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Caught On A Train [1980]

Starring: Peggy Ashcroft, Michael Kitchen, Wendy Raebeck, Michael Sheard, Louis Sheldon
Director: Stephen Poliakoff
Format: PAL
Released: 09 Feb 2004
RRP: £15.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

o wow - By: Ms. F. I. Macdonald, 26 Nov 2007
i watched this at my uni library when i had a couple of hours free & i must say i was totallly bowled over. i have never seen a piece of his work that i didnt like & this is no exception, cleverly written, interesting storyline & very real characters, isnt that the basis for any good film??
Makes South Eastern Trains look poncy - By: Joseph Haschka, 27 Dec 2005
If you think European long-distance trains are the epitome of classy service, perhaps you should see CAUGHT ON A TRAIN, a British dark comedy that has similarities to 1985's AFTER HOURS in that it focuses upon the macabre, nighttime misadventures of the lead character otherwise out of his element.

Peter (Michael Kitchen, very young with lots of hair), a self-absorbed English businessman on his way to Linz, boards the Ostend to Vienna Trans European Express. Peter usuallly travels by air, but has decided this once to take to the rails just to see what it's like. Big mistake.

At first, the journey looks promising. Peter is to share his six-seat reserved compartment with a very attractive & sexy American girl, Lorraine (Wendy Raebeck). Perhaps they'll have the space to themselves? But that's not to be as other occupants crowd in, including Frau Messner (Peggy Ashcroft), an imperious, impatient, Viennese grand dame who's used to getting her way, & getting it now. She & Peter immediately lock horns as she demands, & he refuses to relinquish, his window seat. Then, Peter almost misses the train's departure as he reluctantly volunteers to make a dash to the station newsstand to get the old lady some magazines for the trip. Their relationship goes from bad to worse to bizarre such that, by the time Peter stumbles off the carriage at his destination, he's exhausted, unshaven, shirtless, mud-spattered, with a torn suit jacket, discomfited, & minus his ticket.

CAUGHT ON A TRAIN isn't a complete success. The potential provided by the Lorraine character goes nowhere for reasons that aren't immediately apparent. Indeed, her presence is such a plot dead end that I felt she should've been left out of the script entirely. The emphasis is, & rightfully should be, entirely on the manic relationship between Peter & Frau Messner, the latter both repelling & fascinating the former.

A further nice touch to the surrealism of the journey is the presence in the car of some violence-prone German rowdies who've apparently made it on board with "standing room only" tickets. (The presence of seatless passengers is still a phenomenon on main corridor European trains, & which results in the nearly impossible passageway overcrowding that I noticed with some irritation on a Frankfurt-Berlin run in 1999. It makes South Eastern Trains look positively luxurious by comparison.)

The reason I'm not awarding more than three stars is that the ending, by which time Peter & his nemesis seem to be he only passengers left on the train (trashed beyond belief - where's the staff?), is curiously unfulfilling. Peter wanders off, perhaps made a little wiser & a better person by the experience, but I wasn't convinced that he was either, or indeed cognizant of why he should be. For me, & for Peter, Frau Messner remained too much of an enigma.

"I Think You're Sitting in My Seat" - By: r0ng0r0ng0, 27 Jan 2005
This made a big impression on me when I first saw it in the 80s & it was great to find it again. Poliakoff & director Peter Duffel make a number of subtle references to "The Lady Vanishes" & other train-based classics but in this film the corridors are crowded with obnoxious passengers, the staff surley & the officials intimidating. The train & its passengers serve as a metaphor for a Europe still fighting the cold war & living with political extremists from left & right.

The whole contrast between the old order of glamorous travel for a privalaged few & the new one of near anarchy is played out between Michael Kitchen & Peggy Ashcroft's characters. It is the character development rather than the twists of the plot that are the strong points of the movie. This would have been 5 stars but some people might be lulled by the background into expecting some kind of who-done-it. If you are willing simply enjoy the great acting & direction then this is a must-see.

Classic Poliakoff - By: , 03 Mar 2004
This, apparently, dated journey on a grubby trans European train will contrast starkly with its modern equivalent. Unless of course you’re a British rail commuter when it will seem bang up to date.
Peter, an arrogant ex public schoolboy, is travelling to a Linz book fair when he meets an American girl & hopes his luck is in. However, things are complicated by the arrival in the same compartment of Frau Messener, an elderly, once upper class, Austrian who matches Peters arrogance & surpasses it with her spoilt demands.
Dame Peggy Ashcroft, whose eyes are far to young for her ageing frame, wonderfully portrays the matriarch of a falllen race. The part of Peter, played by Michael Kitchen, seems to have been written for him. Anyone who travelled in Europe in the 70’s, encountering armed border guards who seem to be in training for the next Reich, will appreciate the undertones of paranoia.
Gritty, atmospheric & delivering a sense of frustration right to the fractured end when we glimpse the potential of empathy between Peter & Frau Messener, but tantalisingly never quite make it. Not everyone’s cup of tea, hence four stars, but never the less a classic Poliakoff.