Wonderful character development!

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Touches You

One of my all time favorites.

Despite finding Valley of Hell and Carnival of Sinners to be extraordinary films by his dad Maurice,I for some reason have never got round to seeing a title from Jacques Tourneur.Taking a look at the TV listings,I was pleased to find that the BBC were doing a Jacques Tourneur double bill,which led to me getting on the express.The plot:Going on the Express train to Berlin,the passengers find themselves having to mix with other reps of nations occupying Germany. Mistrusting him due to him never coming out of his carriage,the group are surprised to find out that potential peace maker Dr. Bernhardt.Despite their side having recently lost,a secret Nazi blows up Bernhardt's carriage. Pushing for answers, Robert Lindley,finds out that the man was an impostor,and that Bernhardt and his secretary Lucienne were pretending to be fellow passengers. Believing that he has escaped the Nazi assassins, Bernhardt crosses paths with old friend Walther,who reveals to Bernhardt that he has not gotten off the tracks.View on the film:For the opening 30 minutes,director Jacques Tourneur & cinematographer Lucien Ballard (aka:the-then Mr Merle Oberon ) intercut their moody Noir espionage with startling footage of Berlin's "Russia zone." Given the unique chance of being the first Hollywood production shot in post-war Germany and the first movie to be allowed to film in Russia's "zone" Tourneur sadly lets the chance slip out of frame.Going for a tell and show approach, Tourneur clips the Film Noir anxiety by layering Paul Stewart's narration on thick,which does not add a psychological depth to what is being shown,but just describes the images!Stopping the narration once everyone is gathered, Tourneur walks in the shadows of war-torn Berlin and Frankfurt ,casting the shadows from the destroyed buildings down on the group attempting to rid the final Nazi gasps. Dancing in the underworld of the cities in seedy nightclubs, Tourneur explores every corner with sharp tracking shoots that follow Walther sinking into the post-WWII darkness. Calling out a sincere message of unity and understanding between the occupying nations,the screenplay by Harold Medford and Curt Siodmak avoid the message becoming sickly sweet, by placing it in a gang on a mission Film Noir. Brilliantly expressing the abrasive relationship between the occupying nations allegorically on the train, the writers whip up a Film Noir storm,as Dr. Bernhardt starts to regret giving lifelong friend Walther his trust.Although carrying a poor French accent, Merle Oberon gives a sparkling performance as Lucienne,who is given an enticing flirting side by Oberon,which mask her quick-witted Femme Fatale skills.Joined by a superb support cast that include Charles McGraw and a worn-down Reinhold Schünzel as Walther, Robert Ryan gives a great, chiselled performance as Lindley. Initially being firm- handed with his opinions,Ryan wonderfully brings an ease to Lindley,as he realises that he has to work with others to keep the Berlin Express on track.

Something of a curio. Jacques Tourneur, Robert Ryan and the authentic locations - Frankfurt, Berlin featuring post-war devastation - are all pluses as is the distinctive tones of Paul Stewart handling the narration but the similarities with Graham Greene's Stamboul Train and the thirties movie Rome Express tend to distract. The plot itself is vague where it should be clear just who is who and exactly why one or more whos want to eliminate another who. Paul Lukes, an excellent but grossly underused actor could phone this in while appearing in Broadway on Watch On The Rhine. Tourneur does his best to get a turgid script on its feet and keep it moving but it's a curio at best.

This film has shades of Hitchcock, there is even a mind reader act reminiscent to The 39 Steps and Mr Memory.This is an effective thriller with a semi documentary overtones and location shooting in a bombed out Frankfurt and Berlin after the war. Director Jacques Tourneur makes effective use of the locations but this is a somewhat muddled thriller.A train from Paris to Berlin has Robert Ryan playing an American agricultural expert, Robert Coote, a British teacher, Roman Toporow a Russian soldier and Charles Korvin, a French official.Merle Oberon is another French national who is accompanying German Paul Lukas who was a leader of the anti Hitler German underground and who has plans to present at a conference for German unification in the post war period.Lukas is also a marked man, an assassination attempt has gone wrong and he is later kidnapped. The others get together to find him.The film made in 1948 foreshadows the Cold War with distrust between the Russians and the Americans. The film gives thought that a divided Germany might not had been the best solution.

The only real reason to watch this film is for the location work in Frankfurt and Berlin which really shows the results of the allied bombing in WW2. There's some good black and white cinematography, and an interesting sequence in an old brewery, but for a movie that promises suspense and intrigue on a train, there's very little suspense, incomprehensible intrigue and not much on trains. Maybe the concept made sense in 1948, but the plot left my wife and me scratching our heads. Dr. Bernhardt is a German diplomat/professor who apparently has some sort of vision of a unified postwar Germany and is en route to a conference in Berlin to present it to the allies at a conference. There's another faction of Germans who oppose him, for reasons unknown. Exactly why we're supposed to care one way or the other is unclear, but the 2nd faction wants to prevent him from making his presentation. There's also some propaganda about postwar cooperation, particularly regarding the Soviets. There's no chemistry between Robert Ryan and Merle Oberon who is unconvincing as a French woman, and none of the characters are particularly interesting. If you want suspense and intrigue on a train, I highly recommend "The Narrow Margin" (the 1952 original, not the remake). But "Berlin Express" is pretty underwhelming.