Berlin Express
| Berlin Express | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Jacques Tourneur |
| Produced by | Bert Granet |
| Screenplay by | Harold Medford |
| Story by | Curt Siodmak |
| Starring |
Merle Oberon Robert Ryan Charles Korvin |
| Music by | Frederick Hollander |
| Cinematography | Lucien Ballard |
| Edited by | Sherman Todd |
| Distributed by | RKO Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Berlin Express is a 1948 American drama film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Ryan, Merle Oberon and Paul Lukas.
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 authorisation of the United States Army of Occupation, the British Army of Occupation, the Soviet Army of Occupation."
Various people board a U.S. Army train to Berlin:
Dr. Bernhardt tries to become better acquainted with the other passengers, but they all rebuff his overtures because he is a German until Sterling realises who he is, which immediately changes the atmosphere. 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 (Reinhold Schünzel), 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 Walther'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 (Michael Harvey), the American soldier who was sitting with the woman beforehand, he reluctantly agrees to lead them to where she lives.
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Wikipedia