46 Japan Railway & Transport Review 25 • October 2000

Movies and Railways

Feature

Copyright © 2000 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Railways in Film

Jiro Hanyu

Introduction

This article does not discuss documentary-type films showing rail travel or railwaysin action, because I am more interested inhow the railway can be used as a prop orbackground in a film, and how it can createimpact in a single scene. My intent is toshow how a number of directors have madetrains and stations an essential part of theirfilms and skilfully used the railway todevelop a story line for memorable movies.Some film scripts need train scenes in thesame way as William Wyler’s film, RomanHoliday (1953) needed Rome. RomanHoliday is a story of love between aprincess and a journalist. The architectureand atmosphere of Rome are effectivelyused as a background. The romance is afairy tale, but a convincing one becausethe story takes place in Rome. If the moviehad been shot in New York, London orParis, the impact would have not been asstrong. In the same way, the reason whysome films have a strong impact isbecause trains appear in them.Of course, trains appear in far too manyfilms to list in full here and this article islimited to just a few railway films.Railway films generally fit into one of thethree following categories:• Films in which trains are an essential

backdrop and play an important, evenessential role;

• Films in which a railway station is anessential backdrop;

• Films in which the railway is used as aprop in perhaps only one scene, but asan essential element to the film.

The Railway as Centre Stage

I suppose there are not many great moviesthat use the railway throughout the story-line. The main ones that come to mindare: Abel Gance’s La roue (The Wheel,1922); Buster Keaton’s The General

(1926); Jean Renoir’s La bête humaine(The Human Beast, 1938); René Clément’sLa bataille du rail (The Battle of the Rails,1945); Pietro Germi’s Il Ferroviere (TheR a i l r o a d M a n , 1 9 5 6 ) ; J e r z yKawalerowicz’s Pociag (Night Train,1959); and John Frankenheimer’s TheTrain (1964).Everyone would agree that the greatesttwo of these seven films are the silentmovie La roue and the talkie, La bêtehumaine. The main character in boththese films is a fireman on a steamlocomotive, and both men fall intodifficulties despite themselves. I do notknow whether the two directors, Ganceand Renoir, would agree with me, butit appears that one intent was to showhow these two men must follow theirdestiny, just as a locomotive must gowhere the rails take it. In this sense,the railway is an essential element inthe story-telling process.Both films are milestones in film historyand well worth some discussion here.Abel Gance (1889–1981) was a world-famous director and many Japanese filmenthusiasts still remember two of his silent

masterpieces—Napoleon and La roue.La roue tells the story of a fireman and histwo children, a boy and an adopted girl.The girl joins the family, innocent of theworld, after her mother is killed in anaccident. As the plot thickens, love andphysical attraction lead the family to itsinevitable destiny. One memorable sceneunfolds in the director’s skilful hands ashe portrays the fireman’s feelings andcircumstances with tremendous dramaticeffect while the locomotive rushes alongthe tracks. The fireman, consumed byjealousy and driven by despair, tries to killhimself and his adopted daughter as thelocomotive rushes forward. The sceneryflashes by, the locomotive’s wheels spinmadly, and a single rail rushes past in themiddle of the screen, framed by darknesson both sides. The flashback scene createsa powerful mood that only a silent moviecan achieve, yet the overall effect remainsavant-garde even today in this modern eraof motion picture technology.Although the fireman fails in his attemptto kill himself and his daughter, he isdisabled, but rids himself of the irrationalfeelings of love that had consumed him.

Sererin Mars in La roue, 1922, Abel Gance (Uniphoto Press)

47Japan Railway & Transport Review 25 • October 2000Copyright © 2000 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

