Rome Express (1932)

Wonderful character development!

Lack of good storyline.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

ROME EXPRESS is one of the earliest of all train-bound mystery thrillers and it's a little slow and creaky at times, although that's to be expected given that it was made back in 1932. A stolen Van Dyke painting is on board a train occupied by a motley group of strangers, and various parties are after it. The story is heavy on dialogue and light on action, but it picks up speed as it goes along and gets pretty good in the last half an hour. The cast is one of the most interesting things about it, as there is no one specific lead role. Hugh Williams is a decent young chap but up to his neck in it; familiar character actors like Cedric Hardwicke and Finlay Currie bolster the numbers. There are glamorous blonde film stars in the Mae West mould and a delightfully sinister turn from guest star Conrad Veidt. It's a light and forgettable kind of picture, but fun all the same.

Well-to-do people, all with their own secrets get aboard THE ROME EXPRESS, from a scenario by Sidney Gilliat.One of the issues of looking at a movie that is clearly the precursor to another, well regarded movie, is that it invites invidious comparisons. It's a phenomenon I call "the end of history" and it reflects our bias that everyone and everything that happened before us is just leading up to our own magnificence, while everything after us will be a severe let-down. This movie was not made as a trial run for Hitchcock's THE LADY VANISHES, despite Gilliat, producer Michael Balcon and the presence of several plot elements -- including a couple who are cheating on their spouses -- that were later used in the more famous movie. If anything, the later movie was probably conceived as a remake.Looking at this movie on its own merits, we can recognize it as a sparkling cast -- including Finlay Currie as an American, Cedric Hardwicke, Esther Ralson, Hugh Williams and the always brilliant Conrad Veidt as a mysterious threat. It is a skillful blending of comedy and thrills by director Walter Forde, who would return to the theme with 1941's THE MAIL TRAIN. Yes, Hitchcock and others would do it better; they had the model in this movie -- which is vastly entertaining on its own.

It's a reasonable guess that this went down well in 1932 when stories set on trains were in their infancy - Graham Greene had published Stamboul Train, Vicki Baum Grand Hotel and what better than Grand Hotel on wheels, a motley crew, all Human Life is aboard and Murder On The Orient Express, The Lady Vanishes and Train Of Events patiently waiting in the wings - or sidings as the case may be. The revelation to me was Finlay Currie as a fast-talking press agent complete with mid-Atlantic accent. Priceless. Conrad Veidt and Cedric Hardwicke represented the more durable names whilst most of the cast were destined to fall by the wayside. Some interesting camera angles by journeyman Walter Forde who, probably by pure coincidence, had directed the Ghost Train earlier. Definite novelty value.

Notable for being the pioneer of train-set mystery thriller films, this is nevertheless hardly the best, with characters that are run-of-the-mill and quite an ordinary little mystery plot that tires towards the end. Still, some of the stylist touches here are great. There is some effective panning and appropriately swift editing, plus the sound recording is brilliantly realistic, and with all elements combined, it really feels as if we are on a moving train. It is somewhat dated, not holding up as well as films like 'Murder on the Orient Express' and 'North by Northwest' do, but for what it is, it is fairly well made, and it is interesting to look at its influence on films that were later to come.