MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Down 369 this week

Night Train to Munich (1940)

7.2
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.2/10 from 1,818 users  
Reviews: 32 user | 23 critic

When the Germans march into Prague, armour-plating inventor Dr Bomasch flees to England. His daughter Anna escapes from arrest to join him, but the Gestapo manage to kidnap them both back ... See full summary »

Director:

Writers:

(based on an original story by), (screenplay), 1 more credit »
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 2005 titles created 3 weeks ago
 
a list of 1623 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 3595 titles created 1 month ago
 
a list of 405 titles created 02 Jan 2011
 
a list of 26 titles created 04 Sep 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Night Train to Munich (1940)

Night Train to Munich (1940) on IMDb 7.2/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Night Train to Munich.
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Margaret Lockwood ...
Anna Bomasch
...
Gus Bennett
...
Karl Marsen (as Paul von Hernried)
Basil Radford ...
Naunton Wayne ...
James Harcourt ...
Axel Bomasch
Felix Aylmer ...
Dr. Fredericks
Wyndham Goldie ...
Dryton
Roland Culver ...
Roberts
Eliot Makeham ...
Schwab
Raymond Huntley ...
Kampenfeldt
Austin Trevor ...
Capt. Prada (as Austen Trevor)
Kenneth Kent ...
Controller (as Keneth Kent)
C.V. France ...
Admiral Hassinger
Frederick Valk ...
Gestapo Officer (as Fritz Valk)
Edit

Storyline

When the Germans march into Prague, armour-plating inventor Dr Bomasch flees to England. His daughter Anna escapes from arrest to join him, but the Gestapo manage to kidnap them both back to Berlin. As war looms, British secret service agent Gus Bennet follows disguised as a senior German army officer. His ploy is the not unpleasant one of pretending to woo Anna to the German cause. Written by Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

nazi | escape | england | train | nazi germany | See more »

Genres:

Thriller | War

Certificate:

Not Rated | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

|

Release Date:

29 December 1940 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Night Train  »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Full Range Recording System)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

The banner on the city bus stating "BERLIN RAUCHT JUNO" (Berlin smokes Juno) is an advertisement for a cigarette brand later distributed to German soldiers. See more »

Goofs

The wording of the British passport read out by Charters (Basil Radford) is incorrect as it is different from the American wording in three major ways.. Firstly, the passport holder is not referred to as him or her but as "The Bearer". Secondly, British passports uniquely in the world, not only request that those concerned assist the bearer to be allowed proceed without let or hindrance, but request and require it. Thirdly, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at the time of issue is never scheduled by name. See more »

Quotes

Anna Bomasch: You know, if a woman ever loved you like you love yourself, it would be one of the great romances of history!
See more »


Soundtracks

"Only Love Can Lead the Way"
(uncredited)
Written by Harry M. Woods
Performed by Rex Harrison
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

The Spy Who Went Into the Cold
9 June 2004 | by (Corpus Christi TX) – See all my reviews

Carol Reed, a film craftsman of the highest order, directed this underrated wartime spy-thriller rather early in his career. And though "Night Train" may feel routine as one is experiencing it initially, there are individual scenes and performers which, afterwards, remain vivid in one's memory: the controlled egoism of Rex Harrison's quick-thinking British agent; the vulnerability of Margaret Lockwood's Czech refugee; the naked sensitivity of Paul Henreid's villain, a Czechoslovakian traitor collaborating with the Nazis. This is the romantic triangle around whom are chronicled events leading up to and including September 3, 1939 - the day France and England declared war on Germany after Panzers and Stukas crossed over the Polish border.

The film opens approximately a year earlier, with the camera tracking into Hitler's mountain retreat over Berchtesgaden, as we witness Der Fuhrer himself ordering the occupation of Czech territory. However, the Nazis desire not only territory, but the talented physicists and scientists housed within - geniuses such as Axel Bomasch, an industrial wizard who manages to just escape the clutches of the S.S. and fly safely to Britain, where he is safeguarded by MI-5, in the personage of agent "Gus Bennett" (Harrison). However, Bomasch's daughter, Anna (Ms. Lockwood), is caught and imprisoned in a Nazi concentration-camp where she befriends a fellow inmate, Karl Marsen (Henreid). Both manage to flee their Nazi jailers and sail a tramp steamer for England: Anna, to re-unite with her father; and Marsen, to make contact with those who share his real allegiance - to the Third Reich. With the help of an oculist (Felix Aylmer), planted in England years before by the Abwehr, Marsen arranges for the successful abduction of both Bomasch and his daughter, both of whom are transported to Berlin. Bennett, angry at his own failure to keep Bomasch and Anna within the Allied camp, volunteers to travel into Germany, disguised as an officer of Hitler's High Command, in order to retrieve the pair and atone for his own seeming incompetence.

The film then accelerates into a series of tense confrontations between Bennett and those he hopes to dupe, in both Berlin and on a train-ride to Munich. The action culminates in a skillfully directed chase scene, climaxing on the Swiss border, where the term "cliff-hanger" takes on literal meaning. Along the way, there appear various secondary characters - the 'team' of Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, for example, are thrown in for their droll, underplaying of some cleverly written dialogue ("No copies of Punch?! Hmmm. Must have sold out."). But the real comic relief is provided by Irene Handl, as a German stationmaster who, in one scene, brushes off the "gentlemen," Radford and Wayne, like so much confetti. Her deliberate scene-stealing here marks the highest moment of levity in the whole film.

The one element in Carol Reed's storytelling that always distinguished him as a director worth noting was a quality he shared with Jean Renoir

  • the generous feeling he had toward his characters, even the so-called
villains. Human flaws and defects such as professional incompetence and blind allegiances on the part of the characters are noted but tolerated – understood in a sense. The rigid bureaucracy of a dictatorial government is deftly satirized in the character of a prissy but practical German civil servant (Raymond Hundley) who, when confronted with a forged document that escaped his notice, is asked by his Nazi superiors if he knows what this will mean for him. The bureaucrat politely replies, "Yes. It means I shall have to sack my secretary."

And in "Night Train's" final shot, we see Henreid's Nazi, jilted in more ways than one; yet Reed frames him sorrowfully, as if he were a sort of Universal Everyloser. Reed's sympathy, therefore, is not with one side in a war. His compassion extends to all humanity. And this, more than anything else, is what partly separates "Night Train" from most of the other countless anti-Nazi films of the early Forties.


44 of 46 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Night Train To Munich jclareict
On TMC June 1, 2011 kcooltmc
my movie review of Night Train to Munich moscatomg1
Discuss Night Train to Munich (1940) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?