Rex Harrison actually did sport a monocle for a time, until he picked up on the fact that people found it hilariously pompous and goofy.
I get particular enjoyment out of discovering both movies made during WWII and ones from directors I love. Night Train to Munich (29 June, $26.49 from Amazon) hit big on both counts, and I'm glad Criterion sub-licensed it from Fox, since it may not have seen a DVD release otherwise. Unlike many of my contemporaries, I've seen more Carol Reed movies than The Third Man, so Night Train was decidedly not a letdown for me, whereas it apparently was for others.
We are given a marvelous opportunity to hear Rex Harrison's gorgeous (kidding!) singing voice years and years before sing-speaking through My Fair Lady.
The Nazis are officially the bad guys at this point in history, unlike the Alfred Hitchcock classic. Night Train was originally intended for Hitch, until he high-tailed it for Hollywood. A Czech scientist and his daughter (Lady Vanishes star Margaret Lockwood) are on the run from invading Nazis. He gets away, and she gets snagged by the S.S. Rex Harrison and Paul "von Henreid" (as he's credited here) play men who may or may not be Nazis. Who is and is not a Nazi kind of spoils the movie, so I'll just include photos of both in Nazi uniforms. For those who know them best as Henry Higgins and Victor Laszlo, this is an interesting discovery.
The father and daughter are reunited and abducted by the Nazis, some hijinks ensue, and they find themselves on the night train to Munich of the title, trying to escape. The good guys run into a pair of upper class cricket (sport not insect) enthusiasts and try to jointly escape the Nazis' grasp.
Basil Radford (l.) and Naughton Wayne (r.)
I have to admit that much of my enjoyment of Night Train is derived from the presence of Charters & Caldicott, the devoted uppercrust Cricket fans also seen in The Lady Vanishes. The actors who play the pair (Basil Radford and Naughton Wayne, respectively) would be seen in films and heard on the radio playing variations of these characters for a little over a decade, until Radford's unfortunate and untimely death in 1952. They bungle their way through various situations, often defeating the Nazis due to sheer incompetence.
Criterion's DVD edition features only one supplemental feature, but I can't imagine what else a commentary or other set of extras would have added. I've seen various reviews decry the lack of a commentary, but I have the same unanswered argument against that complaint as always: what would be gained? In 29 minutes, Peter Evans and Bruce Babington discuss screenwriters Frank Launder & Sidney Gilliat (who also did Lady Vanishes) and the film's historical context to wonderful effect. I'm all for effective efficiency instead of "backstuffing" the feature list with fluff. The off-kilter "C" on the cover equals substantive supplements, but not some homogenized bullshit filler like the empty, quiet, wastes-of-time yack tracks on studio DVDs. Night Train to Munich is a great example of Criterion's dedication to never wasting your time.
