Watch Rome Express For Free

To me, this movie is perfection.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

This is the great granddaddy of train portmanteau thrillers and Walter Forde,like Hitchcock, had a thing for trains - he even remade his now lost 1931 "The Ghost Train" and became a serious leading British Director. The production of Rome Express opened the large new Lime Grove(Gainsborough)studios in W London using two huge sets to accommodate both terminii & the impressive express. Conrad Veidt was a comparative newcomer to London from Germany escaping a future under the Nazis and stayed to make a number of other acclaimed 30s films like "Jew Suss" "Passing of the Third Floor Back" "Dark Journey" & "Under The Red Robe" until ending up at Denham with the Kordas. He loved Britain and loathed Hitler but this didn't stop his 40s performances as an assortment of nazi officials - "Escape" "Spy In Black" and,of course,"Casablanca". The popular Scottish actor,Finlay Currie played the same part in this and its almost shot-for-shot remake 15 years later at 70.He was probably best known as the convict,Magwitch, in the superb 1946 remake of "Great Expectations".

I always liked train movies, so I bothered to watch this one, on French TV. It was also an occasion to see Conrad Veidt, a very good actor, last seen in CASABLANCA. During the watching, I suddenly remembered the name of Bonar Colleano, the British-American star of the past-war era. From IMDB, I learned that he starred in another train movie, SLEEPING CAR TO TRIESTE (1948), and, to my great amazement, I discovered that the later was a remake of the former! sixteen years after... harrycarasso, Paris

Although this film has dated somewhat it remains a classic in it's genre, and surely is the inspiration for other such train based thrillers as Murder on the Orient Express and the Lady Vanishes. Conrad Veidt was never better and is well supported by an illustrious cast. Technically the sound quality in 1932 leaves a little to be desired but this should not detract from a little seen gem of a movie