His new situation is symbolized by thejob he takes as an engineer on a funicularrailway that crawls slowly up and downthe Alps. As time passes, his son is killed,he becomes blind, has to quit his job onthe funicular, and then dies too.Throughout La roue, Gance takes painsto link the story line to the train action.The railway is the medium through whichthe plot develops. In the last scene, themodel locomotive that the fireman hadloved is broken. Here is another symbol—everything that he had is lost.The railway forms more than just thebackdrop to La roue—trains play animportant role by continually driving thes to ry fo rward . The imagery i stremendously powerful, and the story-line,with its twists and turns, is well adaptedto the medium of film. I believe that eventoday, La roue is the most memorablerailway film ever made.The next film I want to mention is La bêtehumaine, a talkie made in 1938 by JeanRenoir, son of Pierre Auguste Renoir(1841–1919), the famous Frenchimpressionist artist. Jean Renoir (1894–1979) is considered one of the bestdirectors the world has ever seen and hehas left us a number of important films,including La grande illusion (GrandIllusion, 1937) and La regle du jeu (TheRules of the Game, 1939) . Hismasterpiece, La bête humaine, is basedon a story by Emile Zola (1840–1902) andis similar to La roue in that trains form thebackdrop to the action.Renoir has been quoted as saying that hisfilm, La bête humaine, takes only theessential elements of Zola’s story-line, butfaithfully follows the real railway world.The main character is another locomotivefireman, played by Jean Gabin (1904–76).In order to master the role, Gabin spentconsiderable time working as a firemanon a locomotive. Renoir said he wantedthe railway scenes to be realistic because,just as in Zola’s story, trains play a centralrole in the film. Renoir could be proud of

the fact that the five- or six-minuteopening scene is beautiful in its realistictreatment of men serving a locomotive. Ibelieve that the imagery of this first scene,shot from a camera on a locomotivespeeding along the track, has never beensurpassed by any other movie.Of course there is much more to La bêtehumaine than just a steam locomotiveperforming beautifully on rails. Thefireman is pathologically violent, and fallsin love with a free-spirited married woman(played by Simone Simon) who has ledan unhappy life.At the heart of this tragedy—in both Zola’soriginal story and the film—is the criticismof the capitalist class. Renoir’s filmpresents us with a wealthy sugarindustrialist who rides the railway butignores its rules and becomes angry afterbeing asked to follow the rules, and a richman who continues a love affair with awoman who is not only his stepdaughter,but also the wife of a deputy stationmaster.The stage is thus set for a number of scenesshowing the ugly side of the upper class.Renoir masterfully shows how good, inthe form of the main characters, can be

brought to ruin by the wealthy.These scenes make a lasting impression,but the part I found most memorableculminates with the fireman losing hismind and assaulting a young woman hehas just met, even though she evidentlyhas a soft spot for him. The episode startsat a river where the woman, obviouslyyoung and healthy, is washing her feet.Young men make fun of her in a scenewhich, in typical Renoir fashion, exudesa sense of eroticism. In his madness, thefireman throws the girl down beside thetrack and begins to choke her. At thisinstant, a train roars past, awakening theman from his murderous trance.The locomotive reawakens the sense ofpride the fireman feels for his work andsaves him from his evil impulse. To me,Renoir is using the train to symbolize theforces of good.La bête humaine is faithful to Zola’s storyof tragic love and social injustice. Thehard labours of the working class areportrayed realistically but without theMarxist slogans that would slant a Sovietfilm of the period. The film does notindulge in an excess of moralism that

Jean Gabin and Simone Simon La bête humaine, 1938, Jean Renoir (Uniphoto Press)

48 Japan Railway & Transport Review 25 • October 2000

Movies and Railways

Copyright © 2000 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

would portray capitalists and the petitbourgeoisie as evil and the workers asgood. In fact, this is why it succeeds in itscriticism of society at that time.Renoir was more skilful than any otherdirector since the age of silent movies inusing the railway as an effective tool forsocial criticism.

The Station as Centre Stage

The railway station holds great promisefor film. It has only one purpose—to serveas a place for train passengers to arriveand depart—but creates i t s ownatmosphere, heavy with feeling as peoplesay goodbye, and light with hope as theygreet each other. A small station canevoke feelings of sentimentality andloneliness, while a large station can createfeelings of solitude in a sea of people. Inthis sense, a railway station has far morepotential than a bus stop or airport.Most people would probably agree thatof the many movies using stations as alocation, two stand above the rest—BriefEncounter (1945) directed by David Lean(1908–91), and Stazione Termini(Indiscretion of an American Wife, 1953),directed by Vittorio De Sica (1901–79).Like many other films with station scenes,Brief Encounter and Stazione Termini are

