The point of departure is Hitchcock's "North by Northwest", mixing in mystery/whodunnit stage tricks. The mid-section is devoted to skit comedy, including burlesque/"who's on first"-styled banter, and Jolson "Jazz Singer"/blackface idioms. The finale is a wingding action/disaster windup, using the titular runaway train. The corpus lies in the train station, examined in awe by the onlookers a la "King Kong".
The most striking cinematic effect is the burst of the model engine through the stonework with the actors superimposed on the image -- not back projection -- and simultaneously using slow motion photography.
Parts of this are plainly templates for other movies: McGoohan's death by scissoring was used for "Speed"; the manner of the commuters abandoning the station was used for "Die Hard 2", etc.
Overall, this isn't bad. However, it tries to throw in too many other genre bits and pieces, so it comes across as a bit indecisive. "Hanky Panky" is a better concentration on noir and comedy. "Stir Crazy" is a better cinematic treatment of a comedy. Both borrow directly from this.
The most striking cinematic effect is the burst of the model engine through the stonework with the actors superimposed on the image -- not back projection -- and simultaneously using slow motion photography.
Parts of this are plainly templates for other movies: McGoohan's death by scissoring was used for "Speed"; the manner of the commuters abandoning the station was used for "Die Hard 2", etc.
Overall, this isn't bad. However, it tries to throw in too many other genre bits and pieces, so it comes across as a bit indecisive. "Hanky Panky" is a better concentration on noir and comedy. "Stir Crazy" is a better cinematic treatment of a comedy. Both borrow directly from this.