Rome Express

I showed my Super 8 print of Rome Express to a small audience recently after a pause of 8 years and was delighted to rediscover how well scripted and tightly directed it is. This tale of theft, blackmail, murder and love moves at a rapid pace for a British film of its time, builds its characters and suspense admirably, and involves much fluid camera-work, excellent use of extras, and extremely thoughtful editing.

The various intriguing characters on the overnight train from Paris to Rome include a movie starlet who is tired of her publicity agent's strict regime of press stunts, a fence who is trying to get away with a painting stolen from the crooks who stole it in the first place, a millionaire who is only generous when its likely to get him in the papers, runaway lovers who don't want to be involved in anything or with anyone but themselves, a golf course bore, and a French police inspector on vacation.

It's delightful to watch the journey go gradually wrong for almost everyone involved, and in such a cleverly constructed way that it does full credit to writer Sidney Gilliat and former silent film comedian turned director Walter Forde. Scots actor Finlay Currie does a very acceptable American accent as the publicist (boasting of having been press agent to Tom Mix's horse), Conrad Veidt is supremely sinister and threatening as the art crook Zurta, Donald Calthrop is his usual creepy self as the cowardly fence on the run, and Esther Ralston is simply delicious in a variety of stunning 1930s outfits as jaded but very beautiful starlet Asta Marvelle. Yum!

This forerunner of many a classic train movie was acclaimed as one of the best films of 1933 and it's easy to see why – especially if you care to be kind about the model shots (more convincing than Hitchcock's) and some of the background scenery seen outside the train at night.

And of course the Gaumont British Lime Grove Studios reconstruction of the train itself is almost as attractive as Esther Ralston – but not quite. While its acting is rather wooden – hers definitely isn't.

Like the sumptuously luxurious train, this film is one worth waiting for and even gets a little steamy at times. The journey is pleasing, colourful and more exciting than the destination.

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.

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 familiar sort of film...a murder mystery aboard a train going from Paris to Rome. And, like these sorts of films, there is a cast of many folks who are passengers on this journey.

It all begins with the theft of a valuable Van Dyck painting. Someone aboard likely has the painting. However, the killings don't start until much later...when you realize that the man with the painting has cheated his partners and they will stop at NOTHING to get that painting.

The best reason to watch this movie is to watch Conrad Veidt. This German actor is chilling and simply superb here as the baddest of the bad guys in the movie. Apart from that, there are a few decent performances here and there, though Gordon Harker's performance as a really annoying guy is perhaps too good! You can certainly see why the other folks aboard find him tiresome!! Overall, a very good film that is worth your time.