Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63456 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-01-01
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, Full length, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 83 minutes

Customer Reviews

The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By
Claude Rains is a mild-mannered bookkeeper and family man in small town Holland. Most nights after dinner, he watches trains go by, wondering which pleasures await passengers at their destinations. One night, he sees his employer Herbert Lom say goodbye to young and beautiful Märta Torén. On another night, he chances upon his boss emptying the safe (Rains has invested all his savings in the century-old firm) and follows Lom, who is leaving town. He tries to recover his investment, the two men struggle and Lom falls into the water. Rains boards the Paris Express with the money and seeks for the intriguing Torén. Meanwhile, police inspector Marius Goring, who has been investigating the employer, is on his trail.

Claude Rains, as always, is brilliant as the gentle "Man Who Watched the Trains Go By" (the Georges Simenon source novel) as are Marius Goring and Herbert Lom. Märta Torén, who played several women of mystery in her too short career (she suddenly died at age 31), is a true femme fatale in this film, glorious in Technicolor. It is also intesresting to see how early 1950s Paris looked like. The transfer to DVD, while not the very best, is fine. Highly recommended to fans of film noir and suspense.

One of the most underated of all films
This film, made in 1952 in technicolor, was not a big success when it came out. It's a sad, action-packed, romantic drama, but still has a sense of the macabre and is almost a noirish film. Its a great film, and unfortunatlet the print on this isn't the best, but it's something. And of course, this founded that really annoying form of music you'd hear in 1950's-1990's british TV shows. A classic example is Mr. Bean. You cold say that this film is a landmark film for its time.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!


PS Also with the cover art, it has a picture of Claude Rains and the female star, Marta Toren. The words Paris Express are upo the top and from first look you think, "Oh great, another low budget, cheap DVD, just slapped on to a disc and not even restored." Although this one may look low budget, thats just the cover art, the picture (although not restored) is still very good.

Poignant Claude Rains fare
If you're not a Claude Rains fan, this picture might not be your cup of tea. It's far from a masterpiece, though the exterior shots of Paris are beautiful, the plot is nuances with some bittersweet elements thrown in and Rains' performance (as always), is stellar. The plot is fairly interesting, but whenever Rains is not on screen, the interest level lags to dangerously low levels.

But Claude is very poignant and gives another marvelous performance. It's a little sad to see him aged, stooped and no longer universal catnip to the ladies. He's able in this film to convey a desperate need to be loved and to have one last shot at happiness. For a man who always looked 15 years younger than his actual age, it's depressing to witness that the years have finally caught up to the Claudester.

This print is adequate, nothing more. There's no remastered elegance here and the soundtrack sometimes weaves in and out. A little disconcerting.

In short, a better-than-average film with a desperately sad and sweet performance from Rains.