Der Geisterzug / The Ghost Train / Le Train fantôme (1927)

Geza von Bolvary: Der Geisterzug / The Ghost Train / Le Train fantôme (1927). Photo from the IMDb.

Geza von Bolvary: Der Geisterzug / The Ghost Train / Le Train fantôme (1927). Photo of the Dutch poster from the IMDb.

THE GHOST TRAIN / DER GEISTERZUG / LE TRAIN FANTÔME / Kummitusjuna (Gainsborough Pictures / Ufa (FPG Film der Phoebus-Film AG), GB/DE 1927)
    Dir: Geza von Bolvary; prod: Michael Balcon, Hermann Fellner; sc: Benno Vigny, Adolf Lantz, based on the 1925 play by Arnold Ridley; ph: Otto Kanturek; des: O. F. Werndorff; cast: Guy Newall, Ilse Bois, Louis Ralph, Hilde Jennings, John Manners, Agnes Korolenko, Ernest Verebes; trade show: 8.1927; rel: 19.3.1928; 35 mm, 6471 ft, 78’ (22 fps), BFI / National Film and Television Archive.
    Didascalie in francese / French intertitles.
    Grand piano: Neil Brand.
    Viewed at Teatro Zancanaro, Sacile, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM) / Asquith e gli altri, 13 Oct 2004.

Bryony Dixon (GCM): "This is the first adaptation of the much filmed, and very successful, comic thriller concerning a party of travellers stranded at a haunted railway station. The film too became more successful than its producers had at first expected, partly due to good writing and pacing, which allows an ensemble cast of character actors to incorporate comic business seamlessly into a standard “supernatural” melodrama plot. A staple of amateur dramatic societies, The Ghost Train had a natural cross-over audience, in much the same way as other works of the genre like The Cat and the Canary, and every comic actor in the business wanted to interpret the lead roles."

"The film was shot in Germany by arrangement with producers Fellner & Somlo, by director Geza von Bolvary and cameraman Otto Kanturek, who get the best out of the potentially static setting by deft camerawork, atmospheric lighting, and a plethora of cinematic tricks, including travelling shots, montage scenes, double exposures, and animated titles. The plum roles are played by the very funny Ilse Bois, as a campaigning teetotaller who gets drunk by accident, and the charismatic Guy Newall, in that classic role for British male leads, the “Silly Ass” who turns out to be anything but." – Bryony Dixon (GCM)

AA: Screened: version française. A mediocre comedy with stock characters. Actual duration of the screening: 91'50" = 92 min.