Saturday, September 11: Mississippi Mud
TICKET, PLEASE
by John M. Floyd
For today’s column I went to a familiar subject, in mystery/suspense fiction: stories that involve trains.
I’ve always liked them, because they give the reader or viewer an isolated, “closed” setting—sort of like a locked-room mystery, at times. After all, when the train’s moving no one’s going to get on or off without a bit of effort, a fact that limits the possibility of escape and increases the possibility of detection for those who’re being sought or chased. And there are always a few of those in crime fiction.
I’ve created two lists—one of train-related novels, most of which are mysteries, and one of train-related films, most of which are thrillers. (Sometimes there’s a rail-thin line between the two.) Please let me know of others that I left out; these are just some I remember most.
All aboard?
Novels:
The Edge, Dick Francis—A young security operative for the British Jockey Club masquerades as a waiter on a luxury train journey across Canada.
The Mystery of the Blue Train, Agatha Christie—A story set on the famous Train Bleu, which once shuttled the wealthy to the Riviera.
The Great Train Robbery, Michael Crichton—A dandy heist story involving a train in Victorian England. Adapted into a movie, directed by Crichton, with Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland.
The Necropolis Railway, Andrew Martin—A Jim Stringer mystery, set in 1903 London. Includes a lot of detail, and should be especially interesting if you’re a train or railway-history buff.
The Wheel Spins, Ethel Lina White—This novel, adapted into the Hitchcock movie The Lady Vanishes, is about, well, a lady vanishing. From a moving train.
4:50 From Paddington, Agatha Christie —The title in the U.S. was What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw. What she saw was a murder committed on a train traveling parallel to hers.
Stamboul Train, Graham Greene—American title, Orient Express. Probably more of an espionage story than mystery/crime. Plenty of dark humor, plus fascinating characters.
Spinsters in Jeopardy, Ngaio Marsh—Inspector Alleyn witnesses a murder while aboard a train to the French Riviera.
Strangers on a Train, Patricia Highsmith—Actually only the initial situation is set up on a railway journey, but it’s still considered a train story. This one also became a Hitchcock movie, the script co-written by Raymond Chandler.
Inspector Ghote Goes by Train, H. R. F. Keating—Ghote’s assignment begins as a vacation (a train ride across India) but turns into something more exciting.
The Seven-Percent Solution, Nicholas Meyer—A good mystery as well as an emotional character study of Sherlock Holmes; Meyer’s screenplay for the film version was nominated for an Oscar.
Bullet Train, Arei Kato—A bomb on a train, set to explode if the speed drops below 50 mph. Sound familiar? Don’t be fooled: this one’s a page-turner.
Appleby’s End, Michael Innes—The train journey happens only in the book’s opening chapter, but it’s memorable. A product of the British Golden Age of Mystery.
Movies:
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)—A subway train is hijacked in New York City. This version is, in my opinion, far better than the Denzel/Travolta remake.
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)—Adapted from the Agatha Christie mystery. A snowdrift adds yet another level of isolation to the setting.
The Train (1964)—A different kind of war movie, involving the shipping of art masterpieces from France to Germany in 1944.
Transsiberian (2008) —Two Americans traveling on the Trans-Siberia Express find themselves in the middle of murder and drug-trafficking. A Woody Harrelson film I actually liked.
From Russia With Love (1963)—Not strictly a train-based movie, although much of the action (and one of the best fight scenes ever filmed) takes place aboard the Orient Express. Some feel this is the best of the Bonds, although Goldfinger gets my vote.
Runaway Train (1985)—Edge-of-your-seat, heart-in-your-throat entertainment. It’s hard to believe this is the same Jon Voight who once played Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy.
Emporer of the North (1973)—Hobo Lee Marvin and railway conductor Ernest Borgnine face off in Oregon during the great depression.
Narrow Margin (1990)—Yet another woman who’s witnessed a murder, yet another train ride across Canada. But this time the mafia is chasing her.
Night Train (2009)—When an overdosed passenger dies and diamonds are found in his possession, his two fellow passengers and the train’s conductor cook up a scheme to dump the body and keep the loot.
Breakheart Pass (1975)—No list of mine is complete without a western. This one, adapted from the Alistair MacLean novel, features Charles Bronson on a winter railroad journey through the Nevada Territory.
The Train Killer (1998)—A mad Hungarian bomber who arranges train crashes in the 1930s tries to permanently derail the famous Orient Express.
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)—Die Hard on a train through the Rocky Mountains. Steven Seagal, again playing ex-SEAL Casey Ryback, saves the day.
Von Ryan’s Express (1965)—A captured American pilot (Frank Sinatra) leads a group of his fellow prisoners in an escape from a German POW camp.
