First of the so-called “Trümmerfilme”, after the German word for rubble, films shot in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, when Germany lay in ruins. Berlin Express was directed by Jacques Tourneur and features a high-tone cast including Merle Oberon and Robert Ryan, with much of the action set on a train sweeping through Germany – Frankfurt a heap of bricks apart from the IG Farben building – and on to the eventual destination of Berlin.
No one uses the word Nazi, which sets the tone of the piece, which is all about recovery rather than recrimination. On board the train representatives of the victorious powers – American Robert Lindley (Ryan), Brit James Sterling (Robert Coote), Russian Maxim Viroshilov (Roman Toporow) and French Lucienne Mirbeau (Oberon) – attempting to foster a spirit of international cooperation which repeatedly founders on the rocks of nationalist pride. All this put to one side when a prominent German, Dr Heinrich Bernhardt, working towards establishing a peaceful post-war Germany, is assassinated, obviously by a bunch of refuseniks who want no such thing.
The fact that Bernhardt is played by an actor as well known as Paul Lukas tells us that Bernhardt’s story does not end there and he, in a sense, is this film’s weather vane. A Good German, we sense, but a German all the same. Are bad habits going to re-establish themselves?
Tourneur directs with one eye on the documentary – lots of actual footage, with a voiceover delivering factual infill – one eye on the spy thriller of an Eric Ambler and a third eye on the Agatha Christie whodunit. In among messaging about the Marshall Plan’s aim to rebuild Europe as a haven of liberal democracy is scuttling intrigue with coded messages exchanged on scraps of paper and a series of character sketches giving us the backstories and hopes and dreams of most of the people involved (the Russian doesn’t get much of a look-in).
Probably best known for Cat People, Tourneur adds pepper with moody noirish lighting and a mobile camera that swings about elegantly. This is a good-looking film.
Ryan and Oberon take most of the screen time – he the lusty Yank making a play for the attractive Frenchwoman, she the tailored sophisticate who’s far less frosty once Lindley has broken through the Gallic froideur. At one point, as Lindley and Lucienne play detective by visiting various nightclubs in search of answers, Tourneur makes explicit the Hitchcockian aspect of their relationship – shunted together by circumstances beyond their control – with a scene borrowed almost entirely from The 39 Steps, featuring a stage mindreader rather than a memory man.
As said, no one says Nazi, or Hitler, which leaves the scenes set among the underground German revanchists rather rootless – what do they want, these zealots? It is never said. Perhaps it’s so obvious it doesn’t need saying. All the same it renders the villains a bit wan and featureless.
This vagueness is the film’s real weakness, and when it turns out that the mysterious Dr Bernhardt was being targeted because he alone represented Germany’s only hope for a democratic future, the weakness of the story becomes even more apparent. As a motor for a narrative Bernhardt’s specialness all seems a bit fanciful, especially as this train full of victorious foreigners suggests a perfectly workable alternative future for Germany, as a country divided up into occupied zones, albeit not one most Germans would sign up for.
But the aim is admirable, with the arc working towards a mood of international cooperation once national tensions have been set aside. Though in the film’s final moments there’s a suggestion of “where we are now”, as Cold War realities assert themselves. “We try to understand you,” says Lindley to his Soviet counterpart as the image is about to fade to black. “Why don’t you try to understand us?”
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© Steve Morrissey 2026
