That was an excellent one.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

ROME EXPRESS is one of the earliest of all train-bound mystery thrillers and it's a little slow and creaky at times, although that's to be expected given that it was made back in 1932. A stolen Van Dyke painting is on board a train occupied by a motley group of strangers, and various parties are after it. The story is heavy on dialogue and light on action, but it picks up speed as it goes along and gets pretty good in the last half an hour. The cast is one of the most interesting things about it, as there is no one specific lead role. Hugh Williams is a decent young chap but up to his neck in it; familiar character actors like Cedric Hardwicke and Finlay Currie bolster the numbers. There are glamorous blonde film stars in the Mae West mould and a delightfully sinister turn from guest star Conrad Veidt. It's a light and forgettable kind of picture, but fun all the same.

Rome Express is a Gaumont British production which can be seen as a prototype for future thrillers than would be set entirely on trains. In particular it makes one think of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes which is not too surprising since both films have the same screenwriter, Sidney Gilliat (who would later be director of Green for Danger and the excellent State Secret).Aside from the train setting, however, in which various passengers intermingle with one another, with crime and murder to be a part of the course of this trip, this film has, like the later Hitchcock film, a lightness in tone that adds to its pleasure. One seriously has to wonder, in fact, if the future Sir Alfred didn't see this film before he directed his own variation on it.As directed by Walter Forde, Rome Express moves with the same speed as the express train on which the story is set, the main plot involving a stolen Van Dyke painting hidden in a briefcase and two partners of the thief, one of them very deadly, indeed, in search of the now frightened man who decided to abscond with the painting on his own.The largely British cast is fine, including Joan Barry (a Hitchcock leading lady around this time in Rich and Strange) and, particularly effective, Donald Calthrop, whom Hitchcock buffs may recall as the blackmailer in Blackmail, Alfred's first talkie. In this film he's the man with the hidden Van Dyke.Cedric Hardwicke also scores very well here as a smug, penny pinching millionaire forever castigating his cowering manservant for some minor misdeed. Esther Ralston, a very attractive silent film star whose talkie career would never reach the same heights as her silent one, is quite winning in the role of a movie star on board the train who becomes accidentally mixed up with the art thieves.Saving the best for last is Conrad Veidt, in great form here, as the more sinister of the two art thieves searching for the passenger (Calthrop) who has the painting. Veidt brings an intelligence and polished flair to his performance. Ruthless as he is when he has a man cornered, he is also an elegant scoundrel who presents a smiling, affable facade to those around him.Veidt is highly effective in his role, both attractive and deadly as a cobra. If anyone in this film exudes star presence it is definitely the German actor probably best remembered today for his performance as Major Strasser in Casablanca.If you're into thrillers, particularly those set aboard trains, try seeking this film out. You should be more than satisfied.

Notable for being the pioneer of train-set mystery thriller films, this is nevertheless hardly the best, with characters that are run-of-the-mill and quite an ordinary little mystery plot that tires towards the end. Still, some of the stylist touches here are great. There is some effective panning and appropriately swift editing, plus the sound recording is brilliantly realistic, and with all elements combined, it really feels as if we are on a moving train. It is somewhat dated, not holding up as well as films like 'Murder on the Orient Express' and 'North by Northwest' do, but for what it is, it is fairly well made, and it is interesting to look at its influence on films that were later to come.

For a Brit flick of '32, this is surprisingly cinematic and stylish (and the granddaddy of train films) with excellent performances from Conrad Veidt, Cedric Hardwick, Finlay Currie and especially Donald Calthrop (best known as the squirming chiseller in "Blackmail") here an art thief on the run from partners Veidt and Williams.Directed by the underrated Walter Forde this is a smart Hitchcockian piece with a good deal of suspense and humour, distinguished by stylishly nimble camerawork and excellent production design. As other reviewers have pointed out it does show it's age at times, with slightly muffled sound quality but provided you have patience with this it's good entertainment, and an interesting glimpse of the how the British acted abroad in those days. Sidney Gilliat (of "the Lady Vanishes") had a hand in the writing and I could see themes and situations that would be developed further in future train movies.The suspense builds throughout as Calthrop contrives to avoid his former partners one of whom, Veidt (in fine clipped form), has vowed to kill him. The sequence where Calthrop is literally presented to them, to be part of five in a round of poker, is a study in forced smiles and friendliness. Calthrop can't stop winning, much to the amusement of Veidt and the consternation of the others.This is just the midway point of the film which also provides a great early part for Sir Cedric as a business magnet who appears philanthropic but in private is a stingy, deeply unpleasant individual, with little to differentiate him from the crooks. He is caught out though when his much abused underling discovers his dishonesty.All in all an excellent vintage thriller