Carol Reed's Night Train to Munich is a fast-paced, tense, spy thriller full of twists and turns, but what makes Reed's cloak and dagger film so impressive, is its ability to inject this tense thriller with a whimsical quality that only the British seemed capable of at the time. The film opens in Germany, with what is seemingly a fist-pounding Hitler giving orders to invade Prague. They are after Czech Inventor, Dr. Bomasch, a man who has just developed new armor-plating technology. As the invasion commences, Dr. Bomasch flees to England, but unfortunately his daughter, Ana, is arrested, being thrown in a concentration camp. Inside, Ana meets Karl Marsen, and together the two stage a daring escape from the concentration camp. Unfortunately Karl isn't who he appears to be, being an undercover Nazi agent, using Ana as a unwitting pawn in an effort to track down Dr. Bomasch and get the good doctor to help out the Nazi cause. Karl Marsen is successful at managing to kidnap both Dr. Bomasch & Ana, taking them back to Berlin, which leads to British secret service agent Gus Bennett going deep undercover as a senior German officer, a ploy help Anna and Dr. Bomasch escape. Endlessly compared to Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes for good reason, Night Train to Munich shares a lot of similarities, being written by the same writers, but while Hitchcock's film is deeply soaked in tension and intrigue, Night Train to Munich is particularly impressive because of its ability to balance drama, suspense, comedy, and romance. There is an elegance to Night Train to Munich that gives the film a very unique feel, with a whimsical screenplay full of wit that keeps the film from being too heavy, something that is impressive and probably a necessity, given the subject matter and the time of release. Night Train to Munich is a film that revels in the cat and mouse game of the spy world, giving a considerable amount of time to both sides of the conflict, letting the viewer sink their teeth into this world, watching both sides continually trying to get ahead through trickery. While the script and characterizations are very solid, what seperates Night Train to Munich from The Lady Vanishes is its feeling of scope, with a narrative that has these characters go from Prague, to Berlin, to Switzerland, with two truly memorable set pieces in the prison escape sequence and finale. Shot in crisp black and white that Reed uses to build suspense and tension, Night Train to Munich is a great spy thriller that manages to balance its different elements of romance, drama, comedy, and adventure extremely well.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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