Rom Express

This is the great granddaddy of train portmanteau thrillers and Walter Forde,like Hitchcock, had a thing for trains - he even remade his now lost 1931 "The Ghost Train" and became a serious leading British Director. The production of Rome Express opened the large new Lime Grove(Gainsborough)studios in W London using two huge sets to accommodate both terminii & the impressive express. Conrad Veidt was a comparative newcomer to London from Germany escaping a future under the Nazis and stayed to make a number of other acclaimed 30s films like "Jew Suss" "Passing of the Third Floor Back" "Dark Journey" & "Under The Red Robe" until ending up at Denham with the Kordas. He loved Britain and loathed Hitler but this didn't stop his 40s performances as an assortment of nazi officials - "Escape" "Spy In Black" and,of course,"Casablanca". The popular Scottish actor,Finlay Currie played the same part in this and its almost shot-for-shot remake 15 years later at 70.He was probably best known as the convict,Magwitch, in the superb 1946 remake of "Great Expectations".