Berlin Express

Set in a post WW-2 Germany, "Berlin Express" is a quite interesting thriller directed by Jacques Tourneur. The story is basically about a group of people each of whom representing Russian, French, American and British forces who are united in trying to solve an assassination attempt made by Nazi underground group on a Professor Bernhardt, one of the former liders of German Resistance to Nazis and now a chairman of a commission for post-war unification of Germany.

"Berlin Express" is particularly interesting for it's exteriors shot in 1947 on real locations with special permission from Allied forces, showing destroyed by bombings Frankfurt and Berlin. 7/10

BERLIN EXPRESS is a post-war thriller directed to the hilt by Jacques Tourneur, who adds plenty of icy atmosphere to the production. It also has one of the best locations I've seen in a film: the real-life bombed-out ruins of Frankfurt, which provide a fitting backdrop to a tale of intrigue, scandal, and murder.

Much of the film is set on a train, as various characters interact and attempt to do battle with some Nazis who don't let the small matter of losing the war stop them. When a leading scientist is kidnapped, it takes an American investigator to track down the criminal gang and exact some justice.

Cast-wise, this is a film that benefits from some seasoned performers like Robert Ryan and Paul Lukas in key roles, but really it's a story where the cinematography wins out. There are some expertly-directed set-pieces here, particularly the climactic stuff in the bombed-out brewery, alongside plenty of the good stuff - i.e. suspense and a sense of danger - that you expect from a thriller. Check it out.

On a surface level this is a kind of benevolent THIRD MAN, as a group of international comrades, most prominently a naive American, try to root out sinister Germans and a betraying friend in the rubbles of post-war Europe. The script is a model of civic decency, as it dramatises the lingering dangers facing Europe after the war, but offering a narrative of co-operation and hope.

Director Tourneur, however, had only just directed the beautifully bleak OUT OF THE PAST, and this film is full of a blackness overwhelming good intentions, where the frightening contingencies of history and inexplicable darkness of man are not so easily swept aside. His mastery of space and lighting, his disturbing compositions and vigorous editing are an eternal pleasure not to be enjoyed again until Scorcese's glory days.

This film is about the only one I can recall that deals with the anti-West resistance that the US and its allies received from the conquered Germans after WWII. Apart from this movie, you'd think that ALL the Germans easily adapted to their new rule, while in reality there were murders and scattered resistance for several years in an effort by ex-Nazis to destabilize the peace. For historical reasons alone, it is an important movie. Robert Ryan plays our hero who finds out about a Nazi murder plot and, with the help of a multinational team, he goes to action. I think that having help from the Russians, French and British is interesting, but highly improbable and seemed like a bit of a cliché, but nevertheless it's a great film and well wroth seeing.

This movie is most notable as a historical document giving a glimpse of Germany after the war. The location shots in bombed out Frankfurt and Berlin are rather startling, and it's interesting to see the hatred and mistrust everyone has for the Germans. The movie is shot very well and the early scenes are excellent.

Unfortunately the script is weak. Towards the end I realized that I just wasn't clear on why things were happening as they were. It felt like the plot was just a backdrop to the ambiance, which was fine in the beginning but became a problem as the plot moved its wobbly self to center stage. I can't entirely blame the script though; I think Tourneur's greatest failing as a director is that while he had a lot of style and could always make things interesting, he could be sloppy in terms of telling a story. Of course he wasn't the only director who believed you could gloss over a lot if you just kept things moving, but that works better with a good muddled script like The Big Sleep rather than the distinctly ordinary but muddled script he worked with here. Still worth seeing though.