I always think that it is a good idea to make a thriller/ mystery story even when one is trying to show something that has nothing to do with that. In "The Berlin Express" we are shown post-war Germany, the consequences of 2nd World War. First the film can look as a triumphant look of the winner of the war towards the wreckage it left behind. Such sentences as "here justice arranged it so that the punishment were equal to the crime" (I'm not sure if the quote is correct, but the idea is) might corroborate that first impression. However it is possible that all is meant as great irony.
The film is good. It isn't great though - just compare it with Reed's "The Third Man" and you'll see the difference between a master piece, a work of a superb team, and a reasonably well-made picture. However one mustn't forget that "reasonably well-made" pictures aren't so easy to do, and thus "The Berlin Express" seems to me to be a good movie.
The film is good. It isn't great though - just compare it with Reed's "The Third Man" and you'll see the difference between a master piece, a work of a superb team, and a reasonably well-made picture. However one mustn't forget that "reasonably well-made" pictures aren't so easy to do, and thus "The Berlin Express" seems to me to be a good movie.