Casablanca Express

An old-fashioned WWII adventure piece, starring some elderly Hollywood vets and the sons of some great stars. Unfortunately, even with a great cast and crew, the movie comes off as forced and corny all the way.

Churchill takes a train to meet with Roosevelt and Stalin in Casablanca. German paratroopers attempt to capture the train and take Churchill alive, but their efforts are hampered by Allied commandos.

The movie is, honestly, really bad in just about every department. Jason Connery and Francesco Quinn (PLATOON) try really hard, and have enough talent to squeak by, but neither would be as convincing or at ease as their fathers (Sean Connery and Anthony Quinn). Manfred Lehmann is a pretty nasty-looking but very incompetent German officer who leads the assault on the train. Donald Pleasence (THE GREAT ESCAPE) and Glenn Ford (IS PARIS BURNING?) are onhand as the Allied generals running the show from headquarters.

The movie is chock full of supporting characters and plot elements which have absolutely nothing to do with the action. There's a Catholic priest, a couple prostitutes, nuns, Arab sheiks, and British civilians riding the train who all end up getting killed. So much emphasis is put on these characters, all of whom are focused on only to be thrown away.

There are a lot of plot holes and such which also hamper the story's credibility. Glenn Ford seems to hate Churchill and blames him for Pearl Harbor and the death of his son, but this subplot is forgotten about halfway through the movie. Men sit around talking for the first thirty minutes or so about nothing that matters, providing lots of details on events and actions which don't matter a bit. The Germans manage to take over the train quite rapidly and wipe out a platoon of American guards, but in the final act a couple good guys with MP40s are able to wipe out just about the entire German unit with no effort at all. The Germans fail to secure the entire train, just some cars; they don't bother to look underneath the cars for saboteurs; they are portrayed as buffoons and idiots all the way.

The action scenes are ultra-corny, usually involving few pyrotechnics and a couple of good guys mowing down the German paratroops or vice versa. It's all set to a typically garbage (yet serviceable) Luigi Ceccarelli music score, which is typical synthesize garbage that never makes it's potential. To make matters worse, the bulk of the action was shot on what looks to be a desert soundstage, with the train parked and not much movement of the actors or any exciting stunts. There is one nail-biting fisticuff atop the speeding train which did have me on the edge of my seat, though.

I watched CASABLANCA EXPRESS on a Portuguese videotape. The colors were bright, fresh and intense. There was occasional print damage, but for the most part this movie was well-preserved for video transfer.

CASABLANCA EXPRESS is a corny - and appropriately so - but doesn't fit bill for a late 80s war movie. Audiences could expect better from such an experienced cast and crew - even for an Italian production, it's not very good for its day.

RATING: 3/10

Other than the fact that Casablanca Express is actually filmed in Morocco and in Casablanca itself, there isn't all that much to recommend it to viewers. I'd stick with the Warner Brothers Casablanca made quite well on their back lot.

This film involves an attempt to kidnap Winston Churchill while on the way to Casablanca for that conference with FDR. It's a combination of The Lady Vanishes and any of the Indiana Jones films in that last half.

Our Nazi friends hear that Churchill is traveling by train to Casablanca and set up a paratrooper raid. No doubt they got the idea from the folks who planned that raid that freed Mussolini after the Fascist government in Italy was overthrown. Possibly Churchill was riding the Marrakesh Express.

Leading the effort to save Winston Churchill are the sons of a pair of movie legends, Jason Connery and Francesco Quinn. Also helping our intrepid heroes out is Jinny Stefan who wields one mean machine gun against the paratroopers.

Standing around and looking like they were waiting for the checks to clear the bank are Glenn Ford and Donald Pleasance playing an American and British officer in charge of Churchill's safety.

Well, we all know Churchill made it to Casablanca intact. But why isn't this in the history books? Well if you're curious you'll see the film.

There's not much other reason for doing so.

Its amazing how an actor of Sean Connery's charisma can have passed on zero percent of his ability to his son Jason. This spagetti WWII film is notable for Jason Connery's complete lack of acting ability. Much better is Francesco Quinn who though in a thankless role manages to give the film some much needed charisma. The plot is about as daft as you can get. German paras attack a train carrying Churchill and Connery sets about saving the day. Donald Pleasence and Glenn Ford have little to do, but show glimmers of past succeses. The rest of the cast are typically terrible and authenticity-wise the film has more holes than a colander.

Having said that its one of those "so bad its good" films, but don't take it seriously. For a better film about attacking a train stick to Von Ryan's Express.

Ultra lame World War II flick. Absolutely flat dialog scenes, boring action sequences, and some of the worst music ever devised by man! I'm usually a big fan of Sergio Martino's work, but this film was far too weak to stand up. The two stars, Francesco Quinn and Jason Connery, are the sons of Anthony Quinn and Sean Connery. Star-power (or son-of-star-power) is what the film relied upon too heavily. The result is a 90 minute waste of time, with some of the most startling historical errors ever committed to film. Far too boring to be funny.

It is difficult to find enough bad things to say about this movie. It is even more difficult to imagine why Glenn Ford and Donald Pleasance would agree to be in this movie. As far as realism and historical accuracy: Non-existent. The only way a person could find this movie realistic is if they just moved here from another planet.

Here are just a few technical examples of the poor quality of this film:

The U.S. Army personnel are wearing uniforms that are currently in use (issued in the early 1980s). The soldiers use helmet liners instead of complete helmets (liner and "iron pot"). The U.S. flags that are shown have 50 stars (instead of the 48-star flag which was in use from 1912 until 1960).

I rated it two stars because unfortunately, I have seen worse movies.