Night Train to Munich

Before creating such classics as The Third Man and The Fallen Idol, Carol Reed directed this sprightly, lightweight thriller featuring both the star (Margaret Lockwood) and screenwriting team (Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat) of Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 film The Lady Vanishes. Like the earlier classic, Night Train to Munich also focuses on ordinary people facing Nazis, and includes a tense scene on a train. But by 1940, Britain was at war with Germany, and the story here—opening with Hitler conquering one European nation after another—reflects the new state of affairs. While Czech scientist Dr. Bomasch (James Harcourt) successfully flees Prague before the Nazis can capture him and his formula for armor plating, Bomasch's daughter Anna (Lockwood) winds up in a concentration camp. Thanks to a fellow inmate named Karl (a pre-Casablanca Paul Henreid, credited here as Paul von Hernried), Anna eventually escapes to England, where she is reunited with her father. But a betrayal sends both Bomaschs back to Germany, after which Rex Harrison arrives on the scene as dashing English undercover agent Gus Bennett, posing first as a seaside singer and then as a German officer in an effort to save the pair. Reed lacks Hitchcock's deftness and light touch, and the plot is rather implausible, but these are truly minor complaints for such an otherwise entertaining film. DVD extras on this handsome-looking Criterion Collection edition include a video conversation between film scholars Peter Evans and Bruce Babington, and a booklet with an essay by film critic Philip Kemp. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)[Blu-ray/DVD Review—Sept. 6, 2016—Criterion, 95 min., not rated, DVD: $29.95, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1940's Night Train to Munich features a great transfer and an uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include a 2010 conversation between film scholars Peter Evans and Bruce Babington (30 min.), and a booklet featuring an essay by film critic Philip Kemp. Bottom line: Carol Reed's entertaining thriller looks sharp on Blu-ray.]