Berlin Express

Berlin Express
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Jacques Tourneur
Produced by	Bert Granet
Written by	Curt Siodmak (Story) Harold Medford
Starring	Merle Oberon Robert Ryan Charles Korvin
Music by	Frederick Hollander
Cinematography	Lucien Ballard
Editing by	Sherman Todd
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Release date(s)	May 1, 1948 (United States)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Berlin Express (1948) is a black-and-white drama film directed by Jacques Tourneur. Thrown together by chance, a group of people search a city for a kidnapped peace activist. Set in Allied-occupied Germany, it was shot on location in post-World War II Frankfurt-am-Main (with exterior and interior shots of the IG Farben Building and its paternoster elevators) and Berlin. During the opening credits, a full-screen notice reads, "Actual scenes in Frankfurt and Berlin were photographed by authorization of The United States Army of Occupation, The British Army of Occupation, The Soviet Army of Occupation."

Plot

Various people board a U.S. Army train to Berlin:

• Frenchwoman Lucienne (Merle Oberon),
• American agricultural expert Robert Lindley (Robert Ryan),
• Dr. Bernhardt (Paul Lukas), a renowned German activist working for peace and the reunification of his country,
• Perrot (Charles Korvin), a Frenchman,
• British teacher Sterling (Robert Coote),
• Soviet Lieutenant Maxim, and
• German businessman Otto Franzen.

Though Dr. Bernhardt tries to become better acquainted with the passengers of Allied nationalities, they all rebuff his overtures because he is a German. When he retires to his compartment, he is killed by a bomb. While the others are questioned at the next stop, Frankfurt, they learn that the dead man was actually one of the doctor's bodyguards. Bernhardt had been posing as another passenger, and Lucienne is his secretary.

Bernhardt's enemies are not foiled for long. He is kidnapped from the busy train station in broad daylight after he greets Walther, an old, trusted friend. The U.S. Army quickly institutes a search of the city, but when Lucienne begs her fellow travelers to help look for Bernhardt (as they know what he looks like), they at first all decline. One by one, however, they change their minds.

Lucienne suggests they go see Walther, unaware that he has betrayed Bernhardt in return for his missing wife's location. When they get there, they discover only Walter's body. He hanged himself after the kidnappers revealed his wife has been dead all along.

The group then splits up to cover the city, with Lindley accompanying Lucienne to various illegal nightclubs. At the last one, Lindley notices a woman smoking an unusually long cigarette, just like the ones Bernhardt likes. He picks up a discarded butt and shows Lucienne that it has a "B" monogram on it. When the woman turns out to be an entertainer, pretending to know the answers of questions posed by the customers, Lindley asks her where Bernhardt is. Her clown assistant impedes Lindley, allowing her to get away. When Lindley and Lucienne question Sergeant Barnes, the American soldier who was sitting with the woman beforehand, he reluctantly agrees to lead them to where she lives.

It is a trap, however. When they get to an abandoned brewery, Barnes turns out to be working with the kidnappers. Now all three are prisoners. Fortunately, an undercover agent had knock the clown out and taken his place, accompanying the others to the hideout. He is shot when the real clown shows up, but manages to get back to the nightclub and inform the authorities where Bernhardt is being held. American soldiers break in just as Bernhardt and Lucienne are about to be shot, and free the three unharmed. Kessler, the ringleader, is killed by Perrot, who turns out to be Bernhardt's would-be assassin.

The passengers reboard the train. Perrot suggests that each of them take a turn guarding Bernhardt in his compartment, with him going first. Afterward, Lindley pieces together various lies Perrot had told and recalls that he knew that the bomb was made from a grenade, but the others dismiss his suspicions. Luckily, he sees Perrot strangling Bernhardt in the reflection from a passing train and saves the doctor's life. Perrot is shot dead as he tries to flee.

Cast

• Merle Oberon as Lucienne. Oberon was married to the film’s cinematographer, Lucien Ballard, at the time.
• Robert Ryan as Robert Lindley
• Charles Korvin as Perrot
• Paul Lukas as Dr. Bernhardt
• Robert Coote as Sterling
• Reinhold Schünzel as Walther
• Roman Toporow as Lt. Maxim
• Peter von Zerneck as Hans Schmidt
• Otto Waldis as Kessler
• Fritz Kortner as Franzen
• Michael Harvey as Sgt. Barnes
• Tom Keene as Major
• Charles McGraw as USFET Col. Johns

Critical reception

The staff at Variety magazine gave the film a positive review, and wrote, "Most striking feature of this production is its extraordinary background of war-ravaged Germany. With a documentary eye, this film etches a powerfully grim picture of life amidst the shambles. It makes awesome and exciting cinema...Ryan establishes himself as a first-rate actor in this film, demonstrating conclusively that his brilliant performance in Crossfire was no one-shot affair." Variety, however, did criticize the screenplay for "its failure to break away from the formula of anti-Nazi films."

The New York Times had a similar response, saying the film's photography of the post-war landscape creates a "realistic, awesome and impressive vista." After luke-warm praise for the film's plot, the reviewer continues, "it is the panoramic and close views of life amid the 'new architecture' of Frankfort and Berlin — 'early Twentieth Century modern warfare' architecture — which gives the adventure the authentic impact of a documentary."

Awards

Nominations

• Writers Guild of America, USA: WGA Award for the Screen, Best Written American Drama, Harold Medford; 1949.

Historical and cultural context

Impact of war on infrastructure

The historical context of the film is predominately expressed through two themes. The first of these is that of a strong anti-war stance evident throughout the film. The film is a tribute to the ruin and devastation caused by warmongering. Tourneur's primary means for expressing this are the panoramic and shockingly close views of the bombed out ruins of Frankfurt and Berlin that form the background to the film. Chris Fujiwara acknowledges this, seeing the ruins of Frankfurt and Berlin as 'monuments of the temporary, photographed at a moment when their meaning was most agonisingly clear.' The devastation is shown with real clarity and force; the viewer cannot help but be shocked at the extent and level of the damage. The commentator makes reference to the 'new lines, new shapes' of the city, describing the style as 'early 20th century modern-warfare architecture.' The level of destruction is further enforced on the viewer with scenes filmed inside the IG Farben Building; this was perhaps the first time images of its exterior and interior had been so publicly broadcast. It was left largely intact by Allied bombers and was the tallest structure remaining after intensive attack from the air destroyed 70% of Frankfurt. The shocking contrast between the building and the bombed out ruins of Frankfurt clearly shows the powerful nature of war and its catastrophic effect on our surroundings. Described as 'a monument to German ingenuity and might', it is perhaps with some irony that the IG Farben building is used by Tourneur to illustrate this dualistic contrast; it was here that many of the German 'tools of war' were developed, including Zyklon B gas.

While the catastrophic effects of bombing were greatly felt by civilians, Berlin Express deals almost exclusively with the structural damage felt by the cities, clearly encapsulated through the explicit footage of bombed-out Frankfurt and Berlin. With reference to Berlin, the most severe damage was experienced in the centre of the city, which came to be known as the 'dead eye' or 'dead heart' of the capital. The main areas affected by the bombing were Bezirk Mitte, Friedrichshain and Tiergarten. Within this central area, nearly every public building lay in ruins, including the Berlin Palace, Berlin Cathedral, the Catholic Cathedral and the Reichstag

Socio-economic impact of war

The negative impact of war upon society is also drawn upon by Tourneur through the informal economy and ubiquity of military personnel. The first shots of Frankfurt are accompanied by the lines 'a world of rubble ... with a system of economy all its own' and 'here there was no such thing as the dollar, franc or pound; a person's bankroll was their special occupation money and supply of cigarettes.' Tourneur depicts a grim picture of life amidst the rubble, the line 'destruction blends into one continuous pattern' carrying particular effect. That there was more than just the physical loss of bricks, stone and steel soon becomes apparent. Emphasis is placed on the lack of human dignity, with people reduced to bartering for the necessities of life with treasured family possessions.

Plea for co-operation

The anti-war stance of the film is, however, but a warning of future conflict. Tourneur himself said of the film 'I think it had some cogent points to make about the changes that were taking place at the time.' The overarching theme of the film is that of a plea for co-operation between the occupying powers of Germany. At the time of filming, the alliance of the war was falling apart at the seams; through the film Tourneur makes a plea against provincial thinking. There is a strong humanistic viewpoint, with the success of the group in finding Dr Bernhardt a reference to the potential of the occupying powers. As the New York Times notes, 'the film conveys a United Nations credo ... with hope for a future brotherhood of nations.' Tourneur's optimism for the future is encapsulated in the final scene in which we see a one-legged man pass by the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol for the world marching onwards in spite of disaster. In reality, however, this was an unrealistic aim. At the time of the release of the film, lines had already been drawn between East and West, rendering any form of cooperation redundant, and the Soviets' Berlin blockade was imminent. Indeed, had the relations between the Allies deteriorated more quickly, it is likely that the ending of the film would not have been so serene.

See also

• List of American films of 1948

External links

• Berlin Express at the Internet Movie Database
• Berlin Express at AllRovi
• Berlin Express at the TCM Movie Database