Peking Express Reviews

Put a bunch of very different people together in close confinement and you're off to the dramatic races. It can be brilliant (LOST HORIZON), it can be exciting (THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY), it can be dumb (THE CASSANDRA CROSSING), and it can be somewhere in between, as in this picture. The scene is the Peking Express, a train that runs between Shanghai and Peking, a truly Asian counterpart of the very European Orient Express. Cotten, a doctor attached to the United Nations, is en route to perform a delicate operation on an underground leader fighting against the Communists. Calvet, one of Cotten's former lovers, just happens to be on the train as well. Also on board are Gwenn, a charming old priest, and Fong, a left-leaning newsman. Miller is a nefarious black marketeer who has arranged to have his brigade of bandits stop and rob the train. Miller's son is being held by the same man on whom Cotten is to operate, and Miller's scheme is designed to get the leverage to set the boy free. Calvet offers herself to Miller if he will release Cotten and the others. In the end, the hostages get the upper hand and vanquish the villains. It's a remake of SHANGHAI EXPRESS, a picture that was far superior. Hollywood liked this type of film and also made NIGHT PLANE FROM CHUNGKING, another potboiler. Marvin Miller may have been the most versatile man in radio--announcing, acting, and even singing on more radio programs than any other person who ever stepped before a microphone.