Two friends driving on the Team Valley Trading Estate in Gateshead are annoyed by a rattle in their car. Attempts to trace the problem result in one of the men being trapped in the boot and an escapade with an opportunist thief. This short fictional film was made in the 1960s by a Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA) production team. Credit: Pennyfine Films Present Title: The Rattle Two men drive a Ford Popular car onto the Team Valley Trading Estate in...

Two friends driving on the Team Valley Trading Estate in Gateshead are annoyed by a rattle in their car. Attempts to trace the problem result in one of the men being trapped in the boot and an escapade with an opportunist thief. This short fictional film was made in the 1960s by a Newcastle & District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA) production team. Credit: Pennyfine Films Present Title: The Rattle Two men drive a Ford Popular car onto the Team Valley Trading Estate in Gateshead. The passenger is convinced he can hear a rattle. Closely-framed shots inside the car show him checking parts of the dashboard and accessories. The driver stops the car. He parks in front of the 1930s Team Valley brick reception building and industrial units on Kingsway Street. The two get out and begin to check the car for loose parts. The driver opens the boot. Title: “Why not get into the boot?” The passenger thinks it’s a joke and laughs hesitantly. But his friend persuades him to get inside. The driver closes the boot and gets back behind the wheel. He drives off and travels around the industrial estate, returning to the same spot to park. He goes to open the boot for his friend but drops the car keys down a drain. He can’t retrieve them. He looks around but the area looks deserted. He taps on the boot and tells his friend he’ll go to a garage for help. The driver arrives at a garage at Team Valley and explains the problem to a mechanic, who accompanies him back to the car. The mechanic tries his dealer keys in the lock and one works. He opens the boot and it is miraculously empty. The driver scratches his head, puzzled. The mechanic signs that the driver is mad and leaves. The driver is confused. Suddenly his friend appears, dragging a man along with him. Title: “After you’d gone I heard footsteps approaching …” Next, there’s a flashback as the friend tells the story of how he escaped from the locked car boot. An opportunist thief is trying the doors of cars parked on the estate. The Ford Popular is open. He steals a cine camera left in the car, then he checks the locked boot. He levers it open with a tool. As it opens, his friend leaps out. Quick as a flash, the thief makes a run for it. The driver’s friend chases after him through the industrial estate. He corners the thief who throws down the cine camera. The two men fight. Silhouettes of the two appear on the corrugated wall of a warehouse. Finally, the thief is overpowered and cowers against the warehouse. The driver and his friend lead the thief back to the car as they hope to turn him in to a police station. But he escapes their grip and runs off. They decide to let him go as the driver has got his camera back. The two start to get back in the car when the friend realises his wallet is missing. The thief is now calmly walking down the centre of a road on the Team Valley Trading Estate counting bank notes from the wallet. Title: The End