Night Train to Munich (1940)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Carol Reed

Writers:

Sidney Gilliat (screenplay)
Frank Launder (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 December 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | War

Plot:

When the Germans march into Prague, armour-plating inventor Dr Bomasch flees to England. His daughter Anna escapes from arrest to join him...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Nazi | England | Spy | Czechoslovakia

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Margaret Lockwood	...	Anna Bomasch
Rex Harrison	...	Gus Bennett
Paul Henreid	...	Karl Marsen (as Paul von Hernried)
Basil Radford	...	Charters
Naunton Wayne	...	Caldicott
James Harcourt	...	Axel Bomasch
Felix Aylmer	...	Dr. John Fredericks
Wyndham Goldie	...	Dryton
Roland Culver	...	Roberts
Eliot Makeham	...	Schwab
Raymond Huntley	...	Kampenfeldt
Austin Trevor	...	Captain Prada (as Austen Trevor)
Kenneth Kent	...	Controller (as Keneth Kent)
C.V. France	...	Admiral Hassinger
Frederick Valk	...	Gestapo Officer (as Fritz Valk)

Also Known As:

Gestapo
Night Train (USA) (alternative title)
Night Train to Munich (USA)

Runtime:

USA:90 min | UK:95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Full Range Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:A

Filming Locations:

Gaumont-British Studios, Lime Grove, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Company:

Twentieth Century Productions Ltd.

Trivia:

Charters and Caldicott are characters who also appeared in The Lady Vanishes (1938), also written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder.

Quotes:

Kampenfeldt: [trying to decide the guilt of someone accused of treason - downbeat] This is a fine country to live in.
[upbeat]
Kampenfeldt: This is a *fine* country to live in.
[to camera]
Kampenfeldt: This is a bloody awful country to live in!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Where Eagles Dare (1968)

Soundtrack:

Only Love Can Lead the Way

Excellent Early World War II Thriller

An intrepid British spy boards the NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH in a desperate attempt to rescue a scientist & his beautiful daughter from the Nazis.

Here is an excellent wartime thriller, with just the right amount of puckish humor to keep the film from becoming too heavy. Very fine acting & excellent production values add tremendously to the success of the film, with director Sir Carol Reed showing hints of the style which would distinguish his postwar crime classic, THE THIRD MAN, a decade hence.

Margaret Lockwood is lovely, but she is given remarkably little to do outside of looking anxious or scared. Not to worry, the action is carried admirably by the male side of the cast, most notably Sir Rex Harrison as the British agent. Whether glibly singing silly songs or engaged in deadly gun battles in the Bavarian Alps, he carries off his role with his characteristic aplomb.

Paul Henreid completes the quasi-romantic triangle. Menacing & sophisticated, he is an excellent example of Nazi determination & evil. Sir Felix Aylmer, very effectively playing against type, wraps his unique voice around the small part of a German spy master. Roland Culver, Torin Thatcher & Ian Fleming - the character actor, not the author - might be glimpsed in cameo roles.

Fans of Sir Alfred Hitchcock's splendid THE LADY VANISHES (1938) will be heartened at seeing the return of the characters Charters & Caldicott, those criquet-mad twits, played by the original actors, Basil Radford & Naughton Wayne. Their initial performances had proved so successful that they were given the opportunity to reprise the roles several times, this being the most successful of their reappearances. Their inclusion here, about two-thirds into the story, gives the film a decided lift, making the whole procedure jolly good entertainment.