ROME EXPRESS
UK, 1932, 94 minutes, Black and white.
Conrad Veidt, Gordon Harker, Esther Ralston, Joan Barry, Harold Huth, Cedric Hardwicke, Donald Calthrop, Hugh Williams, Finlay Currie, Frank Vosper, Muriel Aked. Eliot Makeham.
Directed by Walter Forde.
Rome Express is a very early sound film from the British Film Industry. It is entertaining today, allowing for its dated style and characterisations. There is a vitality and pace about it even though the film has been used as a model for so many other train films - it is very reminiscent of Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express. The screenplay was co-authored by Sidney Gilliat, who was later to use the same framework for his very successful film The Lady Vanishes, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was again used by Gilliat for a war atmosphere train ride in Night Train to Munich, directed by Carol Reed. All the familiar devices of the train leaving, the assembling of the characters, the interaction and the melodrama and crime are here. They were used, of course, for the disaster films of the '70s. The cast is very good and the photography and editing for its time is quite excellent. Conrad Veidt, the celebrated German actor, made his English debut in this film. John Paddy Carstairs directed Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948), a scene-by-scene remake of this film. Finlay Curry played the same role in both films.
1. The appeal of the train journey film? The journey, the artificial group of characters interacting, the possibility for crisis and solution en route? The format and style of the train film? The popularity of the genre? The influence of this film over the decades?
2. Trains: journeys, a variety of places and countries, stops and movement, customs, the confined space, the confined time, the artificial cross-section, the possibility of anonymity and discovery?
3. The quality of the film for 1932 - black and white photography, the editing and the sense of movement especially in the opening sequences with the group arriving at the station, pace, visual impact, characters and staging? Musical score?
4. A situation for murder, violence? Detection? The effect of the crisis on the lives of the passengers? How satisfyingly presented here?
5. The fluid assembly of the characters at the Paris station, their range, characteristics, style of introductions? The train itself and the details of its preparation for departure?
6. The quality of the screenplay in the staging of the character interactions and plot links: coincidences accidents, death and motivations, detection?
7. The range of characters and types - how well sketched? - the film star and her glamour, her being tired of it, her press agent and the satire on advertising, gags and stunts for publicity, the pressure on the star? Her relationship with Tony and the encounter on the train? Giving him an alibi? Her giving up career and escaping at the end? - Grant and his taking the girl on the trip, his wanting to be anonymous with her, the chance encounter with Bishop and his incessant talking, the meal and ignoring the girl, the preparation for the card games, the questions of compartments and the cover-up, the death of Poole and the blaming of Grant, the exposure of his trip, his decisions at the end? - McBain? and Mills - McBain? as the gruff millionaire, pushing Mills around, his interest in his own philanthropy and making a good impression, wanting the Van Dyke, his threats to Mills, the chance of getting the Van Dyke through the wrong briefcase, Mills threatening him and blackmailing him, the criminal searching his compartment, his saving the day and giving in to Mills, the ironic humour of his being ignored on arrival?
- Bishop and his incessant talking, complicating the situations, his theories about the death?
- Tony and his involvement with the criminal, hastily getting on the train, tracking down Poole, encountering the film star, the memories of the past, his decision to give up?
- Poole and his being scared, being put in the same compartment as the Chief of the Surete, his covering for Grant at the buffet. his joining in the game, his meeting with the criminals and the cat-and-mouse techniques, his escaping to the compartment and hitting Grant, his being murdered? The changes of briefcase?
- Conrad Veidt and his German menace and style, his being on the train and work with Tony, tracking down Poole, the control of the card game,, the searching of McBain's compartment, his being interrogated, the film star giving an alibi.. his being outwitted and escaping to his death?
- the Chief of the Surete, his seeming to be a bore. the discovery of his identity, his detective work?
8. The detective work and the rapid resolution of the murder?
9. The happy arrival at the destination with people's lives changed? The train ride and the image of journeys and the complexity of life? An enjoyable and satisfying example of the genre?
