[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Berlin Express (1948)

During the opening credits, a notice reads, "Actual scenes in Frankfurt and Berlin were photographed by authorization of the United States Army of Occupation, the British Army of Occupation, the Soviet Army of Occupation."

Jacques Tourneur's post war noir is possibly the film that birthed the whole Cold War spy genre some ten years later. As much a documentary as a film, this docudrama's most memorable aspect is the views of the bombed out cities of Frankfurt and Berlin which create a suitably grim atmosphere in which this film of the disappearance of a German peace campaigner and the search for him by an assortment of fellow passengers from the Berlin express train he was travelling on, takes place.

Once all the events are uncovered we are left with a remarkably touching ending as the train finally gets to Berlin and the British, Russian, French and American passengers we have followed throughout all say their farewells as they depart for their relevant sectors of the occupied capital.

Well worth seeking out.