Margaret Lockwood Films - Night Train to Munich (1940)

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[ c a r o l r e e d ]

Rex Harrison / Margaret Lockwood
1940

Night Train to Munich

... aka Gestapo (1940)
... aka Night Train (1940)
... aka Night Train to Munich (1940) (USA)

Runtime: 90 min
Country: UK
Language: English
Color: Black and White

Credits:

Directed by
Carol Reed

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Sidney Gilliat
Frank Launder
Gordon Wellesley ... story

Cast (in credits order)
Margaret Lockwood .... Anna Bomasch
Rex Harrison ....
Paul Henreid .... Karl Marsen (as Paul von Hernreid)
Basil Radford .... Charters
Naunton Wayne .... Caldicott
James Harcourt .... Axel Bomasch
Felix Aylmer .... Dr. John Fredericks
Wyndham Goldie .... Charles Dryton
Roland Culver .... Roberts
Eliot Makeham .... Schwab
Raymond Huntley .... Kampenfeldt
Austin Trevor .... Capt. Prada
Kenneth Kent .... Controller (as Keneth Kent)
C.V. France .... Adm. Hassinger
Frederick Valk .... German Officer at Munich Station (as Fritz Valk)
Morland Graham .... Teleferic Attendant

rest of cast listed alphabeticallyEdward Baxter .... (uncredited)
Jane Cobb .... (uncredited)
Arthur Denton .... Deckchair Attendant (uncredited)
Ian Fleming .... Official at Home Office, MI5 (uncredited)
Irene Handl .... Station Master (uncredited)
Bryan Herbert .... Inspector On Train (uncredited)
David Horne .... Official at the Prague Steel works (uncredited)
Allan Jeayes .... Prisoner In Concentration Camp Line-up (uncredited)
Albert Lieven .... Concentration Camp Guard. (uncredited)
Howard Marion-Crawford .... SS Officer Checking Passes (uncredited)
G.H. Mulcaster .... (uncredited)
Charles Oliver .... SS Officer At Concentration Camp (uncredited)
Winifred Oughton .... (uncredited)
Wally Patch .... Fisherman (uncredited)
J.H. Roberts .... (uncredited)
Billy Russell .... Adolf Hitler (uncredited)
Torin Thatcher .... (uncredited)
Wilfred Walter .... Official At Prague Steel Works (uncredited)
John Wengraf .... Concentration Camp Physician (uncredited)
Ben Williams .... Train Steward (uncredited)
Pat Williams .... (uncredited)
Pardoe Woodman .... (uncredited)

Produced by
Edward Black .... producer

Original Music by
Louis Levy

Cinematography by
Otto Kanturek

Film Editing by
R.E. Dearing

Art Direction by
Alex Vetchinsky (as Vetchinsky)

Sound Department
B.C. Sewell .... sound
Sydney Wiles .... sound recordist (as S. Wiles)

Other crew
Michael Gordon .... cutting
Louis Levy ....musical director

Description:

Taking his cue from Hitchcock's recent success The Lady Vanishes, Carol Reed borrowed both that film's writers (Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder) and its low-key comic duo (Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne) to concoct this witty, vastly entertaining spy thriller. As a result of the imminent threat of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Nazi troops, Dr. Axel Bomasch (James Harcourt), the inventor of a new technique for armor-plating artillery, escapes to England while his daughter Anna (Margaret Lockwood) is captured and sent to a concentration camp. Although she escapes from the camp and rejoins her father, the Nazis kidnap the Czech pair and take them back to Germany. British agent Gus Bennett (Rex Harrison), who has already displayed an amusing gift for disguise, now makes use of it by infiltrating the German high-command in an effort to save the Bomasches. The film barrels to its finish in a dizzying array of twists and turns, with a still-astonishing cable-car escape in the Swiss Alps. Between the pre-Bond insouciance of the young Harrison, the deadpan exchanges of Radford and Wayne, the overall intelligence of the script, and the steady hand of Carol Reed, this film raises the genre to a very high level.

The film was shot at Gaumont British Studios in Shepherd's Bush, London, England.

A thriller in the Hitchcock tradition, Night Train to Munich Ping-Pongs its characters around pre-WW II Europe as spy matches überspy in an extremely entertaining battle of wits.

Starring Rex Harrison as British agent Gus Bennett, the film opens with the flight of an important Czech scientist, Axel Bomasch (James Harcourt), and the detention of his daughter, Anna (Margaret Lockwood), in a concentration camp. When the pair are kidnapped and taken to Germany, Bennett infiltrates the ranks of the German high command in a last-ditch effort to save them.

"...[A] classic spy thriller..."