Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Cheap Italian flicks, especially aimed at an international market, are always fun. It is like an Italian meal with some good dishes and some bad ones indifferently put together but served with panache. You know the plot by now, it is set in WW ll just before the Casablanca Conference where they have to move Prime Minister Winston Churchill there safely, in spite of a German plot to kill him. It takes advantage of the fact that Nazis had plenty of collaborators in North Africa amongst the Vichy French administration that the Allies left in charge and Arabs too. There is a secret agent trio, played by two star's sons and some pretty woman, then a couple of old heavy actors brought in as HQ high officer types. Basically it is "The Eagle Has Landed" in North Africa, right down to the German paratroopers, but told from the good guy's point of view. It is fun but nothing to take serious or go out of your way. It provides a lot of action, mainly a lot of machine gunning but little gore. It had the hijacked plot element in it, when the paratroopers took over the train full of a smörgåsbord of Europeans & North Africans. In this part of the movie, there was shameless sentimentality with a wounded girl, shot by the paras, being saved & a dying priest being ministered to by his Islamic seat mate.

...but I'll try anyway.I got this movie in a package containing a dozen WW2 movies and documentaries, all for about $14.99. While the packaging didn't advertise the fact, I am convinced it was originally marketed as The World's Worst WW2 Movies - while this may be the worst of the lot, it isn't by much.The actor playing Winston Churchill looks so unlike him that in closeups they only show his hand holding a cigar - the voice is close enough that, combined with the cigar, you can figure out who it is supposed to be, though. And for shots from farther away, the actor is never shown head-on; only in profile or looking away at an angle.The plot makes absolutely no sense, and how Glenn Ford and Donald Pleasence got roped into taking part in this travesty is beyond me.The only decent part of the movie is.........wait - I apologize. There IS no decent part of this movie. If you paid even a penny to see this movie, you got robbed! And if you saw it for free - you're within your rights to ask for your 90 minutes back.

An old-fashioned WWII adventure piece, starring some elderly Hollywood vets and the sons of some great stars. Unfortunately, even with a great cast and crew, the movie comes off as forced and corny all the way. Churchill takes a train to meet with Roosevelt and Stalin in Casablanca. German paratroopers attempt to capture the train and take Churchill alive, but their efforts are hampered by Allied commandos. The movie is, honestly, really bad in just about every department. Jason Connery and Francesco Quinn (PLATOON) try really hard, and have enough talent to squeak by, but neither would be as convincing or at ease as their fathers (Sean Connery and Anthony Quinn). Manfred Lehmann is a pretty nasty-looking but very incompetent German officer who leads the assault on the train. Donald Pleasence (THE GREAT ESCAPE) and Glenn Ford (IS PARIS BURNING?) are onhand as the Allied generals running the show from headquarters. The movie is chock full of supporting characters and plot elements which have absolutely nothing to do with the action. There's a Catholic priest, a couple prostitutes, nuns, Arab sheiks, and British civilians riding the train who all end up getting killed. So much emphasis is put on these characters, all of whom are focused on only to be thrown away. There are a lot of plot holes and such which also hamper the story's credibility. Glenn Ford seems to hate Churchill and blames him for Pearl Harbor and the death of his son, but this subplot is forgotten about halfway through the movie. Men sit around talking for the first thirty minutes or so about nothing that matters, providing lots of details on events and actions which don't matter a bit. The Germans manage to take over the train quite rapidly and wipe out a platoon of American guards, but in the final act a couple good guys with MP40s are able to wipe out just about the entire German unit with no effort at all. The Germans fail to secure the entire train, just some cars; they don't bother to look underneath the cars for saboteurs; they are portrayed as buffoons and idiots all the way. The action scenes are ultra-corny, usually involving few pyrotechnics and a couple of good guys mowing down the German paratroops or vice versa. It's all set to a typically garbage (yet serviceable) Luigi Ceccarelli music score, which is typical synthesize garbage that never makes it's potential. To make matters worse, the bulk of the action was shot on what looks to be a desert soundstage, with the train parked and not much movement of the actors or any exciting stunts. There is one nail-biting fisticuff atop the speeding train which did have me on the edge of my seat, though. I watched CASABLANCA EXPRESS on a Portuguese videotape. The colors were bright, fresh and intense. There was occasional print damage, but for the most part this movie was well-preserved for video transfer. CASABLANCA EXPRESS is a corny - and appropriately so - but doesn't fit bill for a late 80s war movie. Audiences could expect better from such an experienced cast and crew - even for an Italian production, it's not very good for its day. RATING: 3/10

Its amazing how an actor of Sean Connery's charisma can have passed on zero percent of his ability to his son Jason. This spagetti WWII film is notable for Jason Connery's complete lack of acting ability. Much better is Francesco Quinn who though in a thankless role manages to give the film some much needed charisma. The plot is about as daft as you can get. German paras attack a train carrying Churchill and Connery sets about saving the day. Donald Pleasence and Glenn Ford have little to do, but show glimmers of past succeses. The rest of the cast are typically terrible and authenticity-wise the film has more holes than a colander.Having said that its one of those "so bad its good" films, but don't take it seriously. For a better film about attacking a train stick to Von Ryan's Express.