Moviecut—Terror on a Train

source: Terror on a Train

Time Bomb

"Terror on a Train" starts with a bomber (Victor Maddern) fighting it out with the british railway police, after planting a bomb and trying to escape the rail yard. Maurice Denham is "Warrilow", railway supervisor, who calls in Lyncort (Glenn Ford) to check it out. Ford had made a whole bunch of films since his crowning achievement GILDA in 1946. Good suspense thriller. Directed by Ted Tetzlaff, son of race-car driver slash stuntman Teddy Tetzlaff. had also directed Notorious and Talk of the Town, both awesome films, with Cary Grant. and Tetzlaff was oscar nominated for Talk of the Town.

Plodding and virtually plot less this mundane Movie is a static presentation that tries very little to be exciting. It's a lethargic little Film exploiting the bomb in Britain anxiety that the People there surely didn't need any reminder to bring back those nightmares of just a few years back. It is not bad, just runs out of steam almost immediately. Once the bomb "expert" climbs aboard the Train things really screech to a halt. The Wifely back story seems oddly coupled here and is about as dull as their Marriage. The most interesting thing is the Saboteur and the hunt for Him and his motivation are non-existent. There is a bit of Comedy relief featuring a codger, "I like Trains". That line is repeated ad nauseum and is somewhat condescending. It doesn't liven things up. Overall, this is not a complete failure and has some rather good Cinematography. The locations are damp and dismal and that describes this completely.

This film is brilliant!!! Our Lass and I have just watched it on Turner Classic Movies, we discovered it by accident and what a film, all I can say is watch it.... Look out for the old boy 'I like trains, can I climb on?' he's the real hero!!! Would like to have seen the rugby tackle, I guess they knocked each other out!!! The locomotive is 48600, a Stanier 2-8-0 of the Midland Region of British Railways, its an ex-LMS locomotive, only three were preserved and this one was not.... although some 150 odd survived to the end of steam on BR in 1968 also look for the beautiful MG sports car, yummy.... To sum up, a fantastic period piece from the early 1950's.

I think that this is a very under rated 50's film with terrific cast. Yes, of course the film seems dated by today's standards. And the very "obvious" solution to the explosive problems is completely ignored.. Park it somewhere in the uninhabited countryside. But just have a look at the full list of credits. Some wonderful names there from this era. Some at the start of illustrious careers. Laurence Naismith, Sam Kydd, Maurice Denham, Arthur Mullard, Bill Fraser etc etc. Many of them uncredited in the film.I have another interest in this movie, I am quite certain that my grandfather was hired to drive the locomotive in the train sequences.

When the best thing about a thriller where a cargo train with a bomb on it is a cute old man obsessed with trains, you know you're on an engine which is going in the wrong direction. Long moments of silence while bomb expert Glenn Ford tries to defuse it dominates the film. Then, there's the distracting subplot of Ford's marital issues which further slows things down. If this was a passenger train like 1977's The Cassandra Crossing, the tension would be more intense. Anne Vernon as Ford's wife gives a truly hammy performance that takes the emotion away from the marital issues. As for the villain, the final confrontation is so cartoonish that the conclusion after 72 minutes seems comical.

When I first saw this movie, it was titled TERROR ON A TRAIN and was the back half of a double feature. Glenn Ford, an armament expert is called on to defuse a hidden bomb on a train loaded with high explosives. The tension is slow and steady; and this black & white film runs only about an hour and twelve minutes. All these years later on TV; the tension and drama has lost most of its impact. This is still a good movie as far as early 50s standards go. Along with Ford are Anne Vernon and Maurice Denham. The villain/saboteur is played by Victor Maddern.

A terrorist plants a bomb on a train transporting sea mines to Portsmouth. A policeman uncovers the plot but the terrorist gets away. Canadian Royal Engineers bomb disposal Peter Lyncort (Glenn Ford) is recruited. The train is redirected to an isolated line but it turns out to be next to a residential area. The police searches for the bomber while the area is evacuated. Once the train stops, the kinetic energy of the movie becomes more static. Peter's domestic troubles aren't that compelling. Glenn Ford is still great as the steady lead. This is all about the tension. There is some fine moments of tension but it doesn't get that high. Honestly, the highest intensity comes when the train gets stopped by the railyard master. This is solid B-movie thriller.