De Paris a Trieste

When "Rome Express" came out in 1932, sound cinema was still in its early years, and there was a sense of discovery as the filmmakers were becoming increasingly familiar with the new possibilities of the medium: the film did indeed feel like a train ride. This relatively close remake (some characters are dropped, others are added, but the essentials of the story remain the same) is an agreeable diversion, but after several talkie-train-set-mystery-comedies in the 16 years that passed in-between (even Sherlock Holmes was in one, "Terror By Night"), it doesn't have the same novelty value. It does have its merits, though: it does a very good job of spreading its focus among a diverse array of major and minor characters whose paths crisscross, and some of the roles are arguably better-casted here; for example, I preferred this sardonic French inspector to the previous one. **1/2 out of 4.