Director Sergio Martino was one of the undisputed kings of the giallo film. In the early 70's he directed five classic examples of this fabulous Italian sub-genre. But, like the vast majority of his peers, he was essentially a director-for-hire and was given work in whatever genre was popular at the time. This meant that he also directed films in diverse genres, ranging from sex comedies to a notorious cannibal movie. By the late 80's the Italian genre film was in serious decline and it was at this point that Martino helmed Casablanca Express, a late entry in the Euro war film sub-genre. Set during World War II in Morocco, its plot centres on a train which secretly takes the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Casablanca for a war time conference with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. The Axis powers get wind of this plan and set about attempting to kidnap Churchill. A British Special Forces agent is sent on a mission to sort this out.
I was pretty sure that the whole idea of Churchill travelling to Casablanca must've been an alternate history conjured up for the purposes of a movie plot-line. But a little bit of research (i.e. Google) informed me that there was indeed such an event! So I have been educated a little by this movie at the very least. Admittedly, the whole story involving the train is a case of serious dramatic license but I see no point in quibbling about that. It is, on the whole, a pretty decent plot for the film to be fair and it gets us from A to B effectively enough. The action side of things is more okay rather than great though. The lead actor is Jason Connery who I knew mostly from the 80's TV series 'Robin of Sherwood', in truth he's not the most charismatic of actors and here is no different. He is, at best, passably convincing as a super soldier. In the background roles there are a trio of respected thespians in Glenn Ford, Donald Pleasence and Jean Sorel; as American, British and French generals, respectively. So, pretty decent acting personnel overall to be fair. On the whole, this turned out to be a better production than I expected. I mean, it is limited but it's not that bad either. The one area where it was genuinely diabolical was its soundtrack which comprised of horribly tinny music which was unfortunately common in some films of this time period and gives the impression of having been produced by a guy with an 80's keyboard with lots of 'special' settings mimicking various instruments. Aside from this though, I would say this is worth checking out if you enjoy World War II films and aren't too picky.
I was pretty sure that the whole idea of Churchill travelling to Casablanca must've been an alternate history conjured up for the purposes of a movie plot-line. But a little bit of research (i.e. Google) informed me that there was indeed such an event! So I have been educated a little by this movie at the very least. Admittedly, the whole story involving the train is a case of serious dramatic license but I see no point in quibbling about that. It is, on the whole, a pretty decent plot for the film to be fair and it gets us from A to B effectively enough. The action side of things is more okay rather than great though. The lead actor is Jason Connery who I knew mostly from the 80's TV series 'Robin of Sherwood', in truth he's not the most charismatic of actors and here is no different. He is, at best, passably convincing as a super soldier. In the background roles there are a trio of respected thespians in Glenn Ford, Donald Pleasence and Jean Sorel; as American, British and French generals, respectively. So, pretty decent acting personnel overall to be fair. On the whole, this turned out to be a better production than I expected. I mean, it is limited but it's not that bad either. The one area where it was genuinely diabolical was its soundtrack which comprised of horribly tinny music which was unfortunately common in some films of this time period and gives the impression of having been produced by a guy with an 80's keyboard with lots of 'special' settings mimicking various instruments. Aside from this though, I would say this is worth checking out if you enjoy World War II films and aren't too picky.