A 94-year-old Shropshire man who was an extra in a 1950s film has been recalling the day that Hollywood came to Much Wenlock.
Thomas Craig, who still lives in Much Wenlock, had a small speaking part in the film Gone to Earth which was based on a novel by county writer Mary Webb and was filmed in and around Much Wenlock more than 50 years ago.
An American film company brought a Hollywood cast to Much Wenlock in 1949 and 1950 but used hundreds of people from Shropshire as extras.
The movie starred Jennifer Jones, who played a girl in 1890s Shropshire, who was attached to her pet fox. She married a vicar, but had feelings for the local squire.
Mr Craig said: "I was a member of Wheatland Hunt so I gathered the horses and their riders together to be in the film.
He said he could remember his one line as being "By gad, it's a girl they're after", which referred to a group of hounds that were trailing after the main characetr and a dog which looked like a fox.
Much Wenlock Museum is currently staging an exhibition on the making of the film, which will run until May 28.
[Extended until June 30th]
The exhibit will have memorabilia from the summer of 1949 which has been researched, collected and collated by museum assistant Martha Ledgard with the aid of some local help.
It will also have some autographs of actors and actresses,
[and Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger - in a copy of the book of
"Gone to Earth"]
the original programme, old posters, listings of participants, photos of extras.
Admission to the museum is free and it is open from 10.30am until 1pm and 2 until 5pm Mondays to Saturdays.
Powell and Pressburger's adaptation of Mary Webb's novel Gone to Earth will be shown at the Priory Hall on May 26 as part of the Much Wenlock Festival celebrations.
