examines one piece of paper under his magnifying glass which reads "The End".
Credits: John Aldred (Filmmaker); Martin Baker (Filmmaker); Jack Smith (Filmmaker); Gordon Shadrick (Editor)
Cast: Basil Brown, David Crocker, Jack Smith, Thomas Titkin, Peter Abbott, Martin Baker, Audrey Crocker, Renee Howard, Dorothy Titkin, Peggy Farquarson
Further information: The station in the film was built for the extension to the Metropolitan Railway and opened as "Chorley Wood" on 8 July 1889 and changed to the present name during 1964.
Chorleywood station was formerly served by steam hauled Metropolitan line trains from Aylesbury to London, with a changeover to an electric locomotive at Rickmansworth. The electrification north of Rickmansworth (to Amersham and Chesham) was completed in 1960, with steam trains being withdrawn in 1961.
The Cock public house in Sarratt is still open today as the Cock Inn.
Locations: United Kingdom; England; Hertfordshire; Three Rivers; Chorleywood
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