PEKING EXPRESS

US, 1951, 90 minutes, Black and white.
Joseph Cotten, Corinne Calvet, Edmund Gwenn, Marvin Miller.
Directed by William Dieterle.

Peking Express is a remake of the Josef von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich vehicle Shanghai Express. It is updated from the '30s to 1950. This is the period just after Mao's takeover of China and the difficulties in the communist regime, the confronting of the warlords as well as western powers. The cold war atmosphere is reflected in the screenplay. Joseph Cotten is competent in the central role. Corinne Calvet is certainly not a Marlene Dietrich. Edmund Gwenn has a sympathetic role as a priest. The film is one of the many train adventures, neither better nor worse. It was directed by William Dieterle, director of Many Warner Bros. biographies in the '30s, the director of a number of thrillers in the early '50s.

1. Enjoyable action adventure, '50s style?

2. The remake and comparisons with the original? Paramount production values: black and white photography. studio sets, atmosphere of China?

3. The background of China, the communist revolution, the welcoming of foreigners and the exclusion of foreigners from China? Shanghai and the countryside? Authentic atmosphere of China? Or Hollywood style? Black and white photography? The train? The Dmitri Tiomkin score?

4. The popularity of films about train journeys? A sense of progress, goals and destiny? The train and its passengers as a microcosm? The interaction and the conflicts? Crisis? The popularity of the train, its movement, the sense of travel?

5. The assembling of the characters and the tensions? The ironies of espionage on the train trip.. the warlords? The background of the communists. business interests? The United States? Journalists, the church, the World Health Organisation? The ingredients for a travel thriller?

6. The progress of the trip and the interactions? Michael and his journey, background as a doctor, the encounter with Danielle and the memories? Kwan and his wife and the ambiguity of their relationship? The journalist and his observations? The priest and the background of missionary work? The soldiers?

7. The holding up of the train, the battles and the deaths? The captures? Kwan and his wife? Death? His status, capture. torture, decisions? His sons and death? Illustration of traditional Chinese troubles?

8. Michael and his interrogation? Mission? Medical questions? Going to the train, to Kwan's wife? The relationship with Danielle?

9. Danielle and her glamour, cover, involvement, moral decisions?

10. The priest and the role of the foreign missionary, the church, the clash with the communists, Christian principles, his death?

11. The journalist and his observations? Detachment?

12. Kwan, the Chinese businessman, cover, cruelty, family, wife?

13. The background of torture and interrogation, the escapes?

14. Popular themes for a popular thriller of the '50s? Its impact now? Illustrating the atmosphere of the times ? as interpreted by Hollywood?