Berlin Express (1948)

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Curt Siodmak (story)
Harold Medford (writer)

Release Date:

1 May 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

Trapped on a Train of Terror!

Plot:

A multinational group of train passengers become involved in a post-World War II Nazi assassination plot.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Germany | Ruins | Post WWII | Murder

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Merle Oberon	...	Lucienne
Robert Ryan	...	Robert Lindley
Charles Korvin	...	Perrot
Paul Lukas	...	Dr. Bernhardt
Robert Coote	...	Sterling
Reinhold Schünzel	...	Walther (as Reinhold Schunzel)
Roman Toporow	...	Lt. Maxim Kiroshilov
Peter von Zerneck	...	Hans Schmidt
Otto Waldis	...	Kessler
Fritz Kortner	...	Franzen
Michael Harvey	...	Sgt. Barnes
Tom Keene	...	Major (as Richard Powers)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | French | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #12475)

Filming Locations:

Administration building IG-Farben, Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Reinhold Schünzel, who plays Professor Walhter in the film, was the director of the original 1933 German stage comedy Viktor und Viktoria (1933), which Blake Edwards later adapted as Victor/Victoria (1995) (TV), a vehicle for his wife Julie 'Andrews (I)'. Reinhold also appeared in the original Georg Wilhelm Pabst film of L'opéra de quat'sous (1931) with 'Lotte Lenya'.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: [voiceover] On a warm June day in the Rue Saint Martin in Paris there was a disturbance. Members of the French press were protesting their being barred from a secret conference. Inside, representatives of the United Nations were hearing a report from the head of a special fact-finding commission - a man named Dr...
[...]

Great little sleeper

'Berlin Express' may not have much of a reputation, but it's one of Jacques Tourneur's best thrillers. Virtually none of it takes place on the Berlin Express, with the majority of the film shot on location in the awe-inspiring ruins of an almost totally destroyed post-war Frankfurt where Robert Ryan teams up with an Allies-in-microcosm group of companions including unflatteringly shot Frenchwoman Merle Oberon (sporting the film's worst accent by far) and Brit Robert Coote (who thankfully doesn't even attempt a Liverpool accent) to find Paul Lukas' kidnapped politician and save him from die-hard Nazi fanatics. Great moments abound, from the Paris opening where a carrier pigeon is shot, then nearly given a formal burial in the shadow of Montmatre's Sacre Couer by children before reaching maman's kitchen table to reveal a coded message, to Robert Ryan literally finding himself trapped in a barrel in bombed out brewery.

Great production line entertainment that demonstrates just how good studio product could be when you got the formula right, this is a trip well worth taking. The French DVD from Editions Montparnasse boasts a very good good transfer and removable French subtitles.