By Meaghan Walsh Gerard
“I love trains. They make me think of places I know I’ll never see.”
I’ve always been enamored of trains in old movies. It’s probably the gloss of Old Hollywood and was never as glamorous as it appears to be on-screen, but train travel looks so romantic.
Plush cabins, sleeper cars, seated meals, large windows with a rolling view. A private cabin where you can quietly read a book without being bothered.
And then, there is the sense of adventure. You never know who you might meet traveling by rail. These classic movies include some of my favorite scenes taking place on a train.
Suspicion (1941)
This Hitchcock classic begins with a mousey Joan Fontaine doing a little light reading on child psychology. There she is greeted by a jaunty and charming, if grumpy, Cary Grant. But their seemingly chance meeting might be something more sinister.
White Christmas (1954)
Even though the boys lose their stateroom to the girls, there is plenty of fun to be had in the bar car on the train trip from Florida to Pine Tree, Vermont – mostly of a musical interlude kind.
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Another early Hitchcock film, Margaret Lockwood meets a delightful old woman in Dame Mae Witty. But when she tries to find her new friend later, she is told such a person never existed. She and Micahel Redgrave try to unravel the mystery.
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
A classic Western all about honest citizens getting a criminal safely to a specific train before his gang mates set him free. The final shootout centers around a small town and its train depot.
Night Train to Munich (1940)
Directed by Carol Reed (The Third Man) this is a tense thriller aboard a train full of people trying to escape Czechoslovakia before its fall to Nazi forces. Margaret Lockwood, Paul Henreid, and Rex Harrison star.
Terror By Night (1946)
A Sherlock Holmes adaptation starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, it bears little resemblance to the classic detective but it is a fun noir romp on its own. The pair must rout out a diamond thief (and murdered) before their train reaches its destination.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
This romantic comedy is perennially hilarious and a couple of the funniest scenes take place on a train. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis decide the best way to hide from the gangsters chasing them is to dress as women and join the all-ladies band. Of course one of the unintended benefits is hanging out with an unsuspecting Marilyn Monroe.
Meaghan Walsh Gerard has been writing about films (especially classic ones) and books (especially gothic ones) for more than ten years on her site. She is obsessed with the art of storytelling and holds a master’s degree in cinema studies. Meaghan has been a DVD Netflix member since 2003. Follow Meaghan at mwgerard.com, on Twitter @mwgerard, or Facebook and Instagram.