In the Trenches with Sexy Rexy

Night Train to Munich (1940)
directed by Carol Reed
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix

There's a fairy tale component to Reed's production that reminds me of Powell & Pressburger: double agents, beautiful daughters spirited across the English channel, alpine gondolas built on London backlots. But P & P said a lot about human nature in even their most patriotic efforts, whereas Reed seems content with a boardwalk song and dance. Perhaps that's why the comedy of an earlier generation - those not slaughtered in the Battle of the Somme - feels so toothless and out of place in the mouths of two idiots who do nothing but complain about soldiers on the cricket lawn. I don't know; it's all so sad, when you think about it, that it's a wonder movies get made at all. Not that I'm above a comment about the beautiful British heroine growing less beautiful as the movie progresses (and her soft focus shots gain a little clarity), but I'd rather sing Rex Harrison and Paul Henreid home across the water to their new careers as accented laugh kings in the land of the free.