''Rail Pirates'' (French: ''Les pirates du rail'') is a 1938 French

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by

Christian-Jaque Christian-Jaque (byname of Christian Maudet; 4 September 1904 – 8 July 1994) was a French filmmaker. From 1954 to 1959, he was married to actress Martine Carol, who starred in several of his films, including ''Lucrèce Borgia'' (1953), '' ...

and starring

Charles Vanel Charles-Marie Vanel (21 August 1892 – 15 April 1989) was a French actor and director. During his 76-year film career, which began in 1912, he appeared in more than 200 films and worked with many prominent directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, ...

, Suzy Prim and

Erich von Stroheim Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. H ...

. It was shot at the

Victorine Studios Victorine Studios (French: Studios de la Victorine) are a film studio in the French city of Nice. They are also known as the Nice Studios. Several small studios have also existed in the city. Originally built in 1921 in an attempt to create a H ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

and on location in the

Camargue Camargue (, also , , ; oc, label= Provençal, Camarga) is a region of France located south of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône delta. The eastern arm is called the ''Grand Rhône''; the western one is the ''P ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Pierre Schild Pierre Schild (1897–1968) was a Russian Empire-born art director known for his work in French and Spanish cinema. Born Lakka Schildknecht, he left Russia following the October Revolution in 1917. Following the German invasion of France in 1940 he ...

. It is based on a novel of the same title by the Belgian writer Oscar Paul Gilbert, who also contributed to the screenplay.Goble p.180

Synopsis

Henri Pierson, an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

on a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

running through

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, tries to resist a series of bandit attacks on the train. Things come to a head when his wife Marie is taken as a hostage but the local

warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

Cast

as Henri Pierson * Suzy Prim as Jeanne Rolland *

as Tchou King *

Marcel Dalio Marcel Dalio (born Marcel Benoit Blauschild; 23 November 1899 in Paris – 18 November 1983) was a French movie actor. He had major roles in two films directed by Jean Renoir, ''La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and ''The Rules of the Game'' (1939). ...

as Le mercenaire *

Simone Renant Simone Renant (19 March 1911 – 29 March 2004) was a French film actress. She appeared in more than 40 films between 1934 and 1983. She was born in Amiens, France and died in Garches, France. Partial filmography * ''La folle nuit'' (1932 ...

as Marie Pierson *

Héléna Manson Elena Eugenia Manson (18 August 1898 – 15 September 1994) was a French film actress. She appeared in more than 100 films between 1925 and 1989. Selected filmography * ''La vocation d'André Carel'' (1925) – L'amoureuse de Cardan * ''Th ...

as Madame Teysseire *

Lucas Gridoux Lucas Gridoux (16 April 1896 – 22 April 1952) was a Romanian-born French stage and film actor.Lanzoni p. 99 Biography He was born in 1896 in Herța, at the time in Dorohoi County, Kingdom of Romania. After emigrating to France, Gridoux began h ...

as Le général Tsai *

Georges Tourreil Georges may refer to: Places * Georges River, New South Wales, Australia * Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

as Teysseire *

Jean Périer Jean (Alexis) Périer (2 February 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French operatic baryton-martin and actor. Although he sang principally within the operetta repertoire, Périer did portray a number of opera roles; mostly within operas by Wolfgang ...

as Le Docteur Bureau *

Doumel Louis Alfred Doumet, known by his stage name of Doumel, (born 2 December 1889 in Marseille; died 23 May 1954 in Reillanne) was a French actor and comedian active in the inter-war years. Biography Having moved to Paris thanks to the passion for t ...

as Morganti *

Marcel André Marcel André (2 January 1885–13 October 1974) was a French film actor.Goble p.87 Selected filmography * ''Si l'empereur savait ça'' (1930) - Albert (Master of the Horse) * ''Soyons gais'' (1930) - Townley * ''Le père célibataire'' (1931) * ...

as Ulrich *

Ky Duyen KY or Ky may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Ky Kiske, a fictional character in the ''Guilty Gear'' video game series * Kashiyatra, a festival in India People * Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (1930-2011), South Vietnamese general and prime minister * ...

as Le lieutenant *

Régine Dancourt Regine () or Régine is a feminine given name. Regine is a German-French form of Regina, and Régine is a French form of Regina. People with the first name include: Regine * Regine Heitzer (born 1944), Austrian figure skater * Regine Hildebrandt ...

as Mme. Lauref *

Jacques Dumesnil Jacques Dumesnil (born Marie Émile Eugène André Joly; November 9, 1903 – May 8, 1998) was a French film and television actor. Early life Jacques Dumesnil was born as Marie Émile Eugène André Joly on November 9, 1903 in Paris, France ...

as André Rolland *

Valéry Inkijinoff Valery Ivanovich Inkizhinov (russian: Валерий Иванович Инкижинов; 25 March 1895 – 26 September 1973), known as Valéry Inkijinoff, was a Russian actor, director and acting teacher. Born to a Buryat family in Irkutsk, h ...

as Wang * Michel André as Brocard *

Pierre Nay Pierre Nay (1898–1978) was a French film actor who appeared in 42 French films between 1928 and 1940.Jung & Schatzberg p.223 Selected filmography * '' Le Roi des resquilleurs'' (1930) * ''Venetian Nights'' (1931) * '' 77 Rue Chalgrin '' (1931) * ...

as Bernard *

Marcel Maupi Marcel Maupi, stage name of Marcel Louis Alexandre Barberin or Maupi, (6 November 1881, Marseille – 4 January 1949, Antibes) was a French actor. Selected filmography * ''Dance Hall'' (1931) * '' Marius'' (1931) * '' Fanny'' (1932) * '' The Iron ...

as Titin

References

Bibliography

* Crisp, Colin. ''French Cinema—A Critical Filmography: Volume 1, 1929-1939''. Indiana University Press, 2015. * Evans, Martin. ''Empire and Culture: The French Experience, 1830-1940''. Springer, 2004. * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. * Lennig, Arthur. ''Stroheim''. University Press of Kentucky, 2004.

External links

* 1938 films 1930s French-language films Films directed by Christian-Jaque 1938 adventure films French adventure films French black-and-white films Films set in China 1930s French films Films shot at Victorine Studios Rail transport films Films based on Belgian novels {{1930s-France-film-stub Fr:Les Pirates du rail