This film is part of Rentals
Rome Express
A star-studded international cast boards the Paris-Rome express for this lavish comedy-thriller from Gainsborough Pictures.
Director: Walter Forde
Overview
The theft of a valuable Van Dyck painting sets in motion this delightful comedy-thriller, almost entirely set on the VIP-packed Paris-Rome express. With an ensemble international cast including Conrad Veidt, Esther Ralston and Cedric Hardwicke (prefiguring later starry train capers like Murder on the Orient Express) and boasting impeccable production credentials, Rome Express was at the time Gainsborough Pictures’ most lavish production.
The studio was rewarded with considerable international, both commercially and critically, with the film winning the American National Board of Review award for Best Foreign Film. Screenwriter Sidney Gilliat would later refine his train-based thriller template for further classics The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Night Train to Munich (1940), while the film itself was remade in 1948 as Sleeping Car to Trieste (also on BFI Player).
Related
Anatomy of a Fall Anatomy of a Fall
Crime 2023 152 mins Director: Justine Triet
Justine Triet's gripping, Palme d'Or-winning psycho-thriller is deeply intelligent with a spellbinding performance from Sandra Hüller.
Femme Femme
Thriller 2023 99 mins Director: Sam H Freeman and Ng Choon Ping
The lines of seduction, revenge and power are blurred in this tense and stylish thriller about desire and self-loathing, starring Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay.
The Small Back Room The Small Back Room
Thriller 1949 103 mins Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
An embittered bomb disposal expert is driven to drink in Powell and Pressburger’s compelling insight into the mental anguish of the alcoholic.
Deliverance Deliverance
Thriller 1972 109 mins Director: John Boorman
A canoeing expedition turns into a nightmare for four men after they meet two hillbillies and steer their canoes through turbulent rapids, in John Boorman's adaptation of the James Dickey novel.
Training Day Training Day
Crime 2001 122 mins Director: Antoine Fuqua
Denzel Washington delivers an Academy Award-winning performance opposite Ethan Hawke in this gritty cop drama.
Strangers on a Train Strangers on a Train
Thriller 1951 101 mins Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock's adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel is a classic example of his ingenuity. All the elements are here: the average person in an impossible situation, some amazing cinematic achievements and the gradual, ominous increase in tension.
Brown on Resolution Brown on Resolution
War 1935 71 mins Director: Walter Forde
Walter Forde’s 1935 war drama stars a young John Mills as the illegitimate son of a naval officer who brings down a German cruiser in WWI.
Time Flies Time Flies
Comedy 1944 88 mins Director: Walter Forde
Fast-talking funny man Tommy Handley visits Elizabethan England - and ends up teaching Good Queen Bess con tricks - in this snappy time-travel comedy.
Out of Darkness Out of Darkness
Horror 2024 87 mins Director: Andrew Cumming
Bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘period film’, Andrew Cumming’s Palaeolithic horror movie is a true original.
The Peasants The Peasants
Drama 2023 115 mins Director: Hugh Welchman and Dorota Kobiela
Using an advanced oil painting animation technique, The Peasants is a visually thrilling rendering of Władysław Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning tale.
The Iron Claw The Iron Claw
Biopic 2023 132 mins Director: Sean Durkin
Compelling sports drama about the real-life Von Erich brothers and their tragic journey to the top of professional 1980s wrestling.
Samsara Samsara
Drama 2023 114 mins Director: Lois Patiño
Berlin Film Festival award winner Lois Patiño’s assured third feature transports us to magical places in Laos and Zanzibar, where the visible and the invisible merge.
Gassed Up Gassed Up
Drama 2023 102 mins Director: George Amponsah
A group of London teenage boys turn to motorbike crime for survival in George Amponsah’s high-octane follow-up to The Hard Stop.
Occupied City Occupied City
Documentary 2023 251 mins Director: Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen’s cinematic commemoration of the Holocaust offers a multidimensional experience full of gravity and sublimity.