Rome Express

Although this film has dated somewhat it remains a classic in it's genre, and surely is the inspiration for other such train based thrillers as Murder on the Orient Express and the Lady Vanishes. Conrad Veidt was never better and is well supported by an illustrious cast. Technically the sound quality in 1932 leaves a little to be desired but this should not detract from a little seen gem of a movie

Well-to-do people, all with their own secrets get aboard THE ROME EXPRESS, from a scenario by Sidney Gilliat.

One of the issues of looking at a movie that is clearly the precursor to another, well regarded movie, is that it invites invidious comparisons. It's a phenomenon I call "the end of history" and it reflects our bias that everyone and everything that happened before us is just leading up to our own magnificence, while everything after us will be a severe let-down. This movie was not made as a trial run for Hitchcock's THE LADY VANISHES, despite Gilliat, producer Michael Balcon and the presence of several plot elements -- including a couple who are cheating on their spouses -- that were later used in the more famous movie. If anything, the later movie was probably conceived as a remake.

Looking at this movie on its own merits, we can recognize it as a sparkling cast -- including Finlay Currie as an American, Cedric Hardwicke, Esther Ralson, Hugh Williams and the always brilliant Conrad Veidt as a mysterious threat. It is a skillful blending of comedy and thrills by director Walter Forde, who would return to the theme with 1941's THE MAIL TRAIN. Yes, Hitchcock and others would do it better; they had the model in this movie -- which is vastly entertaining on its own.

Rome Express is a Gaumont British production which can be seen as a prototype for future thrillers than would be set entirely on trains. In particular it makes one think of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes which is not too surprising since both films have the same screenwriter, Sidney Gilliat (who would later be director of Green for Danger and the excellent State Secret).

Aside from the train setting, however, in which various passengers intermingle with one another, with crime and murder to be a part of the course of this trip, this film has, like the later Hitchcock film, a lightness in tone that adds to its pleasure. One seriously has to wonder, in fact, if the future Sir Alfred didn't see this film before he directed his own variation on it.

As directed by Walter Forde, Rome Express moves with the same speed as the express train on which the story is set, the main plot involving a stolen Van Dyke painting hidden in a briefcase and two partners of the thief, one of them very deadly, indeed, in search of the now frightened man who decided to abscond with the painting on his own.

The largely British cast is fine, including Joan Barry (a Hitchcock leading lady around this time in Rich and Strange) and, particularly effective, Donald Calthrop, whom Hitchcock buffs may recall as the blackmailer in Blackmail, Alfred's first talkie. In this film he's the man with the hidden Van Dyke.

Cedric Hardwicke also scores very well here as a smug, penny pinching millionaire forever castigating his cowering manservant for some minor misdeed. Esther Ralston, a very attractive silent film star whose talkie career would never reach the same heights as her silent one, is quite winning in the role of a movie star on board the train who becomes accidentally mixed up with the art thieves.

Saving the best for last is Conrad Veidt, in great form here, as the more sinister of the two art thieves searching for the passenger (Calthrop) who has the painting. Veidt brings an intelligence and polished flair to his performance. Ruthless as he is when he has a man cornered, he is also an elegant scoundrel who presents a smiling, affable facade to those around him.

Veidt is highly effective in his role, both attractive and deadly as a cobra. If anyone in this film exudes star presence it is definitely the German actor probably best remembered today for his performance as Major Strasser in Casablanca.

If you're into thrillers, particularly those set aboard trains, try seeking this film out. You should be more than satisfied.

This highly entertaining trainbound comedy-thriller predates Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" (also co-written by Sidney Gilliat) by several years, and is almost as good - in fact, it is better-paced, as it plunges us straight into the action faster, although the overall plot is not equally ingenious. The film boasts fluid, inquisitive camerawork, some imaginative montages, colorful characters (Conrad Veidt is excellent), and two steamy women (no pun intended). Only the villain's demise, or rather how it happens, is a letdown. Best line (during a poker game): "I ought to know you have one more picture". *** out of 4.

I usually enjoy dramas set on trains and this is one of the earliest and one of the best. A major factor in its success is the adroit direction of Walter Forde, seen in the facility with which he introduces the protagonists against the station background and in the natural way in which the story is allowed to flow with very little contrivance, the overhearing of a conversation re the painting later in the film possibly being an exception. Surprisingly he did not appear to receive interest from Hollywood after this. Andrew Mazzei's sets are impressive and convincing. There are some memorable performances, not least Conrad Veidt, as a menacing villain who looks downright evil at times. Cedric Hardwicke as the mean-spirited philanthropist, Gordon Harker, playing against type as a middle-class golfing bore, Finlay Currie, amusing as the brash movie agent and Donald Calthrop as the treacherous little villain in fear for his life all make a vivid impression. In fact there is hardly a weak link in the cast. It is sometimes stated that Currie played the same part in the 1948 near-remake, Sleeping Car To Trieste, but in fact he took over Hardwicke's role as the wealthy bullying humbug.