Film Summary DCCXCIX (Istanbul Express)

 

You know I really wanted an Espionage movie set on a train. 
And all I got was ''An Espionage movie set on a train!" 

But it wasn't enough train. 
I was hoping for more interactions with the conductor, more weird and zanny antics involving the locomotive itself. 

John Saxon plays an art dealer who travels to Constantinople* on a luxury locomotive to acquire a rare piece of art for an eccentric collector. 
But he becomes the point of interest for a bunch of Communists looking to acquire vast sums of money out of a safety deposit box being held by the United States, So they have an easier time stealing encrypted information left behind by an American intelligence agency in the ''neutral'' country of Turkey. 
Never mind that Turkey is a NATO Nation and is actually on the western side in the Cold War Spectrum. 
But whatever.

It's a bit confusing because I didn't quite get that John Saxon character knew that he was a secret agent at the beginning. 
Perhaps that's down to my own stupidity and not paying attention to the movie. But I was just trying to enjoy a weird train based Adventure film in where crazy things happen on a luxury French train travelling through southern Europe. 
Instead we have to waste a lot of time around this stupid documents that was purposely placed by an American intelligence agency to off set the Soviets. 
Possibly the Chinese. 

They have all these great scenery to work with and all we really get is a boat chase in Venice (which admittedly is okay). 
But Istanbul**, Bulgaria and anywhere else in between. We never get to utilize it. and I feel like the film really runs out of energy after the Americans fail to offload their fake documents. It honestly should have just ended with a failed American Espionage mission.

There's potential for a good movie but it just doesn't hit the mark.


*Yes my brain went to Constantinople. 
I wasn't trying to be clever by purposely pretending not to call Istanbul. 

I blame all the Antiquated literature I constantly read. Or the Occidental obsessed world view of some of the countries who refused to acknowledge that a major hub city between the crossroads of Asia and Europe is officially called Istanbul. It was enforced quite vigorously during the 1920s because of bad Postal Service by the Western world. 

I mean we can just call it ''The City'' which is what most people called it for the last two thousand years.

**The Istanbul scenery is very 1930s Arabian stereotype inspired as well. 
It's not super offsetting for a lower grade film for the 1960s but it is still out of date. 
Also it's Turkey. 
Know your cultural stereotypes guys! 

Turks aren't Arab. It's like making a movie about stereotype Czechoslovakians and making them Irish.

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