love stories. For some reason, trainmovies often depict extramarital love. Theadvantages offered by a station areobvious for someone filming a love story,but it is hard to understand why the lovedepicted often involves characters marriedto someone else!David Lean is famous for his direction ofgreat movies like Lawrence of Arabia(1962) and The Bridge on the River Kwai(1959). His Brief Encounter was filmedsome time earlier, and was based on a playby Noel Coward (1899–1973). Cowardoversaw the writing of the movie scriptand adapted his play to the silver screenby taking advantage of the freedoms ofspace and time (including flashbacks)offered by cinematography.We see an ordinary housewife (played byCelia Johnson (1908–82)) who happensto meet a doctor (Trevor Howard (1916–88)) in a small suburban station. They fallin love but eventually part, therebyavoiding divorce and family breakup. Alonely station waiting room forms thebackdrop for the entire love affair—theirfalling in love, the twists and turns thatlove brings, and the final goodbye. Theparting scene is unique to film and leavesa lasting impression.A railway station is an ideal location toshow lovers parting. Everyone knows thetypical scenario—the ‘All aboard!’ call,

passengers scrambling into the carriages,the young woman leaning out thewindow, the young man runningalongside the train to the end of theplatform, the train giving a forlorn whistleas it disappears down the track... . BriefEncounter has none of that. Instead weare inside a waiting room, with no trainin sight, the man and woman sittingsilently, a female friend who knowsnothing of their love chattering away inan irritable fashion, the man and womanenduring her nonsense, the time fordeparture coming, their saying a simplegoodbye, Howard touching his lover’sshoulder lightly as they part... . This scenenear the end of the movie, heavy with asadness that is barely shown, is exquisite.The opening scene is exactly the same asthis scene, but it is only near the end thatthe audience realizes the full implicationsof the scene. The director uses this artistictouch to great effect.In another memorable part, the doctorasks the housewife to go with him to hisroom. She declines, decides to go home,leaves the station and boards the train. Butjust before the train departs she has achange of heart, descends from the trainand sets off for his lodgings. The innerturmoil felt by the main characters isskilfully depicted against the backdrop ofthe station and the train. It appeared that

Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter, 1945, David Lean(Uniphoto Press)

Meryl Streep and Robert de Niro in Falling in Love, 1984, Ulu Grosbard(Uniphoto Press)

49Japan Railway & Transport Review 25 • October 2000Copyright © 2000 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

the heroine would go home when she goton the train. But no—she takes her seaton the train for a few seconds, thenchanges her mind. The opening andshutting of a door and the whistle of thestation attendant announcing the train’sdeparture suddenly make us aware of anew twist in the plot.Brief Encounter offers a model for anydirector who wants to use a station andtrain to depict the inner workings of thesoul. It takes place in a rural suburbanstation in England.Stazione Termini is another love story inanother station, but the setting is Rome,and the station is huge. The director,Vittorio De Sica, was at the forefront ofItaly’s postwar neo-realism movement.Neo-realism takes an almost documentaryapproach in its portrayal of the practicalside of life and society. Two of De Sica’sbest known works are Ladri Di Biciclette(The Bicycle Thief, 1948) and Sciuscia(Shoeshine, 1946). I Girasoli (Sunflower),another movie he made much later in1970, lacks the refreshing touch of hisearlier works when he led the neo-realismmovement, but has a sense of wholenessthat brought him back into public acclaimin Japan.Stazione Termini is a short film of onlyabout 70 minutes. The story takes placeover a period of 2 hours, from 18:30 whenthe heroine arrives in Rome, to 20:30,when her train leaves. The camera neverleaves the station during the entire film.This offers ample opportunity for a neo-realistic approach—the entire 2 hoursmoves forward inside the station, onescene after another.A beautiful married woman (played byJennifer Jones) is touring Rome. Shehappens to meet a young Italian (playedby Montgomery Clift (1920–66)), and thetwo fall rapidly in love. However, thewoman is pulled by her ties to her ownfamily, and the two part.Trains have only a minimal role in thisfilm—all they do is follow the station

