The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (1952)

Director:

Harold French

Writers (WGA):

Georges Simenon (novel) and
Harold French (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 June 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

A Non-Stop Suspense Thriller

Plot:

Meak head clerk Kees Popinga realises at the same time as the police that owner De Koster has stripped...

Plot Keywords:

Railway | Foreign Language Adaptation | Train | Based On Novel

Cast

Claude Rains	...	Kees Popinga
Marius Goring	...	Lucas
Märta Torén	...	Michele Rozier
Ferdy Mayne	...	Louis
Herbert Lom	...	Julius de Koster, Jr.
Lucie Mannheim	...	Maria Popinga
Anouk Aimée	...	Jeanne, the prostitute (as Anouk)
Eric Pohlmann	...	Goin
Felix Aylmer	...	Mr. Merkemans
Gibb McLaughlin	...	Julius de Koster, Sr
Michael Nightingale	...	Popinga's Clerk
Robin Alalouf	...	Karl Popinga
Joan St. Clair	...	Frida Popinga
Michael Alain	...	Dutch Train Conductor
Jean Deveaux	...	French Train Conductor

Also Known As:

The Paris Express (USA)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16196)

Company:

Josef Shaftel Productions Inc.

Trivia:

First Cinema film of Michael Nightingale.

Good

Kees Popinga (Claude Rains) is an uninteresting man who has been senior clerk with the same firm for 18 years. When police inspector Lucas (Marius Goring) turns up to question his boss Julius de Koster (Herbert Lom) about money laundering, it sets off a chain of events which sees Kees travelling to Paris with a suitcase of the firm's money to live out his fantasy. De Koster has drowned and Lucas is investigating the case. For the rest of the film, he pursues Kees who goes to De Koster's Parisien lover Michele (Marta Toren) in order to take her away with him for some excitement in life. However, she is after the money from him so that she can take off with her lover Louis (Ferdy Mayne). She protects Kees, who has hidden the money, from Lucas so that she can get hold of the money herself........how do things work out?........How will Kees's rigid moral code of integrity and loyalty cope with betrayal..?...

Its a well acted film, my favourite character being Marius Goring who plays a sympathetic policeman who genuinely cares about Kees and wants to protect him. The colour adds to the spectacle and its an enjoyable film......... It was nice to see that even boring people have got some cunning inside them!