As I sat watching Silver Streak on TV, a movie I haven’t seen for about twenty years, I suddenly realised something I have always know in the back of my mind; there is something magical about movies set on trains. Air travel and the jet set should be more sexy, it probably is, but its far less cinematic, Planes are little more than a mode of transport, they are the way James Bond gets from one exotic local to another, but trains are the locations in themselves. True, plains have been the setting for movies live Air Force One, Flight Plan or Red Eye, but none of these movies offer anything new that we haven’t seen before in movies like The Narrow Margin (the 1952 original, although the Gene Hackman, Anne Archer remake isn’t bad either). The size of a train is what makes it so suitable for a film, particularly a thriller or murder mystery, they are big enough to provide the space need for the action to play out but small enough to create just enough claustrophobia and intimacy.
A common theme of train set movies if people finding love, romance or just sex on a journey. North by Northwest features one of the best seduction scenes ever as Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint flirt and seduce each other over dinner. The movie then ends with the most audacious ending as the train itself becomes a phallic symbol in the most overt of innuendos that only Hitchcock could get away with. In a lot of ways Silver Streak condenses all the ideas of North By Northwest down to a train based part of the movie with just enough action, comedy and absurdity to keep it the right side of parody.
Although only a small section of Some Like it Hot is set on a train, it is a fantastic part, not least as its where we are introduced to ‘Sugar’ Kane (Marilyn Monroe). James Bond has spent his fair share of time on train, most notably in From Russia with Love (1963). Encapsulating the romance and the danger as Bond (Sean Connery) woos Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) and fights ‘Red’ Grant (Robert Shaw). Bringing things more up to date Harry Potter first meets Hermione on the Hogwarts Express, it is also the place he first encounters the dementors. 
As the world shrinks under the weight of ever the increasing progress of technology the magic of trains in movies evaporates, but filmmakers will always find ways to bring it back. This can involve setting movies in more exotic places like The Darjeeling Limited (2007) and Transsiberian (2008) or in the past: Water for Elephants (2011). In this age of laptop computers and MP3 players I wonder how often people actually strike up a conversation with a stranger on a train anymore? That could be a good or a bad thing depending on who you talk to: Guy Haines (Farley Granger) encounters psychotic Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker), who has a plan to help him get away with murder in Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951) (adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel of the same name with a screenplay by Raymond Chandler). On the other hand in Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, American student Jesse (Ethan Hawke) has a very different experience when he meets Céline (Julie Delpy), a young French woman on her way home to Paris.
Next time you are watching a movie set on a train (and there a lot, I have only mentioned a few) have a think about the setting and if it would work anywhere else.
Fandango Groovers Movie Blog 
Hitchcock had a thing for trains: The Lady Vanishes and (of course) Strangers on a Train were both filmed in some part on a train. I like those two and Murder On the Orient Express just because they were filmed on a train.
One of my favorite train scenes is Eurotrip, where every time it gets dark, the Italian guy has shifted his position to be in close physical contact with at least one of the guys in the American group. It’s highly stupid, but remarkably funny.
Not to mention Notorious and The 39 Steps, Hitchcock liked his train scenes!
Interesting idea for a post, Andy! I think there is something very romantic about trains… Though, of course, they are a great location for a spot of murder, as Agatha Christie demonstrated!
I know it’s not strictly film-related but I really like the Chanel No 5 advert with Audrey Tautou on a train: http://youtu.be/p-ngh-9eeMo
Yes it is a great advert. Chanel adverts have become like little movies – with big directors. That one was directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet. The Nicole Kidman was directed by Baz Luhrmann. The Little Red Riding Hood one starring Estella Warren a few years ago was directed by Luc Besson with unmistakable music by Danny Elfman. Even Martin Scorcese got in on the act.
My favourite Train scenes are in Europa (Von Trier) and of course, UNDER SIEGE TWO!!! 😉
[…] My husband loves trains, and I have learned to love them as well. Our first real train trip together was on our honeymoon. The plan was to take the train from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles up to Seattle. After two nights in Seattle, we boarded another train for the scenic four-hour ride into Vancouver, BC. I can’t recall if it was a recent viewing of the classic film North by Northwest that inspired our decision, but it certainly had an effect on my imagination of what long-distance train travel in a sleeper car would be like. Flirtatious train scene from North by Northwest (borrowed from this blog) […]