That’s all I could come up with. I hope the items listed brought back some good memories, or maybe gave you some ideas for future reading or viewing.
Now, if you’ll excuse me . . . I think this is my stop.
If The Edge is about the great Trans-Canada train, it’s one of the rare Dick Francis novels I didn’t care for. I’m not sure what happened, but that one headed south rather than north.
Besides Breakheart Pass, Alistair MacLean framed a series of UNACO plots for television. One of those was Death Train, completed by Alastair MacNeill.
Two more may or may not be in your list, since I can recall neither author or title. In one, the plot dealt with a train that disappeared (possibly in the Chicago area). The only thing I recall is that the author loved the word ‘arguably’. (EQMM or AHMM also featured a clever story about a disappearing train.)
The other story was about a train engine shipped over water… and sunk. It almost sounds like something Clive Cussler would do, but I don’t think so. Ring any bells?
One of our CB colleagues wrote a train tale and Steve Steinbock mentions several train stories.
Leigh, I don’t know the name of either of those stories, but the first one sure sounds familiar. One of the stories in my second book of shorts is a train tale called “The Winslow Tunnel,” based on a real train from the past, and was a lot of fun to write. I think my favorite of the novels I mentioned is THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, and my favorites of the movies are probably RUNAWAY TRAIN and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, neither of which is a mystery.
I also saw a nifty little train story awhile back in an episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, but I can’t remember its name.
You forgot ON THE WRONG TRACK, my favorite in Steve Hockensmith’s wonderful Holmes on the Range series, about cowboys who (in this case) get deputized to help solve a railroad crime. Funny and clever.
I have always thought THE EDGE was Dick Francis’s nadir.
On the other hand, I like RUNAWAY TRAIN probably more than it deserves. What an ending!
Double Indemnity starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.
And part of Some Like It Hot takes place on a train.
This is embarrassing. I forgot that yours truly wrote a train short story. “Nailbiter” appeared in AHMM, and our own A Criminal Brief Christmas.
Rob’s being modest.
“Nailbiter” appeared in AHMM . . .
. . . and promptly won a Derringer.
I indeed remember “Nailbiter,” and had also forgotten about both ON THE WRONG TRACK and Cain’s DOUBLE INDEMNITY. And yes, THE EDGE wasn’t Francis’s best.
I think part of the appeal of train stories is that you don’t find many of them anymore.
By the way, I think it’s interesting that the train scene in STAND BY ME, which probably lasted a couple minutes at the most, is the one scene that stands out in my memory . . .
How about THROW MAMMA FROM THE TRAIN since Billy Crystal did want Mamma dead?
Hi John,
The first movie that came to my mind was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid because while individual trains were minor characters, the railroad overall was a major theme–and there was lots of crime!
The second was Suddenly. It chilled me to the bone, but I think that is because I was eight years old and shouldn’t have been watching a movie involving a presidential assassination attempt. Here’s the write-up from Wiki:
“Suddenly (1954) is an American film noir directed by Lewis Allen with a screenplay written by Richard Sale. The drama features Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason and Nancy Gates, among others.
The tranquility of a small town is jarred when the U.S. President is scheduled to pass through and a hired assassin takes over the Benson home as a perfect location to ambush the president.”
Of course, in those days the President traveled–wait for it–by train!
Terrie
Cindy and Terrie — Yes, I neglected to mention several memorable train tales, and I appreciate your bringing these up. I had completely forgotten SUDDENLY, and must now put it in my Netflix queue. As for Butch and Sundance and the train-delivered Superposse . . . Who ARE those guys??
I also lied, earlier: my alltime favorite train (subway?) story is THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE. Robert Shaw, Walter Matthau, Martin Balsam, and the rest were fantastic–and John Godey’s novel was just as good.
I think my favorite train story — althoug as with many others mentioned here, it’s somewhat peripherally a train story — is Robert Bloch’s “That Hell-Bound Train”.
John, thanks for this! The train that disappears is one of my favorite impossible crime themes! Arthur Conan Doyle wrote “The Lost Special” about one, and August Derleth’s Solar Pons tackles “The Adventure of the Lost Locomotive.” In Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, some of the action usually involves travel by rail. And Ellery Queen’s “Snowball In July” is one of the best vanishing train (or anything else!) stories ever! That story is included in the 1977 anthology “Midnight Specials” which includes many of the stories mentioned in these comments. (I rode a passenger train twice, back in the 70’s. I hear the lonely calls of freight trains running through town as I doze off every night.)
To Jeff, JLW, and the rest — thanks for pointing out so many train stories, novels, and movies that I either neglected to mention or didn’t even know about.