Night Train to Munich

Night Train to Munich (1940)

This British movie was made in 1940 a year after German and Britain began WWII. It is set in the late summer of 1939, just as the declaration of war was on the horizon. And while the filming and post-production is going on, London is being bombed by the Nazi air force. (The film was released in December, several months after the first raids.)

The most memorable lead is Rex Harrison playing an agent and double agent, falling in love with and saving the scientist's daughter (Margaret Lockwood) as well as the scientist himself (while he's at it). And then as a competing suitor, the dubiously aligned German officer played by Paul Henreid, who a year later would play a kind of counterpoint in the American Nazi film, "Casablanca."

Director Carol Reed marshals all these forces and makes a surprisingly terrific movie. It's fast, smart, fanciful, and patriotic. It's also really really funny, and the more you catch the British humor the more you'll be glad--at times it's relentless even as its subtle. The little barbs against the Germans, both as German stereotypes and as Nazi buffoons, is highly calculated. The British come off as daring and dashing, even the bumbling travelers rise to the occasion. It's often been commented that Harrison makes a very fit precursor to James Bond, and there must be a backwards truth to that because Ian Fleming (who invented Bond) was a WWII British OSS worker. Art imitating life. Imitating art.

And yes, this is an homage and reference (if not sequel) to Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes," including use of the same writers, the same kind of comic suspense, the same leading actress, and even two comic side characters from one train to the other. Reed even acknowledged the connections, as if he could deny them, and wanted no doubt to coattail some of the movies huge success.

It taints a movie to call it propaganda, so I won't. It's not, really. What it does (just as "Casablanca" does) is strike one up for the good guys. You end the movie thinking the British might just win this thing. And at the time that wasn't a foregone conclusion--London was only sinking further into the terror of the Blitz. Of course, we know that British resolve and resourcefulness won the day, with a little outside help, and this is part of exactly that.

Great stuff.

"Night Train to Munich" is a rather conscious attempt by director Carol Reed to imitate the style of Alfred Hitchcock, and it succeeds much better than do most such movies. It is an entertaining blend of suspense and humor, with a good cast and some enjoyable scenes.

Margaret Lockwood stars as the daughter of a Czech scientist pursued by the Nazis. She escapes their clutches once, but is again captured, and a British spy (Rex Harrison) has to go undercover to try to save her and her father. Lockwood and Harrison are joined by Paul Henreid, and also by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, who had appeared with Lockwood in Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" and appear here playing the same humorous pair of English travelers.

There are a lot of action sequences and a couple of good twists, with the crucial action taking place on a train. It's all done nicely, with an exciting finale as well. Some parts of it may be rather implausible, but the same could have been said of a few of Hitchcock's films, and this is only slightly less polished than his are. "Night Train to Munich" is quite entertaining in its own right, and is definitely worth seeing.

I disagree with the user who commented that these two fine characters are a couple of "English Dolts". English they most certainly are and that is the point. Dolts they are most certainly not. The writer uses them as comic relief and to parody the British Middle and Upper Class mentality that ignored Facisim in Europe for so long. Their preoccupation with cricket, tennis and golf is but a tool. Mistaking "Mein Kampf" for a marital aid is both a joke and a jab at English ignorance of matters concerning the Continent. One can almost here them make that classic comment attributed to another Englishman; "the Wogs begin at Calais." Their bumbling actions are an example of English self deprecating humor. I have enjoyed these two characters in a number of films and only wish they had appeared in more.

"Night Train to Munich" (1940) is a smaller and lighter Carol Reed film, a little uncharacteristic, but nevertheless very good. The stars are Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul von Henreid, Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne. A Czech scientist is taken to England for safety so the Nazis won't get him or his work when the Czechs invade, but his daughter Anna (Lockwood) is captured and sent to a concentration camp. While there, she meets Karl Marsen (Paul Henreid as Paul von Henreid) who recognizes one of the Nazi officers at the camp as someone he knew, and the man helps both of them to escape. Once in England, she contacts her father through a performer, Gus Bennett (Harrison), in reality a government agent. Unfortunately, she and her father again fall into enemy hands, and Randell disguises himself as a Nazi officer in order to return to them England.

Very suspenseful with great chemistry between the two stars. What helps make this film, though, are Radford and Wayne of "The Lady Vanishes" fame, who are hilarious as two airhead train passengers, one of whom recognizes Harrison as British, though he's in Nazi regalia. The two were an extremely popular pair and appeared together in several films.

Very good.

Carol Reed's wonderful and interesting style of suspenseful film (seen in all its glory in 'The Third Man') is evident in this early spy flick. Rex Reed is an OSS operative who must journey deep into the heart of the Third Reich to rescue an important scientist before the Nazis can make full use of him. The characters are not just two-dimensional although they may seem that way; they use every trick and opportunity to get through their sticky situation. The sudden appearance of two of the characters from Hitchcock's 'The Lady Vanishes' is a real treat, too!

The story itself is very intricate, with crosses and double-crosses and random occurances causing problems in our hero's way. The film is successfully able to weave genius storytelling, great acting, and effective cinematography to make it an intriguing spy film that is surely ahead of its time! And the finale is certainly an indicator of what the James Bond films would bring us years later.

Even though it was filmed in the beginning of WWII, it is not a stereotypical, or dull, film. A must-see!