Perhaps a bit reductive to say this felt quite reminiscent of Hitchcock around this period (though there is a direct connection between this and The Lady Vanishes in the reappearance of Charters and Caldicott and Margaret Lockwood) but this has more than enough suspense, dry wit, and political intrigue to make the comparison apt. Released nine months after Britain declared war on Germany, Night Train to Munich is a solid, by-the-books spy thriller about double crossing and a MacGuffin that both the Nazis and England desperately want to keep. There's plenty of wartime snipes about freedom and the Nazi party and even a surprising inclusion of a concentration camp. Carol Reed would eventually direct some of the most visually stunning film noirs of the decade though here everything feels a bit more like wartime propaganda than anything else. But I will admit that I was invested the entire time, thanks especially to Rex Harrison's charming performance as our heroic British agent and Paul Henreid as his dastardly counterpart. Absolutely flies by and each scene is injected with enough intrigue to keep you hooked.
Perhaps a bit reductive to say this felt quite reminiscent of Hitchcock around this period (though there is a direct connection between this and The Lady Vanishes in the reappearance of Charters and Caldicott and Margaret Lockwood) but this has more than enough suspense, dry wit, and political intrigue to make the comparison apt. Released nine months after Britain declared war on Germany, Night Train to Munich is a solid, by-the-books spy thriller about double crossing and a MacGuffin that both the Nazis and England desperately want to keep. There's plenty of wartime snipes about freedom and the Nazi party and even a surprising inclusion of a concentration camp. Carol Reed would eventually direct some of the most visually stunning film noirs of the decade though here everything feels a bit more like wartime propaganda than anything else. But I will admit that I was invested the entire time, thanks especially to Rex Harrison's charming performance as our heroic British agent and Paul Henreid as his dastardly counterpart. Absolutely flies by and each scene is injected with enough intrigue to keep you hooked.
