Film-goers can glimpse 1950’s Newmarket through a special town showing of racing film The Rainbow Jacket

Film buffs can take a step back to 1950s Newmarket later this month by attending a special showing of a racing feature film, most of which was shot in the town.

It was in 1953 that a film unit from the famous Ealing Studios arrived to start shooting a film boasting a stellar cast of some of the country’s leading actors, including Kay Walsh, Edward Underdown, Robert Morley, Sid James, Wilfred Hyde-White, Honor Blackman and Bill Owen.

Produced by the legendary Michael Balcon, it had a working title of Newmarket Heath, but when released the following year it was called The Rainbow Jacket.

And eagle-eyed film-goers will be able to spot lots of local landmarks as the film’s main character Georgie Crain, played by Fella Edmonds, arrives at Newmarket station with dreams of becoming a jockey.

He makes his way to the High Street where the iconic Carlton Hotel and the Maypole grocers form a backdrop as he asks a policeman for directions.

Then he heads into Boyce and Rogers Saddlers where the stuffed remains of racehorse Robert the Devil once stared out at passers by from the shop window.

And there are shots of horses in training on the heath.

Well-known Exning amateur rider and journalist John Hislop and Newmarket trainer Jack Leach were taken on as technical advisers for the film and a number of local people were signed up as extras for the race day scenes shot at the Rowley Mile.

It also featured racing commentator Raymond Glendenning and leading jockey at the time Gordon Richards, who had been knighted the year the film was shot and took a cameo role.

The Rainbow Jacket premiered at the Odeon in London’s Leicester Square in London on May 27, 1954 when a reviewer from The Times described it as an entertaining film and one in love with racing.

It will be shown at the Kings Cinema in Newmarket’s Fitzroy Street on Friday, September 12 at 5pm.