The best part of 'Night Train to Munich' is the inciting incident which leads to the Act 2 machinations involving Rex Harrison's Dickie Randall, the naval officer masquerading as music hall entertainer, Gus Bennett. Czech scientist and armor-plating expert, Axel Bomasch. is whisked away to England, right before the Nazis march in, but his daughter Anna (Margaret Lockwood) is left behind and ends up in a concentration camp. She befriends Paul Marsen, who at first appears to be a Czech political prisoner (played by Paul Henreid, famous for his Viktor Laszlo role in 'Casablanca'). Naïve Anna doesn't realize that the escape from the concentration cap is manufactured and that Marsen is actually a member of the Gestapo.
Somehow, Randall and his fellow intelligence operatives, can't seem to figure out that the Germans have already deduced the location of Bomasch or the fact that Marsen is a double agent. Instead of killing Bomasch, the Germans merely knock him out and whisk Axel and Anna back to Germany in a U-boat. Wouldn't you know it but Randall's superiors have no objections to allowing him to go to Germany and try and save the kidnapped Czechs. Since he's spent three years in Germany, he supposedly can speak the language and pretend that he's a high level Army Engineer. Incredibly, he easily gains access to Anna and her father after producing forged paperwork which is not closely examined by the bumbling Germans. Randall pretends that he formerly was involved with Anna and convinces the Germans (including the skeptical Gestapo double agent) that he might be able to convince Anna to help change her father's mind about the Nazis. A wrench is thrown into Randall's plan to spirit Anna and her father out of Germany when he learns that the Nazis have gotten orders from headquarters to immediately bring the Czechs to Munich.
While on the train, we're introduced to the same self-involved Englishmen, Charters and Caldicott, who also appeared as the same characters in Hitchcock's 'The Lady Vanishes'. Charters blows Randall's cover when he asks Randall if he's the same person who he knew as an undergraduate at Oxford. According to one sagacious internet poster, Charters and Caldicott are not dolts but rather represent those Englishmen who chose to remain ignorant about the goings-on in Europe prior to the outbreak of the war. That's why the most important thing to Caldicott about "Mein Kampf" is that it's used as a marital aid by German women. It's only after a German soldier orders Charters and Calidcott to grovel before them, that they become galvanized and decide to 'join the cause' and help Randall.
I'm unable to speak very highly about the climax of 'Night Train to Munich'. How is Randall able to subdue Henreid's Gestapo man without making any noise inside the train cabin? And how do Charters and Caldicott subdue two German soldiers and bring them back to the same cabin without being noticed? How do they so easily remove the solders' uniforms and put them on, also without making any noise? And what about the long car ride from Munich to Switzerland? Did you ever hear the word, 'roadblock'? During the shootout from the cable car, Rex Harrison seems to fire about 30 bullets when it appears he's carrying a gun that probably can fire only six cartridges. Finally, our Gestapo guy doesn't seem that badly wounded which would prevent him from dragging himself up to the cable controls and stopping the cable car from reaching the other side.
You can catch 'Night Train' in a newly restored version from the Criterion Collection. The only extra is commentary from so-called film scholars Peter Evans and Bruce Babington. Unfortunately, Evans and Babington fail to make even one critical point regarding this film as they regard it as some kind of masterpiece. Given its slew of implausibilities, a masterpiece it is not.
The film was very highly regarded in the US when it was released here in 1940. For its time, it was a highly effective piece of propaganda which helped convince Americans that Britain's war against Germany was just. The English, with their laid back "business as usual" attitude is nicely contrasted with the unscrupulous and menacing behavior of both the German Army/security apparatus and bureaucracy. A great deal of credit must be given to Paul Henreid as the sinister Gestapo agent. Unlike some of the other German/Nazi characters in the film, he's actually quite scary (as he should be). From a modern sensibility, Rex Harrison's casual acting demeanor coupled with the absolute ease in which his character outwits his opponents, relegates 'Night Train to Munich' to the realm of the 'B' picture. But as a piece of World War II history, 'Night Train' is well worth viewing at least once.
Somehow, Randall and his fellow intelligence operatives, can't seem to figure out that the Germans have already deduced the location of Bomasch or the fact that Marsen is a double agent. Instead of killing Bomasch, the Germans merely knock him out and whisk Axel and Anna back to Germany in a U-boat. Wouldn't you know it but Randall's superiors have no objections to allowing him to go to Germany and try and save the kidnapped Czechs. Since he's spent three years in Germany, he supposedly can speak the language and pretend that he's a high level Army Engineer. Incredibly, he easily gains access to Anna and her father after producing forged paperwork which is not closely examined by the bumbling Germans. Randall pretends that he formerly was involved with Anna and convinces the Germans (including the skeptical Gestapo double agent) that he might be able to convince Anna to help change her father's mind about the Nazis. A wrench is thrown into Randall's plan to spirit Anna and her father out of Germany when he learns that the Nazis have gotten orders from headquarters to immediately bring the Czechs to Munich.
While on the train, we're introduced to the same self-involved Englishmen, Charters and Caldicott, who also appeared as the same characters in Hitchcock's 'The Lady Vanishes'. Charters blows Randall's cover when he asks Randall if he's the same person who he knew as an undergraduate at Oxford. According to one sagacious internet poster, Charters and Caldicott are not dolts but rather represent those Englishmen who chose to remain ignorant about the goings-on in Europe prior to the outbreak of the war. That's why the most important thing to Caldicott about "Mein Kampf" is that it's used as a marital aid by German women. It's only after a German soldier orders Charters and Calidcott to grovel before them, that they become galvanized and decide to 'join the cause' and help Randall.
I'm unable to speak very highly about the climax of 'Night Train to Munich'. How is Randall able to subdue Henreid's Gestapo man without making any noise inside the train cabin? And how do Charters and Caldicott subdue two German soldiers and bring them back to the same cabin without being noticed? How do they so easily remove the solders' uniforms and put them on, also without making any noise? And what about the long car ride from Munich to Switzerland? Did you ever hear the word, 'roadblock'? During the shootout from the cable car, Rex Harrison seems to fire about 30 bullets when it appears he's carrying a gun that probably can fire only six cartridges. Finally, our Gestapo guy doesn't seem that badly wounded which would prevent him from dragging himself up to the cable controls and stopping the cable car from reaching the other side.
You can catch 'Night Train' in a newly restored version from the Criterion Collection. The only extra is commentary from so-called film scholars Peter Evans and Bruce Babington. Unfortunately, Evans and Babington fail to make even one critical point regarding this film as they regard it as some kind of masterpiece. Given its slew of implausibilities, a masterpiece it is not.
The film was very highly regarded in the US when it was released here in 1940. For its time, it was a highly effective piece of propaganda which helped convince Americans that Britain's war against Germany was just. The English, with their laid back "business as usual" attitude is nicely contrasted with the unscrupulous and menacing behavior of both the German Army/security apparatus and bureaucracy. A great deal of credit must be given to Paul Henreid as the sinister Gestapo agent. Unlike some of the other German/Nazi characters in the film, he's actually quite scary (as he should be). From a modern sensibility, Rex Harrison's casual acting demeanor coupled with the absolute ease in which his character outwits his opponents, relegates 'Night Train to Munich' to the realm of the 'B' picture. But as a piece of World War II history, 'Night Train' is well worth viewing at least once.