BERLIN EXPRESS

Saw half of this years ago on late night cable, glad to see it available, though the dvd-r I received froze. Amazon did replace it and the second disk worked fine. No fancy packaging, extras, restoration - very basic.The movie is an old-fashioned spy thriller, post-WW2 but before the Cold War politics settled in and defined spy and war movies for the next few decades. As such, it is dated, but so are screwball comedies. And, it seems,are a lot of Cold War movies. that doesn't mean it can't be entertaining. It isn't classic Tourneur, but there are great little scenes and touches, images that stay with you. Shot in post-war Germany for the most part, the background ruin is sobering.Robert Ryan add Merle Oberon give great performances. The script is uneven, occasionally heavy on voiceovers, but then delivering nice little bits like using a clown for a plot device (evil or good, depending on who inhabits the costume). the image of the clown making his way through ruins is quite startling. Exchanges like the one between Oberon and Ryan in the train as he discovers she's taken over his sleeping cabin, and when Ryan breaks down the definitions of "attractive" and "good-Looking" by calling out ladies sitting at other tables in a dive, are nicely done. And there's cleverness in having two representatives of the occupying forces settling who is going to "occupy" the lower bunk with a coin flip, as they head into Germany. And a set piece death struggle that takes place in an enormous beer vat is outstanding.While not in the same league as The Third Man, or Out of the Past or Cat People, this is a movie that deserves to be appreciated by film fans whose taste can accept pre-MTV film making as a legitimate art form. This is one of those movies I want to revisit every now and then.

A fun movie that captures intrigue and train travel. Perfect for an evening of entertainment.

Berlin Express is perhaps most famous because of the on-site filming in Frankfurt and Berlin following the last year or more of bombings there that brought World War II to a close in Europe. The only things left standing are shells of the formerly beautiful cities. The film makers received special permission from the four Allied Powers -- the USA, France, Britain, and Russia -- to make the film on location. The plot of the film is so-so, but the acting is fine and the storyline offers some exciting moments. The improbability that the Allies would be able to unite a divided and occupied Germany is already apparent (mostly due to the hostile nature of the USSR) in the film that just barely preceded the "Cold War." Any train film is a high point of a noir film. Even the trains belong to the four competing Allied Powers. I believe the train used for the film may be what remained of the once great and glamorous Orient Express. The train in the film is the American transportation from Paris to Berlin. Most of the action actually takes places among the ruins of Frankfurt.

Film noir in the rubble of post war Germany. What more could you ask for?

Cloak & dagger drama involving the "werewolves" in Occupied Germany. Filmed mostly on location, the scenes of destruction are "sobering" in the extreme. Nice to see Robert Ryan play the good guy for a change. Considering this movie was made so soon after the end of the war, the dialog has some amazing instances of fairness. For example, admitting the Germans food ration is limited by the Allies to only 1,500 calories per day. Good camera work, good acting, and an (ultimately) upbeat story make this film noir a worthy addition to one's collection.

One of the first American films photographed in postwar Europe including Paris, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin Germany. In divided Germany just after WWII, people from many different countries are passengers on a train. When one of the passengers, Dr. Bernhardt, a German working for peace (Paul Lukas), is kidnapped by former Nazis who don't want his ideas to work, the others must set aside their differences and work together to find him in time for an important conference. Robert Ryan portrays an American government agricultural envoy who becomes entangled in the intrigue, and beautiful Merle Oberan is the German Peace envoy's assistant. Much of this took place before the Russian blockade of Berlin, and it's interesting to see a young Russian officer (Roman Toporow), a former English soldier (Robert Coote) and a Frenchman (Charles Korvin) grudgingly cooperating to find the kidnapped envoy. But not is all as it seems, and the surprise ending will keep you glued to your chair! The photography is top-notch, showing the bomb-destroyed cities of Germany, and lots of great scenes of the steam-powered train that carried important military and civilian personel to Berlin in the post-war Occupation period. It has all the flavor of an Orient Express mystery! I highly recommend this film for the historical value of what geopolitical relations were like in Europe follwing the Second World War.

Most of Hollywood's post-WW2 dramas filmed in Europe were directed by European expatriates, as was this 1948 RKO production. Director Jacques Tourneur started out in French cinema as a teenager, but spent most of his career in the American studio system. He was ideally suited to direct a film in post-war France and Germany. BERLIN EXPRESS transplants a fairly standard film-noir story to postwar Europe; a random collection of people working for the Allied Occupation are caught up in neo-Nazi attempts to kidnap or kill a German statesman(Paul Lukas)prior to a major postwar conference in Berlin. Robert Ryan plays an American agricultural expert; British actor Robert Coote's a schoolteacher; Merle Oberon plays Lukas' devoted French secretary; Charles Korvin plays a French businessman, and Roman Toporow plays the stoic Red Army Lt. Maxim. The location filming, in Berlin and Franfurt-am-Main, is staggering in its depiction of an utterly devastated country being brought back to life---it goes a long way toward selling a made-in-Hollywood script. Definitely a period-piece, but worth seeing and enjoying.

The replacement Copy works perfectly good, thanks rarewaves.

This is not as good as The Lady Vanishes but of a similar ilk. People are hurtling through the night on a train in recently war-torn Europe. There is intrigue galore.

Le mac guffin du film (une mystérieuse organisation nazie tente de kidnapper un militant de la réunification des deux Allemagnes) est exploité au mieux par Jacques Tourneur dans une brillante mise en scène où les visages sont autant de masques comme le prouve un des moments paroxystiques du film dans lequel un espion agonisant en tenue de clown fait rire aux éclats les spectateurs d'une salle de spectacle. La thématique du vrai et du faux (le numéro d'illusionisme) s'épanouit dans les décors en clairs obscurs filmés comme autant d'aspects de la psychée humaine avec des partis pris visuels fort intéressants (la scène où Robert Ryan prisonnier d'une citerne se fait canarder). A l'exemple de La scandaleuse de Berlin signé Billy Wilder, ce film d'espionnage offre également un saisissant instantanné d'un pays à terre entre ruines et éclopés. La présence au générique de Merle Oberon (la Cathie de Wyler dans Wuthering heights) permet de retrouver cette trop rare comédienne.

Excellent DVD! Thanks to the seller for supplying it.

Ce film est un grand film noir qui vous conduit sur les cendres encore chaudes de l'après guerre dans une Allemagne exsangue et pas tout à fait libérée de ses vieux démons. Berlin Express est donc à la fois un documentaire saisissant sur le chaos de 1945 et un polar trouble, dans lequel tombent les masques jusqu'à la toute dernière scène ! Ryan, acteur granitique, est parfait en américain déboussolé qui perdra pas mal de ses convictions et à priori... et ça n'est pas là la moindre des qualités de ce grand film finalement tout à fait pacifiste ! Tourneur est un géant qui sait tout faire, tout filmer : l'aventure, le polar, le fantastique !