Night Train to Munich

A fabulous spy film boasting top draw scripting and supreme direction.

Carol Reed is a truly wonderful director, his CV boasts the likes of The Third Man, Oliver and Odd Man Out, all great films for sure, which only makes it more infuriating that a gem like Night Train To Munich is incredibly hard to get hold of. I have only managed to catch it myself because of the unearthing of VHS tapes long thought to have been lost years ago, and it's just like finding hidden treasure I can tell you! Based on a story by Gordon Wellesley, and scripted by the adroitly talented teaming of Sydney Gilliat and Frank Launder, Night Train To Munich is a lesson in how to not over blow your subject, all the sequences flow without boring the viewer, with Ree...

There are shades of the "Lady Vanishes" in Carol Reed's intriguing tale of a complex mission to re-rescue a top Czech scientist from the Nazis. Having already been safely in Britain, he was kidnapped from under the very noses of British intelligence and so now they have to devise a plan to get him back. Rex Harrison - who has at least three identities in this thriller is charged with leading the attempt; aided by the scientist's daughter - Margaret Lockwood, and pursued by the duplicitous Paul Henreid as "Marsen". The adventure element is nothing particularly different, indeed I constantly expected Harrison to break into his King Mongkut impression - he made for a very unconvincing Nazi. The real stars, for me, were Messrs. Radford and Wayn...