Movie Stats:
Released 1940 (USA)
British, in English
Director – Carol Reed
Stars – Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul Henreid
Plot Summary:
When scientist Axel Bomasch (James Harcourt) and his
beautiful daughter Anna (Margaret Lockwood) are taken prisoner by the Nazis
after the fall of Czechoslovakia, it is up to British secret agent
Gus Bennett (Rex Harrison) to save them.
In reality, the plot is a bit more complex than this, but to
explain it further would mean that I’d be giving away spoilers.
Bad Stuff:
Even in black & white, it’s pretty easy to tell that a
lot of the “sets” are actually small-scale models with painted backdrops. It’s
distracting.
A scene towards the end, set in and around the train of the
title, between two British citizens goes on for way too long. I think it was
supposed to be funny, playing up the whole “dithering” British person thing,
but it fell a bit flat and grew dull.
An improbable ending that showcases what appear to be
six-shooter guns dispensing endless rounds of bullets without any reloading.
Those kinds of inconsistencies drive me nuts.
Good Stuff:
There’s a great twist toward the beginning that caught me
completely off guard. Well done, movie!
It’s surprisingly, shockingly funny. I simply wasn’t
expecting that. Some of my favorite moments that had me roaring with laughter
[spoilers, I guess]:
- German soldier, in complete earnestness, “Any
day now, Poland may provoke us into invading her in self-defense.”
- Anna, “But that
seems far too simple - ” Gus, “I have a simple mind.”
- A random, throwaway scene between several German officers,
trying to determine whether a letter in a document is an “f” or an “s.” This is
perhaps only funny if you’re familiar with old-timey German script, wherein the
“f”s do indeed look like “s”s.
The Verdict:
A really solid movie. I loved the subject matter. I loved
the Brits poking fun at the Nazis. (It was filmed at the beginning of what they
didn’t even know yet would prove to be a very long and deadly war.) The
nitpicks I have with it didn’t really detract from the movie too badly, except
for perhaps that long train scene. All in all, it gave me far too many laughs
for me to be too harsh of a critic.
