Berlin Express (1948)

My last article about The Search (1948) seems to have started a trend for me: watching postwar films shot on location in Europe amid the rubble and destruction of World War II. Berlin Express is definitely one of those films. In fact, it was the first U.S. film to be shot in Germany after the war, and it makes use of locations to highlight its story of postwar espionage and the ongoing threat of Nazi terrorism.

Neither The Search nor Berlin Express were the first films shot on location amid the ruins of war if foreign films are considered. Roberto Rossellini shot Rome Open City (1945) and Paisan (1946), the first two of his war trilogy, on location in postwar Italy. Both films were released before 1948. The third film in Rossellini’s trilogy, Germany Year One (1948), was released the same year as The Search and Berlin Express. The Murderers Are Among Us, the English-language translation of the title of the German film Die Mörder sind unter uns, was released in 1946 and is credited with being the first rubble film.

The opening credits of Berlin Express appear over shots of the ruins in post–World War II Germany. Included in the opening credits is a full-screen notice that 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.” A voice-over narrator provides additional background information and fills in some details about what is shown on the screen. This semidocumentary style is maintained throughout the film, with the narrator commenting, for example, on some parts of the two German cities that were spared because of Allied interest in using them after the war and on what daily life was like after the war ended.

The story actually starts in Paris. Journalists are turned away from a meeting in Paris held by the United Nations to learn about a fact-finding report written by Dr. Heinrich Bernhardt about postwar plans to restore Germany and all of Europe. Robert J. Lindley, a U.S. agricultural expert sent to Europe to help with postwar reconstruction, wanders past the gate where the journalists are clamoring for admittance.

Because so much of the film was shot on location and because the voice-over narrator provides so many facts about the postwar situation in Germany, I began to wonder if Dr. Heinrich Bernhardt was based on a real person writing at the end of World War II. I did a bit of research for Berlin Express and could find nothing to confirm this theory, so I decided to search online for the character’s name, Heinrich Bernhardt, on the assumption that maybe the name had not been changed for the purposes of the story. I found a Heinrich Bernhard Oppenheim, and his story is a bit similar to the character portrayed in the film, but he died before World War I. It’s still possible that Heinrich Bernhardt Oppenheim was the inspiration for Dr. Heinrich Bernhardt. Click here for more information at Wikipedia. The Wikipedia article needs additional verification, but it is a good place to start if you are interested in the history behind the narrative.

The film cuts to some intrigue concerning a note written in German found on a pigeon: “21:45 D 9850 Sulzbach.” The woman who finds the note is alarmed. Modern-day viewers might wonder about her level of concern, but most people in the postwar era were probably aware of Nazi survivors’ hopes of rebuilding Germany according to Hitler’s designs and wishes. This Parisian woman takes the message to law enforcement, and it isn’t long before international authorities are involved, too.

The film then cuts to someone named Hans Schmidt, who wants to buy a train ticket from Paris for Frankfurt. Travel throughout Europe immediately after the war is severely restricted; in Germany, travel by rail is almost impossible because so much of the infrastructure has been destroyed. The clerk behind the window states that Schmidt has not been approved, but the clerk makes a phone call and Schmidt is eventually allowed to continue on his way. The film is then careful to introduce all the main players, which the voice-over narrator does rather deftly as they board a train. In addition to the German characters, all the train passengers represent an international lot that includes the World War II Allied Powers:

◊ Robert J. Lindley, from Quincy, Illinois; U.S. agricultural expert

◊ Lucienne, from Lyons, France, secretary to Dr. Bernhardt (Lucienne has a last name that I think is spelled Mieurbeau, but I couldn’t find it on any cast lists for this film

◊ Henri Perrot, from Paris, former member of the French underground, now working in commerce

◊ Dr. Heinrich Bernhardt, author of a plan to unify Germany

◊ Otto Franzen, from Frankfurt, Germany; former industrialist, now a scrap iron dealer

◊ James Sterling, from Liverpool, soldier at Dunkirk, now a schoolteacher

◊ Hans Schmidt, from Munich (the train whistle drowns out the narrator at this point, but he receives the same coded message that was discovered on the pigeon earlier)

◊ Lieutenant Maxim, from Moscow, military aide to Russian occupation authorities (Maxim is another character with a last name that I couldn’t find on any cast lists for this film, and I think it is spelled Gerashilov)

(This article about Berlin Express contains some spoilers.)

