BERLIN EXPRESS: derailed by reality

With the benefit of hindsight BERLIN EXPRESS looks like a fairytale, but even when it was first released in 1948 it must have seemed to many cinema-goers to be hopelessly and naively optimistic.
At the heart of this post war thriller set among the ruins of a defeated Germany is the notion that the four victorious allied powers can co-exist peacefully if they just spend a little time and get to know each other personally.
When a German diplomat with a plan for peaceably reuniting his divided homeland is kidnapped by Nazi fanatics while en-route to an important conference in Berlin four of his fellow passengers about the titular train team up to track him down and thereby save Europe from another conflict.
Conveniently the four comprise a brash, confident American (Robert Ryan), a stereotypical "toot-toot toodle pip old chum" British school teacher (Robert Coote), a rigid and suspicious Soviet army officer, and a feisty little Frenchman called Perrot (Charles Korvin). They're initially reluctant to work together, basing their assumptions of each other on national stereotypes, but urged on by the diplomat's loyal secretary Lucienne (Merle Oberon) - who keeps the four guessing about her nationality - they rapidly coalesce into an effective if unorthodox search and rescue team.

Unfortunately real life events were conspiring to undermine the film's message almost from the moment it hit cinema screens in May 1948. The already shaky relations between the Soviet Union and the three Western powers occupying Germany had become increasingly belligerent since the British, French and Americans unveiled plans to unify their zones of occupation, and in late June the Soviets cut off all western access to Berlin. The Allies responded by launching the Berlin airlift.and the frosty relations between the former partners froze into the Cold War.
Outside of the unfortunate timing BERLIN EXPRESS works reasonably well as a taut little thriller. Director Jacques Tourneur keeps the action moving briskly along and makes good use of the on-location shooting. Apart from a few glaringly obvious back projections early on most of film is actually shot where it's set and it's shocking to see just how devastated big cities like Frankfurt and Berlin remained almost three years after the end of the war. 
Robert Ryan is solid and dependable but doesn't really shine, although that's more the fault of the part than his acting. Merle Oberon, meanwhile, is adequate but hardly enticing as the object of her male co-stars attentions. The real star is Paul Lukas as the kidnapped German diplomat. He effortlessly exudes old world charm, dignity and sense of duty and dominates every scene he's in simply by standing there.
After watching Lukas in BERLIN EXPRESS you'll want to see more of him.