msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (01/30/86)
Net.railroad (ARPA railroad list) has had what seemed to me a rather halfhearted series of articles on railway movies lately. I thought I could do better. Here are two lists of railway movies that I've seen that were good or excellent, in my opinion as a fan of both railways and movies. The first list is Railway Movies of the First Kind -- those where the train or railway (or *subway) occupies a major role throughout the movie. Rather than attempt to rank them, I'll just list them by date of release. The letter A or B after the date denotes American or British. 1927 A The General (silent comedy/suspense) 1934 A Twentieth Century (comedy) 1938 B The Lady Vanishes (thriller) (1979B remake not recommended) 1940 B Night Train to Munich (thriller) 1953 B The Titfield Thunderbolt (comedy) 1959 B Flame Over India, aka Northwest Frontier (suspense/drama) 1963 A The Train (suspense/drama) 1967 A The Incident (drama)* 1972 B The Railway Children (light drama) 1974 B Murder on the Orient Express (mystery) 1974 B The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (suspense)* 1976 A Silver Streak (comedy/suspense) 1979 B The Great Train Robbery (caper - this is the one about the 1855 theft) Hmm, looks like we ought to be due for another one. And now, some good or excellent Railway Movies of the Second Kind - movies that are basically about something else, but where a train or railway (or *subway/el) takes a major part in one scene. 1935 B The 39 Steps (thriller) (1959 B and 1978 B remakes not recommended) 1942 A The Palm Beach Story (comedy) 1943 B Shadow of a Doubt (suspense) 1955 B The Ladykillers (comedy) 1957 B The Bridge on the River Kwai (drama) 1959 A Some Like it Hot (comedy) 1963 A Charade (thriller)* 1966? B The Great St. Trinians Train Robbery (comedy) 1971 A The French Connection (thriller)* 1972 B Young Winston (bio/adventure) 1976 A The 7% Solution (mystery/thriller) 1982 Diva (French thriller)* I've given the nationality and classification of each film so that those of you who don't enjoy, say, British comedies, can avoid those. With that noted, I recommend the lot of 'em to all railway-and-movie fans. Mark Brader
mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (01/31/86)
In article <1086@lsuc.UUCP> msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) writes: >Net.railroad (ARPA railroad list) has had what seemed to me a rather >halfhearted series of articles on railway movies lately. I thought >I could do better. Here are two lists of railway movies that I've >seen that were good or excellent, in my opinion as a fan of both >railways and movies. >The first list is Railway Movies of the First Kind -- those where the >train or railway (or *subway) occupies a major role throughout the movie. >Rather than attempt to rank them, I'll just list them by date of release. >The letter A or B after the date denotes American or British. >1974 B The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (suspense)* I don't know who produced or directed this, but it was set and filmed in the NYC subway, and had almost nothing but american actors. C. Wingate
keith@ssc-vax.UUCP (Keith Nemitz) (02/01/86)
> 1927 A The General (silent comedy/suspense) > 1934 A Twentieth Century (comedy) > 1938 B The Lady Vanishes (thriller) (1979B remake not recommended) > 1940 B Night Train to Munich (thriller) > 1953 B The Titfield Thunderbolt (comedy) > 1959 B Flame Over India, aka Northwest Frontier (suspense/drama) > 1963 A The Train (suspense/drama) > 1967 A The Incident (drama)* > 1972 B The Railway Children (light drama) > 1974 B Murder on the Orient Express (mystery) > 1974 B The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (suspense)* > 1976 A Silver Streak (comedy/suspense) > 1979 B The Great Train Robbery (caper - this is the one about the 1855 theft) > > 1935 B The 39 Steps (thriller) (1959 B and 1978 B remakes not recommended) > 1942 A The Palm Beach Story (comedy) > 1943 B Shadow of a Doubt (suspense) > 1955 B The Ladykillers (comedy) > 1957 B The Bridge on the River Kwai (drama) > 1959 A Some Like it Hot (comedy) > 1963 A Charade (thriller)* > 1966? B The Great St. Trinians Train Robbery (comedy) > 1971 A The French Connection (thriller)* > 1972 B Young Winston (bio/adventure) > 1976 A The 7% Solution (mystery/thriller) > 1982 Diva (French thriller)* > How about 'Von-Ryan's Express'? american when????
msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (02/02/86)
I (msb@lsuc.UUCP) wrote: > > > >The first list is Railway Movies of the First Kind -- those where the > >train or railway (or *subway) occupies a major role throughout the movie. > >Rather than attempt to rank them, I'll just list them by date of release. > >The letter A or B after the date denotes American or British. > >1974 B The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (suspense)* And Charley Wingate (mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP) corrected: > I don't know who produced or directed this, but it was set and filmed in the > NYC subway, and had almost nothing but american actors. I slipped up; it should have been 1974 A. And I made the same error on another movie: "Shadow of a Doubt", in my second list, should be 1943 A, not B. Mark Brader
purtell@reed.UUCP (Lady Godiva) (02/02/86)
Good list. I'd like to add Strangers on a Train, a great Hitchcock suspense film. (I have no idea of the year.) elizabeth g. purtell (Lady Godiva)
reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (02/03/86)
I beg everyone *not* to post every train-related movie they can think of to the net. Spending 20 minutes on it, I came up with over 20 films which I sent in a mail message to the original poster. I estimate that there are several hundred (or perhaps thousand) films which fit these criteria for railroad related films. Listing all the ones anyone on the net can think of would generate incredible amounts of generally worthless traffic. If you are interested in expanding the list, send a mail message to the original poster. -- Peter Reiher reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU {...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher
lat@druil.UUCP (TepperL) (02/03/86)
I believe the following could be added to the list of *** Railroad Movies of the First Kind *** : 197? A Breakheart Pass (thriller) or possibly: 196? A Breakheart Pass (thriller) -- Larry Tepper {ihnp4 | allegra}!drutx!druil!lat +1-303-538-1759 Back to you, Walter.
leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (02/04/86)
>Net.railroad (ARPA railroad list) has had what seemed to me >a rather halfhearted series of articles on railway movies >lately. I thought I could do better. Here are two lists of >railway movies that I've seen that were good or excellent, >in my opinion as a fan of both railways and movies. > >The first list is Railway Movies of the First Kind -- those >where the train or railway (or *subway) occupies a major >role throughout the movie. > >1927 A The General (silent comedy/suspense) . . . >1979 B The Great Train Robbery (caper - this is the one about the 1855 theft) > >Hmm, looks like we ought to be due for another one. Hmmm! I have heard good things about RUNAWAY TRAIN (1985). The problem here is what is considered a good film. I like much of HORROR EXPRESS (1972) but that is probably a minority opinion. There is also EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE (1973). > >And now, some good or excellent Railway Movies of the Second >Kind - movies that are basically about something else, but >where a train or railway (or *subway/el) takes a major part >in one scene. > >1935 B The 39 Steps (thriller) (1959 B and 1978 B remakes not recommended) . . . >1982 Diva (French thriller)* Films I could add are YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, THE WRONG BOX, THE BLACK CAT (1934), DR. ZHIVAGO, KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, FOOLS' PARADE, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, 49TH PARALLEL, REDS, NIGHT OF THE DEMON, MIND BENDERS, RED SUN, MAN WHO WOULD BE KING, CAT BALLOU, SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, SOME LIKE IT HOT, THE GREAT ESCAPE, GANDHI, and CAT PEOPLE (1982). I can honestly say I admire each of these films. I know people who admire TRADING PLACES, 42ND STREET, PASSAGE TO INDIA, BOWANI JUNCTION, and BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, DREAMSCAPE, and SUPERMAN. An odd digression. At one point is seemed that most of the films Maurice Jarre scored had trains in them. Condsider this list: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, SUNDAYS AND CYBELE, DR. ZHIVAGO, THE TRAIN, IS PARIS BURNING, THE PROFESSIONALS, RED SUN, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING, PASSAGE TO INDIA. It seems to me there were a lot more, but they don't come as readily to mind. Mark Leeper ...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper
john@hp-pcd.UUCP (john) (02/05/86)
<<<< How can you talk about railroad movies without mentioning "The Kassandra Crossing"? It's the epic tale of a European train with a passenger who is infected with the Plague. They get passed across Europe like a hot potato until someone decides to run them over a old bridge that is sure to collapse. They don't make them like that anymore. John Eaton !hplabs!hp-pcd!john
mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (Michael Ross) (02/05/86)
In article <530@ssc-vax.UUCP> keith@ssc-vax.UUCP (Keith Nemitz) writes: >> 1927 A The General (silent comedy/suspense) >> 1934 A Twentieth Century (comedy) . . . >> 1982 Diva (French thriller)* >> > >How about 'Von-Ryan's Express'? american when???? The Adventures of Mark Twain?
msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (02/07/86)
john (john@hp-pcd.UUCP) writes: > How can you talk about railroad movies without mentioning "The Kassandra > Crossing"? It's the epic tale of a European train with a passenger who > is infected with the Plague. They get passed across Europe like a hot > potato until someone decides to run them over a old bridge that is > sure to collapse. They don't make them like that anymore. I wish they didn't. This movie was just stupid. The actual plot was that Burt Lancaster's character, who turns out to be someone willing to first confine and then murder a trainload of people to keep secret the existence of the disease, and who is in a position to arrange all this, has the train routed over an old bridge that he HOPED would collapse. The condition of the bridge was not well known, and nothing was done to weaken it. The reason nothing was done to weaken it was that if something had been done then it would not be a surprise that Lancaster's character was trying to kill them rather than save them. Why, we'd even know that when Lancaster was spending half the movie repeating that he didn't know if the train would make it across, we'd think he hoped it would. In other words, the writers could think of no better way to conceal from us that he was a killer than to make him an incompetent one. (Given all the other measures he was able to arrange, he could certainly have had something done to the bridge.) Anyway, dropping a train off a bridge of that height is nowhere near sufficient to kill everyone on it; but it would be sufficient to breach the barriers that had been put on to trap everyone on the train. For the plot it was essential to have NO survivors, so the writers conveniently arrange a flash fire in an oxygen-enriched atmosphere. Oxygen will certainly accelerate the fire, but what is supposed to have started it in the first place? They don't have gaslights in trains these days! Or how about the scene with the helicopter trying to make contact with the moving ELECTRIC train? Notice how the overhead wires, which (as we have been seeing in all exterior views of the train) are suspended from cross supports that swish by every couple of seconds, suddenly are NOT there just when the helicopter is close to the train, and then reappear afterward? I've gone on at much greater length than this stinker deserves. If you want to see a GOOD railway movie with Burt Lancaster, see The Train (1963). Mark Brader
rdz@ccice6.UUCP (Robert D. Zarcone) (02/10/86)
In article <6500001@hpcvla.UUCP>, john@hp-pcd.UUCP (john) writes: > > How can you talk about railroad movies without mentioning "The Kassandra > Crossing"? It's the epic tale of a European train with a passenger who > is infected with the Plague. They get passed across Europe like a hot > potato until someone decides to run them over a old bridge that is > sure to collapse. They don't make them like that anymore. > I may be wrong, but wasn't this a "made for TV" (i.e. 2 hour TV show) movie? If so, does it still count as a movie? Just want to get the rules straight. :-)
stu16@whuxl.UUCP (Pippin) (02/11/86)
> > >Net.railroad (ARPA railroad list) has had what seemed to me > >a rather halfhearted series of articles on railway movies > >lately. I thought I could do better. Here are two lists of > >railway movies that I've seen that were good or excellent, > >in my opinion as a fan of both railways and movies. > > > >The first list is Railway Movies of the First Kind -- those > >where the train or railway (or *subway) occupies a major > >role throughout the movie. > > > >1927 A The General (silent comedy/suspense) > . > . > . > >1979 B The Great Train Robbery (caper - this is the one about the 1855 theft) > > > >Hmm, looks like we ought to be due for another one. > > Hmmm! I have heard good things about RUNAWAY TRAIN (1985). > The problem here is what is considered a good film. I like much of > HORROR EXPRESS (1972) but that is probably a minority opinion. There > is also EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE (1973). > > > > >And now, some good or excellent Railway Movies of the Second > >Kind - movies that are basically about something else, but > >where a train or railway (or *subway/el) takes a major part > >in one scene. > > > >1935 B The 39 Steps (thriller) (1959 B and 1978 B remakes not recommended) > . > . > . > >1982 Diva (French thriller)* > > Films I could add are YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, THE WRONG BOX, THE BLACK CAT > (1934), DR. ZHIVAGO, KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE > WEST, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, FOOLS' PARADE, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, 49TH > PARALLEL, REDS, NIGHT OF THE DEMON, MIND BENDERS, RED SUN, MAN WHO > WOULD BE KING, CAT BALLOU, SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, SOME LIKE IT HOT, THE > GREAT ESCAPE, GANDHI, and CAT PEOPLE (1982). I can honestly say I > admire each of these films. I know people who admire TRADING PLACES, > 42ND STREET, PASSAGE TO INDIA, BOWANI JUNCTION, and BAD DAY AT BLACK > ROCK, DREAMSCAPE, and SUPERMAN. > > An odd digression. At one point is seemed that most of the films > Maurice Jarre scored had trains in them. Condsider this list: > LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, SUNDAYS AND CYBELE, DR. ZHIVAGO, THE TRAIN, IS > PARIS BURNING, THE PROFESSIONALS, RED SUN, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING, > PASSAGE TO INDIA. It seems to me there were a lot more, but they don't > come as readily to mind. > > Mark Leeper > ...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper What about Strangers on a Train, Oriental Express and the one with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor (can't remenber the name - Silver Streak?). Parts of Hello Dolly was filmed on the Erie-Lackawanna in Morris County, N.J. I'm sure there're more. (The Three Stooges had at least one). -- Pippin Stuart whuxl!stu16