The Paris Express 2005 Horror Movie Review

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.