Berlin Express (1948) Reviews

• good thriller, unbeatable location shots and cinematography

  madmad2002-11-04

  I saw this movie recently on TCM and liked it. I thought the plot was good, as was the acting. I couldn't believe that the secretary was Merle Oberon, I hardly recognized her, and I think that is a testament to how good an acting job she did. Some of the lines seemed stilted and staged, particularly toward the end, but given the time period when the movie was filmed, not at all surprising. There was a good mix of characters, but the real star of the film is the location: there are wonderful shots of Berlin and Frankfurt right after the war, and the devastation around the characters adds a powerful unspoken dimension to the film. For anyone who enjoyed this movie, I would also highly recommend "Decision Before Dawn," also filmed on location in postwar Europe, which starred Richard Basehart, Oskar Werner and a whole host of other fabulous character actors, including Hildegard Kneff. It is irksome, but neither Berlin Express nor Decision Before Dawn seem to be available on Video or DVD, which is a real shame. So, watch your TV listings for these two.

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• very unusual suspense film

  MartinHafer2006-02-09

  This film is about the only one I can recall that deals with the anti-West resistance that the US and its allies received from the conquered Germans after WWII. Apart from this movie, you'd think that ALL the Germans easily adapted to their new rule, while in reality there were murders and scattered resistance for several years in an effort by ex-Nazis to destabilize the peace. For historical reasons alone, it is an important movie. Robert Ryan plays our hero who finds out about a Nazi murder plot and, with the help of a multinational team, he goes to action. I think that having help from the Russians, French and British is interesting, but highly improbable and seemed like a bit of a cliché, but nevertheless it's a great film and well wroth seeing.

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• Occupation Noir

  bkoganbing2008-04-09

  Fresh from the acclaim he got for Out of the Past, director Jacques Tourneur went to Europe with his cast and crew and became the first film maker from the west to do a movie in occupied Germany. It's a good noir thriller, but it is also a plea for unity and understanding among nations, specifically those who were occupying Germany at that time. It's quite a little United Nations on a train from Paris to Berlin with Robert Ryan American agricultural expert, Robert Coote British school teacher, Roman Toporow Russian soldier, Charles Korvin French bon vivant and Merle Oberon another French national with a German VIP Paul Lukas. Lukas is quite a VIP indeed, he's the prototype for Konrad Adenauer an anti-Nazi leader who is going to a conference to present a plan for a reunified Germany. But the former regime has a few adherents who skulk in dark places and when they fail at an assassination (they kill a double)they kidnap Lukas to prevent the conference from getting off the ground. The grand alliance that defeated Hitler is fraying at the seams, but these folks get together for one more endeavor to find Lukas and incidentally clear themselves of complicity in what's happening. Tourneur did a grand job in making use of the bombed out locations in Frankfurt where most of the story takes place. It certainly gives authenticity to the story. As a plea against provincial thinking Berlin Express sends a valiant but forlorn message. The following year the French, British, and American zones of occupation formed the Federal Republic of Germany with Konrad Adenauer at the head. The Russians took about a third of the country and formed the German Democratic Republic and thus Germany was divided for about 40 years. I do believe Lukas is right at times when he says man might only unite if aliens invade the earth. It might just be worth it.

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• Fascinating historical footage.

  otto42005-06-27

  I've only seen this movie once but what differentiates it for me is not the story, the actors, or the director, but rather the footage of post WWII Frankfurt Germany and the devastation wrought by the war. In addition to the general post-war, pre-Cold War footage, the most fascinating thing is the film shot inside the I.G. Farben builting. This building is famous among architects and has a unique interior, shown in the film. This building was also the "Abrams Building" during the time the U.S. military occupied it during the Cold War and anyone who was in Frankfurt in the 1970's or 1980's might recognise it as unchanged inside from the time the movie was made to the time one served in the Army. This film is rare because that was a secure building during much of the Cold War. Today I believe the Army has left the building and it is occupied by a school or college. Lots of history in this movie. I wish it was available on DVD.

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• Textbook example of brilliant direction complicating simplistic script.

  alice liddell2000-06-28

  On a surface level this is a kind of benevolent THIRD MAN, as a group of international comrades, most prominently a naive American, try to root out sinister Germans and a betraying friend in the rubbles of post-war Europe. The script is a model of civic decency, as it dramatises the lingering dangers facing Europe after the war, but offering a narrative of co-operation and hope. Director Tourneur, however, had only just directed the beautifully bleak OUT OF THE PAST, and this film is full of a blackness overwhelming good intentions, where the frightening contingencies of history and inexplicable darkness of man are not so easily swept aside. His mastery of space and lighting, his disturbing compositions and vigorous editing are an eternal pleasure not to be enjoyed again until Scorcese's glory days.

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