Gravesend & Isle of Grain Photographs

Gravesend & Isle of Grain

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Photographs
M A Y 2 0 1 4

In a vain search to find even the remnants of the locations used for the 1953 British noir classic, The Long Memory. Read more below.

The Old Town Hall, Gravesend

LET'S GO GRAVESEND:

I went to Gravesend, Kent, and up the coast to the end of the road at Grain, Isle of Grain for several obscure reasons. One is as i said above - that film with the great John Mills playing against type so magnificiently as a brooding revenger. Now only just hearing that Eva Bergh had passed away in February of 2013 it means that only Elizabeth Sellars from the cast is still on this mortal coil so it seems everything from that film is vanishing into the murky, grey waters of the Thames and not giving up its secrets. But once you have seen the film you can't get it out of your head. Black & white, clunky black cars, shadowplay, dramatic grey backdrops, coldness and solitude - so much of it was shot in Gravesend and along the Thames Estuary I just wanted to get a few shots from the area. As of 2014, you can only get it on Dvd as part of the boxset: John Mills - Centenary Collection Vol.2 [DVD]. It really is one of his finest performances.

Location wise very little remains. I've caught one ot two locations but that's it. The Isle of Grain shots are just to capture the feel of the film, a feel of travelling to the edge of the world and standing on its waterfront. Those depressing scenes on the boat Mills lived in - I think you get a feel of what it like standing at the edge of the world. It is where the Thames meets the Medway, where the road meets its end.

The name 'Gravesend' fascinates me. Like it's saying this is graves end - nothing is beyond here and in a way that's right. There is nothing - well, it felt like that to me anyway. Beyond graves end there is nothing.

And of course a connection to Charles Dickens. He lived nearby and after witnessing the bleakness of the landscape will you understand where Dickens was coming from.

Prints & merchandise of some of the images below can now be obtained at Photobox.co.uk. Details here.

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Gallery
G R A V E S E N D

Gravesend Town Pier, Gravesend.

Gravesend Riverfront. Opposite Tilbury Docks.

Gravesend Town Pier. Towards Tilbury Docks.

The Rum Puncheon. Back of. Front looks out on West St., Gravesend.

Riverside, towards Gravesend Town Pier.

Riverside, Gravesend. Waiting for Carel Weight's Running Man.

Tilbury Docks, opposite.

Riverside, Gravesend. Waiting for Carel Weight's Running Man.

Gravesend Royal Terrace Pier & St Andrew's Church, Gravesend. St. Georges Church is one of the few locations I found that was used in Long Memory [DVD] [1953] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC].