Night Train to Munich
Night Train to Munich | |
---|---|
Directed by | Carol Reed |
Screenplay by | |
Based on | Report on a Fugitive 1939 short story by Gordon Wellesley |
Produced by | Edward Black |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Otto Kanturek |
Edited by | R. E. Dearing |
Music by | Louis Levy |
Production company | 20th Century Productions |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Night Train to Munich is a 1940 British
Plot
As German forces
Following Marsen's suggestion, Anna places a cryptic newspaper advertisement to let her father know she is in the country. Soon after, she gets an anonymous phone call with instructions to go to the town of Brightbourne. There, Anna contacts Dickie Randall, a British intelligence officer working undercover as an entertainer named Gus Bennett. Randall takes Anna to her father, who is now working for the Royal Navy at the fictional Dartland naval base. Anna argues with Randall over her attempt to post a letter to Marsen (with an informative postmark). It does not matter, as Dr. John Fredericks, Marsen's undercover superior in London, had tailed her to Brightbourne.
Soon after, Marsen arranges the kidnapping of Anna and her father and brings them back to Germany by U-boat. Their captors threaten to put her in a concentration camp if Bomasch refuses to work for the Nazis. Randall's proposal to rescue the Bomasches is (unofficially) accepted. He travels to Berlin and infiltrates the building where the Bomasches are being held, posing as Major Ulrich Herzog of the Corps of Engineers. He dupes Captain Prada and Admiral Hassinger into believing he was Anna's lover years ago and can persuade her to get her father to co-operate. Randall spends the night with Anna in her hotel room to maintain the pretence. When the Bomasches are ordered to be sent to Munich, he plans to accompany them and arrange their escape. Marsen shows up just as they are about to leave the hotel; he has been assigned to escort them to Munich.
Randall's situation is further complicated at the
The two Englishmen barely manage to reboard the train before it leaves. Caldicott slips a warning to Randall, who is thus prepared when Marsen pulls out a gun as they near Munich. Charters and Caldicott overpower first the two guards, then Marsen. After swapping uniforms with Marsen, Randall commandeers a car. They speed up a mountain road, with Marsen and his men in hot pursuit. They reach an aerial tramway; at the other end is neutral Switzerland. Randall manages to shoot all of their pursuers except Marsen, while Anna and the others escape on the tram. Randall then boards the other tram and exchanges shots with Marsen, who reverses the direction of Randall's tram, but he manages to jump to the other tram as it passes. When he hits Marsen in the leg, the latter is either unable, or unwilling, to reach the controls and stop Randall from reaching safety. Randall and Anna embrace.
Cast
- Margaret Lockwood as Anna Bomasch
- Rex Harrison as Dickie Randall / Gus Bennett / Ulrich Herzog
- Paul Henreid as Capt. Karl Marsen (credited as Paul von Hernried)
- Basil Radford as Charters
- Naunton Wayne as Caldicott
- James Harcourt as Axel Bomasch
- Felix Aylmer as Dr. John Fredericks
- Wyndham Goldie as Charles Dryton
- Roland Culver as Roberts
- Eliot Makeham as Schwab
- Raymond Huntley as Kampenfeldt
- Austin Trevor as Capt. Prada
- Kenneth Kent as Controller
- C. V. France as Admiral Hassinger
- Frederick Valk as Gestapo Officer (credited as Fritz Valk)
- Morland Graham as Teleferic Attendant
- Hugh Griffith as Sailor (uncredited)
- Billy Russell as Adolf Hitler (uncredited)
Production
The film was based on a short story by Gordon Wellesley which Sidney Gilliat claims only constituted the first ten minutes of the film, the rest came from him and Launder.[3]
This was the last of the several films that Margaret Lockwood made for Carol Reed. Their professional relationship ended after she turned down the female lead in Kipps.
Release
Critical reception
The film premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 26 July 1940.
Simon Abrams of
Home media
The film was released on
The title inspired the eponymous song on Al Stewart's interwar theme album, Between the Wars.
Comparison to The Lady Vanishes
The film has been compared to The Lady Vanishes, with the
References
- ^ a b "Basil Radford & Naunton Wayne". Art & Hue.
- ^ Hal Erickson (2010). "Night Train to Munich (1940)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 July 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ Fowler, Roy; Haines, Taffy (15 May 1990). "Interview with Sidney Gilliat" (PDF). British Entertainment History Project. p. 130.
- ^ "Night Train to Munich (Gestapo) (1940)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
- ^ "Review: 'Night Train to Munich'". Variety. 31 December 1939. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
- ^ Simon Abrams (21 June 2010). "Night Train to Munich - DVD Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
- ^ Stephen Mayne (19 October 2016). "'Night Train to Munich' Is a Journey Worth Taking". PopMatters. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
- ^ "Night Train to Munich". LaserDisc Database. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- ASIN 630433740X.
- ^ "Night Train to Munich (1940)". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
- ^ Michael Wood "At the Movies: Odd Man Out", London Review of Books, 28:20, 19 October 2006, p.16
- ^ Trevor Hogg "A Great Reed: A Carol Reed Profile (Part 1)", Flickering Myth, 21 October 2009
External links
- Night Train to Munich at IMDb
- Night Train to Munich at AllMovie
- Night Train to Munich at the TCM Movie Database
- Night Train to Munich at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Night Train to Munich at Britmovie
- Night Train to Munich: A Last Laugh an essay by Philip Kemp at the Criterion Collection
- Night Train to Munich on Academy Award Theater
- Review of film at Variety