Night Train to Paris

1964 film by Robert Douglas

  • Robert L. Lippert
  • Jack Parsons
Starring
  • Leslie Nielsen
  • Aliza Gur
  • Dorinda Stevens
  • Eric Pohlmann
CinematographyArthur LavisEdited byRobert WinterMusic byKenny Graham
Production
company
Lippert Pictures
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • September 23, 1964 (1964-09-23)
Running time
65 minutesCountries
  • United States[1]
  • United Kingdom[1]
LanguageEnglish

Night Train to Paris is a 1964 British-American spy film directed by Robert Douglas and starring Leslie Nielsen, Aliza Gur and Dorinda Stevens.[2][3]

Plot

Former OSS officer Alan Holiday is visited by Catherine Carrel on New Year's Eve, Carrel says she's a close friend of Jules Lemoine, also a former OSS officer who served with Holiday during the war.

Lemoine wants Holiday to go to Paris on a secret mission: to deliver a reel of tape, containing defense information while Lemoine keeps a fake reel to deceive enemy agents. When Lemoine is killed and the fake tape stolen, Holiday goes to Paris.

He poses as an assistant to photographer Louis Vernay, and they take three models along to maintain the ruse.[4]

Cast

  • Leslie Nielsen as Alan Holiday
  • Aliza Gur as Catherine Carrel
  • Dorinda Stevens as Olive Davies
  • Eric Pohlmann as Krogh
  • Edina Ronay as Julie
  • André Maranne as Louis Vernay
  • Cyril Raymond as Insp. Fleming
  • Hugh Latimer as Jules Lemoine
  • Jack Melford as PC inspector
  • Simon Oates as Saunders
  • Trevor Reid as Policeman on train
  • Stanley Morgan as Plainclothesman
  • Jenny White as Vernay's Model

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Weak invention, mundane playing and nondescript direction make this a very flat-footed espionage melodrama. The opening scenes in London, and the cat-and-mouse finale, sandwich a lengthy middle section aboard the train, where the setting is not well exploited and the raucous party revelry is allowed to become too repetitive in order to spin out a meagre plot. The more lively climax, with its moderately unexpected twist, is insufficient compensation for the film's prevailing mediocrity."[5]

The Film Daily wrote: "Night Train to Paris is a neat, little suspense film that will be a fine addition to any double bill. Its length probably automatically relegates it to second feature".[6]

In The New York Times, Howard Thompson wrote: "Night Train to Paris — there's an intriguing title. But, believe us, this thumpingly mediocre little suspense melodrama that drifted into neighborhood theaters yesterday can go back to where it came from. There have been worse plots but few more familiar...starchy dialogue is neatly matched by Robert Douglas’s flat-footed direction...The most attractive thing about the whole picture is a nifty blonde named Dorinda Stevens. The woman can act, too, which is more than can be said for most of the others."[7]

References

  1. ^ a b "Night Train to Paris (1964)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Night Train to Paris". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  3. ^ "NIGHT TRAIN TO PARIS". Monthly Film Bulletin (32, 57). 1965. ProQuest 1305835967.
  4. ^ "Night Train to Paris (1964) - Overview". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Night Train to Paris". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 32 (372): 57. 1 January 1965 – via ProQuest.
  6. ^ "Night Train to Paris". The Film Daily. 125. 1964.
  7. ^ Thompson, Howard (3 December 1964). "'Night Train to Paris' at Local Theaters". NYTimes.com. The New York Times.
  • Night Train To Paris at IMDb
  • Night Train To Paris at AllMovie
  • Night Train to Paris at TCMDB
  • Night Train to Paris at BFI
  • Review of film at New York Times