At the start of World War II, Nazi agents pursue a Czech scientist and his daughter (Margaret Lockwood) in order to get his formula for superior military armaments.  They are able to kidnap them back to Germany from their safe haven in England, but a British secret agent (Rex Harrison), masquerading as a high-ranking German officer, executes a daring plan to rescue the pair before the scientist’s secrets are revealed.

CRITIQUE

Carol Reed directed this companion film to The Lady Vanishes, which has a screenplay by the writers of that Hitchcock classic, Sidney Gillant and Frank Launder.  The script has a couple of surprising plot twists, one of which occurs fairly early in the movie.

Rex Harrison, in his first major film role, and Margaret Lockwood are joined in the cast by Paul Henreid (billed as “Paul Von Hernried” here), Basil Radford and Naughton Wayne, the latter two repeating their delightful “very British” comic cricket aficionados from The Lady Vanishes, Charters and Caldicott.

The main difference between this and the 1938 movie is that Hitchcock’s picture is more of a mystery that begs to be solved (i.e. what happened to the old lady?) while Reed’s film is, essentially, a chase melodrama.  Even though Night Train identifies its villains as Nazis, which Lady didn’t, neither film is meant to be taken too seriously.

Despite the fact that it employs carefully crafted models (as did The Lady Vanishes), rather than CGI special effects, the movie remains an exciting, fast-paced espionage thriller that is the equal to today’s over-produced movies of that genre.

I just wish that, during the final shoot-out with the Nazis, director Reed (or perhaps the film’s editor) had thought to show Harrison reloading his revolver.  I have no idea how many shots he fired, but it was certainly a lot more than six.

THE VIDEO

The movie is presented in its original Full Screen version.  The image is sharp and without flaws.

THE AUDIO

The Mono sound is clear and sharp.  No problems.

THE EXTRAS

Aside from a very good written essay by Philip Kemp in booklet form, the only extra is 30-minute video conversation about the movie with film scholars Bruce Babington and Peter Evans.

FINAL THOUGHT

This is an excellent 1940 espionage thriller that holds up very well.