I wonder if this really is an episode of a 50s TV series - I really find that doubtful. What we have here is a big production movie - avalanche, winter landscapes - and not stock footage but the real thing, properly filmed, in colour. To my knowledge no TV serials of the early fifties were shot in colour, neither in Europe nor in the US. I find it hard to believe that this film that boosts the creative talent of Germany, Italy and France, could have been a one night episode. It might have been a cinematic rip off of the series, but Orient Express definitely was released cinematically.
Otherwise the film stinks and you won't miss anything if you miss it. The story is very superfluous and predictable, the direction is barely noticeable, and the actors are baaaaaaaaad - I only knew Curd Jürgens and Eva Bartok, but they do nothing to save the anonymous ensemble of Italian - French second degree thespians. Jürgens basically walks through the film, trying to keep as low as possible (he probably realized halfway through the production that this is developing into a turkey). Eva Bartok is dreadful - she looks like a porn star trying to cross over to a legitimate feature production. I sort of fell in love with her when I saw Blood and Black Lace by Mario Bava, but I never have seen another movie where Bartok is better than slightly embarrassing. No doubt a beautiful woman, she is much too busy to keep her lips sensually apart and the twinkle in her eyes to really remember about the rudimentary techniques of acting. Shame really.
The film is obviously lip synced (I have only the German version on DVD), and I've never heard it done more miserably: be it in the Alps, in the train, in the church or in the bedroom, everything sounds alike! The only redeeming feature which made me sit through this mediocre tear jerker was the superb picture quality and colours featured on the DVD.
If you have nothing to do on a Christmas eve because you've been a bastard and nobody calls you, you might want to cleanse your soul and shed a few tears watching this soap operetta.