schedule and carry people to theirdestinations. Likewise, the other peoplein the station form only a backdrop as theygo about their business. With theexception of the woman’s child relatives,the other people in the station have noconnection with the two main characters.De Sica is not at all interested in usingtrains as a symbol or as a medium toexpress emotion. His touch is entirelyr e a l i s t i c — a m i d s t t h e e v e r y d a yoccurrences in a crowded station inRome, two people fall in love but realizethat they must part. Stazione Terminishows directors how a station can be usedin a realistic way to create an impressivelove story on film. The story’s similaritywith that of Brief Encounter is obvious.Stazione Termini is different in that it is amasterpiece in the neo-realistic mold ande x p a n d e d t h e p o s s i b i l i t i e s o fcinematographic expression.Falling in Love (1984) is another morerecent film that uses a station asbackground. The director, Ulu Grosbard,

is not well known, but the film had twopopular stars, Meryl Streep and Robert DeNiro. Although the movie made waves inJapan, it is a poor modern American remakeof Brief Encounter. The acting is not bad,but we cannot see into the souls of thecharacters, as we could with Celia Johnsonand Trevor Howard. But why was BriefEncounter better than Falling in Love? Theanswer is that the director and script forBrief Encounter were both far superior. Forexample, the station is the most importantsetting in both movies, but in Falling inLove, the station is not used effectively tohighlight the complex feelings that love canevoke. In addition, the ending is ruined byan unnecessary twist, and there is a lack ofartistic tension throughout. If we compareeven the last 10 minutes of each film, theinferiority of Falling in Love is obvious. Thesubject matter is the same, the backdrop (astation) is the same, and Falling in Love hada much larger budget. But if a director doesnot use the station to full cinematographiceffect, he is lost.

Jennifer Jones in Stazione Termini, 1953, Vittorio De Sica (Archive Photos/APL)

50 Japan Railway & Transport Review 25 • October 2000

Movies and Railways

Copyright © 2000 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

The Train as One EssentialElement

Many great movies have a train scene thatbrings the story to life and leaves a lastingimpression. The technique is used in avery many movies, and each is different.Some scenes that come to mind are:• The last scene in Federico Fellini’s I

Vitelioni (Spivs, 1953)—The hero setsout to broaden his horizons, leaving hishome town by train and his youthbehind.

• Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Aventula(The Adventure, 1960)—A couple lookfo r a f ema l e f r i end who ha sdisappeared. In a subsequent trainscene they part with feelings of guilt.

• Ingmar Bergman’s Tystnaden (TheSilence, 1963)—In the opening scene, a

train arrives at adestination that isunknown to themain characters. Inthe last scene, it istime to depart. Inboth scenes, wesense the uneaseand despair of thecharacters on thetrain.

• Victor Erice’s ElEsper i tu de laCo lmena (TheS p i r i t o f t h eBeehive, 1972)—Two girls playingon the track createa beautiful yetdisturbing scene.

• B i l l y Wi l d e r ’sS o m e L i k e I tH o t ( 1 9 5 9 ) —Marilyn Monroe(1926–62) ando t h e r s t a r sb o a r d a t r a i nand turn it intoa lusc ious and

trains as an important element in his films—Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) known forsuch marvellously crafted thrillers as RearWindow (1954), Psycho (1960), and TheBirds (1963).Hitchcock is also well known for usingtrains to special effect, such as in TheSecret Agent (1936), The Lady Vanishes(1938), Shadow of a Doubt (1943),Strangers on a Train (1951), and North byNorthwest (1958). Two of these films,Shadow of a Doubt and Strangers on aTrain, are considered to be among the bestthrillers ever made.Suspense fans give high marks toShadow o f a Doubt because o fHitchcock’s skilful merry-go-roundwaltz scene and Joseph Cotton ’ssuperlative performance as a cunningv i l l a i n ( s o d i f f e r e n t f r o m h i sperformance in the 1949 movie, TheThird Man, in which he plays a goodbut simple character). I would like togive another reason why Shadow of aDoubt has such an impact— twosuperlative train scenes.In the first scene, a man played by Cotton(1905–94) pretends to be sick and getsother passengers to help him off the train.When he sees his relatives on the platform,he recovers miraculously in less than 20seconds. The only person who has aninkling of his subterfuge is his niece(played by Teresa Wright). This scene setsthe stage—a crafty villain pitted againstan observant niece.The other scene occurs on a train. Themore the train accelerates, the more thevillain shows his true colours. Whiletalking with his niece, his tone of voiceand words change from pleading tomenacing to threatening to kill. Thesuspense is heightened by the cameraangle. The shot where two trains rushpast each other has far more impactthan a s imi lar shot in The LadyVanishes. Hitchcock planned the crimescene on the train carefully to giveultimate shock value.

Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, 1959, Billy Wilder(Archive Photo/APL)

bewitching vehicle.• John Sturges’ Last Train from Gun Hill

(1959)—This American western has amemorable duel at a station.

• Giuseppe Tornatore’s Stanno Tutti Bene(Everybody’s Fine, 1990)—As the titlesroll and the first scene unfolds, we seea father setting out on a trip to visit hisadult children. The tempo is brisk andthe train scene is beautifully shot, awelcome relief after some years of less-than-aesthetic treatment.

If I were to introduce each film properly,this article would be as long as a book. Ido not have enough space to concentrateon some of the best films, nor to give a shortcritique of many. Instead, I will choose twofilms by one of the world’s most famousdirectors, a man who made a point of using

51Japan Railway & Transport Review 25 • October 2000Copyright © 2000 EJRCF. All rights reserved.

Farley Granger and Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train, 1951, Alfred Hitchcock (Uniphoto Press)

Jiro Hanyu

Mr Hanyu was recently appointed Vice Minister for International Affairs in the Japanese Ministry of

Transport. He graduated in economics from the University of Tokyo before joining the MOT in 1969.

He was a Councillor in the Embassy of Japan in London and Director General of the Policy Affairs

Bureau of the MOT before his present position.

Hitchcock’s second film that I will discussis Strangers on a Train. Although Shadowof a Doubt was more carefully crafted forpsychological effect and is superior onthe whole, Strangers on a Train isgenerally given higher marks because ofthe unique idea of having two trainpassengers plan an ‘exchange murder’,and the suspense c rea ted by apsychopath stalking someone who didnot give the response he expected in aconversation. (The stalking scene sendsshivers through audiences today whenstalking has become a social issue.)Personally, I give high marks to Strangerson a Train for its train scenes. The firstscene is especially powerful. This iswhen the villain and his future victimhappen to walk towards the same traintogether. The camera lens focuses mainlyon the shoes of the two people. We donot see their faces until their shoes brushagainst each other on the train. Thistechnique is remarkably suited todepicting a chance meeting of twopeople on a train.I also give Strangers on a Train high marksfor the scene early in the movie, whenwe see rails crisscrossing and trainsmoving in different directions acrosspoints. This treatment of the railsforebodes the ‘exchange murder’ that willbe hatched later, as viewers may realizewith a smile after the movie ends.

The Railway’s Special Appealfor Directors

I have placed railway movies into threecategories, concentrating mainly onworks that have received considerableacclaim worldwide. Now I would liketo conclude this article by brieflyanalyzing the reasons why directors usetrains in their movies. What is it abouttrains that they find so attractive?Railways have one clear advantage overother types of surface transportation—theyhave tremendous carrying capacity. They

also have one clear disadvantage—theymust follow a set path, so they lackfreedom of movement. These are thefeatures of railways and, of course, onecould mention other unique features, suchas precise scheduling and high speed. Butthese two features only stand out whenrailways are compared with other modesof transport. The perspective of atransportation expert is naturally differentfrom that of a movie director. Even so,both would probably think first of railwaysin terms of carrying capacity andpredetermined route.Since a single train can carry manypeople, it offers a number of dramatic

opportunities for chance meetings andfond farewells. Stations lend themselveswell to film. Trains do too, as Strangerson a Train shows.Carrying capacity is a physical advantagewhile the lack of freedom symbolized byparallel rails is a psychological quality. Atrain must remain on its two rails,otherwise an accident occurs. This lackof freedom can be used to symbolize anunavoidable destiny. Film pioneers knewthis and so do film makers today.The unique nature of rail travel, asdescr ibed above, has been usedextensively in films in the past, and it willsurely be used in the future as well. �