Fresh from the acclaim he got for Out of the Past, director Jacques Tourneur went to Europe with his cast and crew and became the first film maker from the west to do a movie in occupied Germany. It's a good noir thriller, but it is also a plea for unity and understanding among nations, specifically those who were occupying Germany at that time.
It's quite a little United Nations on a train from Paris to Berlin with Robert Ryan American agricultural expert, Robert Coote British school teacher, Roman Toporow Russian soldier, Charles Korvin French bon vivant and Merle Oberon another French national with a German VIP Paul Lukas.
Lukas is quite a VIP indeed, he's the prototype for Konrad Adenauer an anti-Nazi leader who is going to a conference to present a plan for a reunified Germany. But the former regime has a few adherents who skulk in dark places and when they fail at an assassination (they kill a double)they kidnap Lukas to prevent the conference from getting off the ground.
The grand alliance that defeated Hitler is fraying at the seams, but these folks get together for one more endeavor to find Lukas and incidentally clear themselves of complicity in what's happening.
Tourneur did a grand job in making use of the bombed out locations in Frankfurt where most of the story takes place. It certainly gives authenticity to the story.
As a plea against provincial thinking Berlin Express sends a valiant but forlorn message. The following year the French, British, and American zones of occupation formed the Federal Republic of Germany with Konrad Adenauer at the head. The Russians took about a third of the country and formed the German Democratic Republic and thus Germany was divided for about 40 years.
I do believe Lukas is right at times when he says man might only unite if aliens invade the earth. It might just be worth it.
It's quite a little United Nations on a train from Paris to Berlin with Robert Ryan American agricultural expert, Robert Coote British school teacher, Roman Toporow Russian soldier, Charles Korvin French bon vivant and Merle Oberon another French national with a German VIP Paul Lukas.
Lukas is quite a VIP indeed, he's the prototype for Konrad Adenauer an anti-Nazi leader who is going to a conference to present a plan for a reunified Germany. But the former regime has a few adherents who skulk in dark places and when they fail at an assassination (they kill a double)they kidnap Lukas to prevent the conference from getting off the ground.
The grand alliance that defeated Hitler is fraying at the seams, but these folks get together for one more endeavor to find Lukas and incidentally clear themselves of complicity in what's happening.
Tourneur did a grand job in making use of the bombed out locations in Frankfurt where most of the story takes place. It certainly gives authenticity to the story.
As a plea against provincial thinking Berlin Express sends a valiant but forlorn message. The following year the French, British, and American zones of occupation formed the Federal Republic of Germany with Konrad Adenauer at the head. The Russians took about a third of the country and formed the German Democratic Republic and thus Germany was divided for about 40 years.
I do believe Lukas is right at times when he says man might only unite if aliens invade the earth. It might just be worth it.