A horse-drawn cart laden with logs is stuck on the railroad tracks at Sulzbach, and viewers know right away that a sinister plot is afoot. Not long after the train is forced to stop, Dr. Bernhardt’s rail compartment is blown up and he is killed. All the passengers on the train car with Dr. Bernhardt are under arrest for questioning. When the train arrives in Frankfurt, they are to report to U.S. authorities for questioning. U.S. forces have taken over the IG Farben headquarters, once home to one of Germany’s war materiel producers. The IG Farben building, a state-of-the-art complex, was spared by the Allied bombers because it was intended to be used as Allied occupation headquarters after the war. Viewers get a history lesson about these details while the train’s passengers, now on a bus, are taken to the IG Farben complex.

Once the interviews are complete and the passengers are free to go, they are drawn again into intrigue and threats of violence. Lucienne begs them to join her and protect Bernhardt, who is alive because the plot to kill him was intercepted. They all agree eventually. Some are more reticent than others, but the group that does help Lucienne includes at least one representative from each Allied Power: France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States. They travel as best they can through the rubble of Frankfurt trying to outwit Nazi terrorists who want to thwart Bernhardt’s plans and to restore the Third Reich under new leadership.

Berlin Express could very easily belong in many categories: spy film, film noir, drama, rubble film (or Trümmerfilm). I’m not a big stickler about categories to begin with, and putting the film into all four wouldn’t bother me in the least. I have seen the film several times, and it is definitely one that benefits from repeat viewings, especially for viewers in 2023, when the events of the World War II and the immediate postwar era would be more like history lessons. The voice-over narrator provides a lot of historical detail, which is definitely a plus for viewers of any era, but he supplies some poignant human interest, too.

According to Wikipedia, rubble films were “made directly after World War II [and dealt] with the impact of the battles in the countries at the center of the war. The style was mostly used by filmmakers in the rebuilding film industries of Eastern Europe, Italy, and the former Nazi Germany. The style is characterized by its use of location exteriors among the ‘rubble’ of bombed-down cities to bring the gritty, depressing reality of the lives of the civilian survivors in those early years.”

Berlin Express, like The Search, is firmly rooted in its time period. Postwar viewers would have known why U.S. soldiers and officers were stationed in Europe after the war ended and would have understood the backstory for the characters, both military and civilian, that is assumed in the film (and if not assumed, then explained by the voice-over narrator). The film also uses terms and abbreviations that viewers at the time would have known and understood, but that’s not true for viewers in 2023. One example is USFET (United States Forces, European Theater). Click here for a more detailed explanation at Wikipedia.

Berlin Express ends on a very optimistic note about the prospects for unity and peace after the war. After the Cold War, and especially now after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, that optimism seem especially misplaced. But perhaps it wouldn’t be on the personal level that is shown in the film. The four protagonists, the American, the Englishman, the Russian soldier, and the French woman (all of whom represent symbolically the members of the Allied Powers), are all hopeful that they can keep in touch and remain on friendly terms. And that certainly is a bit more plausible.

May 7, 1948, release date  •  Directed by Jacques Tourneur  •  Screenplay by Harold Medford  •  Based on a story by Curt Siodmak  •  Music by Frederick Hollander  •  Edited by Sherman Todd  •  Cinematography by Lucien Ballard

Merle Oberon as Lucienne  •  Robert Ryan as Robert J. Lindley  •  Charles Korvin as Henri Perrot  •  Paul Lukas as Dr. Heinrich Bernhardt  •  Robert Coote as James Sterling  •  Reinhold Schünzel as Johann Walther  •  Roman Toporow as Lieutenant Maxim, Russian soldier  •  Peter von Zerneck as Hans Schmidt  •  Otto Waldis as Kessler  •  Fritz Kortner as Otto Franzen  •  Michael Harvey as Sergeant Barnes  •  Tom Keene as the major  •  Charles McGraw as USFET Colonel Johns  •  Marle Hayden as Maja, the nightclub mind reader  •  Paul Stewart as the narrator

Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.  •  Produced by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.