Main Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul Henreid, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne
Release Year: 1940
Country: UK
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
Rex Harrison astonished his fans by donning a Nazi uniform in the British suspenser Night Train (originally titled Night Train to Munich). Actually he's a British agent, working undercover to rescue a Czech inventor from the Gestapo. The inventor's daughter (Margaret Lockwood) becomes the unwitting pawn of a genuine Nazi (Paul von Hernreid, just before he became Paul Henreid) during a long train ride from Germany to France and back again. Director Carol Reed never denied that his inspiration for Night Train was Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (both films were written by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat). The homage was solidified by the presence in Night Train of two carryovers from the Hitchcock film: those ardent British cricket fans Charters and Caldicott (Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne). Night Train was liberally adapted from the Gordon Wellesley novel Report on a Fugitive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Time has dampened the impact of Night Train to Munich, not because its World War II setting dates it but because the conventions on display have become more commonplace in thrillers through the years. Even so, Munich manages to be more than sufficiently gripping to hold an audience's interest, and the plotting is intricate enough to keep the viewer involved. There are a number of elements in the screenplay that stand out, not the least of which is the sequence that introduces Rex Harrison, and the entire climactic escape is well handled by director Carol Reed, who provides excitement through subtlety. There are also, unfortunately, too many echoes of Hitchcock and The Lady Vanishes, which tend to work against the film's ultimate effectiveness. Still, these are offset by such pleasures as Harrison's skillful performance. He's delightful in the early sequences, using his effortless arrogance to good effect, and quite commanding in the second half. It's true that his German accent is a bit bizarre, but that's a minor quibble with an otherwise excellent performance. Margaret Lockwood is also quite good, albeit in a role that she could probably have performed in her sleep, so similar is it to others on her resumé. And Paul Henreid's nicely underplayed Nazi is memorable. Even if Munich is at times overly familiar, it's still engaging. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Felix Aylmer - Dr. John Fredericks; James Harcourt - Axel Bomasch; Wyndham Goldie - Dryton; Roland Culver - Roberts; Eliot Makeham - Schwab; Raymond Huntley - Kampenfeldt; C.V. France - Adm. Hassinger; Austin Trevor - Capt. Prada; Kenneth Kent - Controller; Morland Graham - Attendant; Ian Fleming - Brit. Intelligence Official; Irene Handl; David Horne - Czech Armament Co. Official; Albert Lieven - Concentration Camp Officer; G.H. Mulcaster; Charles Oliver; Wally Patch - Pier Fisherman; John H. Roberts; Torin Thatcher; Frederick [Fritz] Valk - Gestapo Officer; Wilfred Walter; John Wengraf - Concentration Camp Doctor; Bill Russell; Pat Williams; Pardoe Woodman; Winifred Oughton
Credit
Alexander Vetchinsky - Art Director, Carol Reed - Director, R.E. Dearing - Editor, Louis Levy - Composer (Music Score), Louis Levy - Musical Direction/Supervision, Otto Kanturek - Cinematographer, Edward Black - Producer, B.C. Sewell - Sound/Sound Designer, Sidney Gilliat - Screenwriter, Frank Launder - Screenwriter, Gordon Wellesley - Screenwriter, Gordon Wellesley - Book Author
When the Germans march into Prague, a scientist who is working on a new process for armour-plating, Dr. Bomasch, escapes to England. His daughter, Anna, who is also about to flee, is arrested and sent to a concentration camp. There she is befriended by a Czech named Karl Marsen. Unbeknown to Anna, he is actually an undercover German agent. Together they escape to England, and Anna finds her father by placing a cryptic advertisement in a newspaper.
By this time, Dr. Bomasch is now working for the Royal Navy at the Dartford naval base. He is being guarded by Dickie Randall, a naval officer working undercover as an entertainer called 'Gus Bennett'. However, Marsen and his agents have watched and followed Anna, and they soon recapture Bomarsch and his daughter, returning them to Germany on a U-boat.
Randall then volunteers to go to Berlin, in the guise of an engineer in the German army, in order to get the pair out of the country. He gains access to Anna, telling the Germans that they are old acquaintances from Prague and that this could help him to persuade her father to cooperate with the Germans. He then contrives to accompany them on a train trip to Munich with Marsen and two guards.
On the train, they meet two Englishmen, Charters and Caldicott. Charters recognizes Randall from Balliol College, Oxford, where they occupied neighboring rooms as undergraduates. While speaking on the telephone, they overhear Marsen preparing to unmask Randall.
Charters and Caldicott manage to pass a message of warning to Randall, who is prepared when Marsen unmasks him just before they reach Munich. Marsen is then overpowered by Charters and Caldicott. After swapping clothes with the German, Randall manages to get himself, Bomasch, and Anna into a car, along with Charters and Caldicott, who are in German uniforms. They drive up a mountain pass to a cable car control room, and after a gun fight with the pursuing Germans, arrive safely on the Swiss side of the border.
The film has been frequently promoted as a sequel to The Lady Vanishes, although the story is not a continuation, and only two of the characters (the two slightly eccentric and cricket-mad English travelers Charters and Caldicott) are carried over. This originates in their similar train-based settings, and in the recurrence of two of the earlier film's character types in the two leads: the clever young woman in distress and eccentric upper-class Englishman. In the earlier film, this is Iris and Gilbert, and in this one, Anna Bomasch and Dickie Randall. The female character is played by the same actress in both films.
Quote
Charters: I bought a copy of Mein Kampf. Occurred to me it might shed a spot of light on all this... how d'ye do. Ever read it?
Caldicott: Never had the time.
Charters: I understand they give a copy to all the bridal couples over here.
Caldicott: Oh, I don't think it's that sort of book, old man.
