Painted Boats

Painted Boats US titles The Girl on the Canal or The Girl of the Canal is a blackandwhite British film directed by Charles Crichton and released by Ealing Studios in 1945. Painted Boats, one of the lesserknown Ealing films of the period, is brief 63 minutes long, uses a littleknown cast and has a slight storyline. It is however considered significant by waterways enthusiasts as a fictionalised documentary, providing a rare extensive filmic depiction of a longgone way of life on Englands working canal system in the 1940s.

The main plot strand deals with the tentative attraction between Mary Smith and Ted Stoner, despite their differing viewpoints Mary appreciates the gentle rhythm of traditional canal life, whereas Teds ambition is to get off the canals and into mainstream life at the earliest opportunity. World War II intrudes when Ted is called up for military service, leaving the future for the pair uncertain.Location filming took place on the 20mile stretch of the Grand Union Canal between Stoke Bruerne and Braunston in Northamptonshire, including the Blisworth Tunnel at 1.75 miles 2.82km in length, the thirdlongest canal tunnel in Britain. Insert shots feature the industrial landscape of StokeonTrent in Staffordshire, the famous Anderton Boat Lift in Cheshire and the Limehouse Cut in London. ........

Source: Wikipedia