L'homme qui regardait passer les trains

Claude Rains plays Mr. Popinga, a loyal and relatively dull man who has worked for the same firm for many years. He wouldn't seem to have a vicious bone in his body nor any sort of larcenous attempt. One day, however, he comes upon his boss...and the boss was embezzling the company's funds! They struggle and the boss falls into the river--presumably to drown. His briefcase with all the money, however, is still there and Popinga takes it and flees the country. His plan is kind of nutty...to introduce himself to his ex-boss' sexy mistress and take up with her. This doesn't work out, however, as she laughs in his face....at least until she later learns he's got the money. How did she learn this? From a Dutch detective who is following Popinga.

The idea of a meek man turning like this is very interesting. What isn't as interesting is how dopey Popinga acts during a few portions of the film...at least when it comes to this mistress and hiding the stolen money. You wonder how long he'll team up with her and if he'll ever get wise to the fact that she is bad through and through.

Overall, a good film...nearly earning a 7 but I couldn't help but think they should have had Popinga behave more consistently clever as well as rotton once he got the money. Instead, it was if the writers weren't exactly sure to go with the character.

It was a surprise to see this title on the shelves at the local video store: although Claude Rains is one of my favourite actors, and this film features other fine actors such as Herbert Lom, Marius Goring and Felix Aylmer, the story line didn't seem to be the usual fare rewarded with a video release. And indeed it is the story that both fascinated me and left me flat at the end.

Rains' meek company clerk is nicely judged; cunning but not worldly-wise, and seduced by the lights of Paris, in contrast to his small home town. The contrast, though, is poorly made - Rains' clerk suit looks perfect throughout, even at Maxims - and we don't see a return to family or their reaction to his plight. Even so, the story's unfolding was interesting enough to keep me watching, (as well as for the technicolor exterior shots of Paris in the early 50's).

Kees Popinga (Claude Rains) is an uninteresting man who has been senior clerk with the same firm for 18 years. When police inspector Lucas (Marius Goring) turns up to question his boss Julius de Koster (Herbert Lom) about money laundering, it sets off a chain of events which sees Kees travelling to Paris with a suitcase of the firm's money to live out his fantasy. De Koster has drowned and Lucas is investigating the case. For the rest of the film, he pursues Kees who goes to De Koster's Parisien lover Michele (Marta Toren) in order to take her away with him for some excitement in life. However, she is after the money from him so that she can take off with her lover Louis (Ferdy Mayne). She protects Kees, who has hidden the money, from Lucas so that she can get hold of the money herself........how do things work out?........How will Kees's rigid moral code of integrity and loyalty cope with betrayal..?...

Its a well acted film, my favourite character being Marius Goring who plays a sympathetic policeman who genuinely cares about Kees and wants to protect him. The colour adds to the spectacle and its an enjoyable film......... It was nice to see that even boring people have got some cunning inside them!

As comes across in so many of his Maigret stories, Georges Simenon always loved to depict how any group or locality was characterized by its own particular attitudes and social mores. In this tale of two cities, Simenon has matched unsophisticated dull respectable Protestant Groningen in the northern Netherlands against wicked exciting corrupting Paris. This contrast (though set out less clearly than in the novel) establishes the context for the movie.

Good-natured earnest Kees Popinga (Claude Rains) exemplifies Groningen. His boss Julius de Koster (Herbert Lom), seduced by Parisien temptress Michele (Marta Toren), bankrupts his firm and flees, only to meet his death. Fearing suspicion of murder and with a growing taste for adventure, Kees finds himself en route to Paris with de Koster's stolen money to seek out Michele. Sympathetic Paris cop Lucas (Marius Goring) pursues Kees wanting to save him from a further fall from grace.

This prelude sets the stage for all that is to follow. Must Kees fall victim to the treacherous Michele? to her dangerous lover Louis (Ferdy Maine)? or to the progressively corrupting influence of Paris? Or can the innate goodness of Kees redeem Michele? And can Lucas prevent a tragedy? The acting is of a high quality. We care about the outcome and our concern for Kees sustains our suspense. We are kept guessing to the last.

Several years earlier this Technicolor film would have been filmed in b&w at Warner's or RKO instead of an English studio. Nonetheless, it's still noir all the way, with Rains as the fall guy, Toren as the spider woman, and trains as fate symbolizing the life that's passing Rains by. His dull company clerk, Popinga, has a bland conventional life in Holland with a wife and two kids. Oddly, he's fascinated by the sound of passing trains, knowing many are going to Paris, and a glamorous life he can only dream about. Then one day, fate takes over and soon the repressed Popinga is on that Paris train with his dreams appearing at last to come true. But then this is noir.

Rains is ace in his aging role, a long way from his usual sinister master-minds. In fact, the flick amounts to a Rains showcase as he spotlights about every scene. Good thing that there's leggy relief for us guys with the sexy likes of Toren and Anouk in their slinky outfits. Anyway, to me, it's an underrated noir, maybe because of its often bright coloring and European provenance. After all, American studios had wide avenues of movie distribution not so available to European others. Thus, the flick remains largely unknown to fans of noir, and qualifies as a possible sleeper; that is, if you can get past some of the plot stretches that may not pass you by, (especially the cat-and-mouse between Rains and Lucas). Also: I expect the morally ambiguous drowning accounts for the rather ambiguous ending that I wasn't expecting. Anyway, give it a try, especially if you would like to catch that passing train.