Horror Express

0:00LeeGood evening, and welcome to horror. I'm Lee.

0:21AdamI'm Chris.

0:37ChrisI'm Adam.

0:37LeeAnd we are here this evening to discuss the 1972 movie Horror Express.

0:57Adam50, 50 years ago.

0:57LeeYes.

0:57ChrisYes.

0:57LeeI think you know how long it took me to watch this film.

0:57Leewe, this is the first of our listener request month, of which there are two movies. This is the first, chosen by Pinball Bobby.

0:57Leethere will be spoilers, there will be swearing, and regardless of what I think of this film, I love you very much, Bobby. I'd just like to put that out there.

1:04AdamAnd I'd like to say, I love you even more.

1:07LeeOh, well, there you go.

1:09AdamThere will be fights a-plenty coming up, I think.

1:13ChrisBobby has been pressing for some time for us to cover Horror Express.

1:17ChrisSo clearly the gods were in his favor.

1:21AdamYes.

1:21ChrisAnd when that it got picked.

1:24AdamThe alien gods perhaps.

1:26ChrisYes.

1:26ChrisI think you'll appreciate this, Bobby, when I say that we choose you.

1:31LeeOkay. So, as this is your first viewing of it, Chris, what did you make of Horror Express?

1:41AdamWell, I think I may have given a little hint there, but for me, right, you know, so I, I think I heard you mention a little bit of what we were to expect, so I think Adam said something like a monkey alien on a train.

1:56AdamHe probably said it better than that, but that's kind of what was left in my head.

2:00AdamIt was it was something like that. And, and so I thought,

2:03ChrisI think he was like an alien Yeti on a train.

2:06AdamOh, could have been, yeah. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and then Telly Savalas turns up.

2:13AdamOh, I don't know Telly Savalas, but I got to say I, I definitely like a lot of these actors, right?

2:19AdamBut so yeah, so I'm thinking, it's it's it's roughly 50 years ago. I didn't know it was exactly 50 years ago, roughly that. How good are they going to make something that's a bit sci-fi, a bit horror, on a train?

2:32Adamit's got Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. They could probably play golf for an hour, and I'd be happy watching them. I'm not a big fan of sport. No, no dissing golf anyone, but I just don't watch much sport. Right, anyway.

2:42AdamSo I thought, it'll be fine.

2:43AdamYeah, I thought it'd be fine. I can watch that. It doesn't matter.

2:47AdamAnd I was very pleasantly surprised.

2:50AdamIt's got a little bit of everything.

2:51AdamIt's it's definitely got a bit of comedy in there, it's got some I think decent enough gore for the time.

3:00Adamit's got a fascinating cast of characters and the way they play off each other, and a bit of rivalry between Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

3:09AdamBut, you know, then they get on and they're the British gentlemen trying to be noble till the end and getting whacked in the stomach for their efforts.

3:18AdamIt's just it covers everything.

3:21ChrisCan I just, can I just say at that point, Chris, you've just reminded me.

3:25ChrisHow oddly shocking is that?

3:27AdamWhat, when they get whacked?

3:29ChrisWhen Telly Savalas, Christopher Lee gets whacked, butt of a gun to the stomach, and then Peter Cushing gets one to the fucking small of the back.

3:38AdamI did think if I didn't know beforehand, I won't be messing with any Kosaks.

3:43AdamIt's because and, and that, the, the captain, what was his name, Kazzan? I mean, he is a character.

3:50ChrisWell, yeah, well, Telly Savalas is a character.

3:53ChrisI think that's it, he's really.

3:54AdamRight, okay. Telly Savalas turns up. I'm not sure if Captain.

3:58ChrisRight, well.

3:59AdamWell, I got to say, we need to watch something else with him in it then.

4:03ChrisOh, well, there's, there's plenty I can recommend, definitely.

4:07ChrisWe'll get into that.

4:08AdamSo it's I'm going to say, yeah, this is a definite great fun.

4:13ChrisI'm so glad you, I'm so glad you enjoyed this, Chris, because yeah.

4:18ChrisI read I'll, I can't remember the name, but of the author, but I read there's a series of books called The Midnight Movie Monographs.

4:27AdamOkay.

4:27ChrisAnd I read they've done one on this, and I read that like in prep for this.

4:34ChrisBecause it was like, I bought it. I've actually now finally got to read it. And it's brilliant.

4:39ChrisI like the fact because I've read it. It's the first book I've read in probably like almost like half a year.

4:46ChrisIt's, yeah.

4:47ChrisAnd but he has this sort of, one thing that he talks about in it,

4:55Chrisis that it's kind of this weird parallel that it's like Hammer, the same year Hammer do, To the Devil a Daughter, which he'll eventually, will probably eventually see.

5:07AdamWe will.

5:08ChrisBut it's, but it's considered to be the last Hammer horror film, or the like the last of the original run.

5:15AdamYeah.

5:16Chrisbecause obviously I know they've done other stuff and Woman in Black and things like that.

5:20ChrisBut yeah, so that's like, so the same year that Hammer finish doing horror, you get this where you've got the two Hammer stars.

5:30ChrisAnd but then like in terms of the horror genre, you start getting a lot of the stuff coming in from Europe and Italy, a lot of which is actually older, but is finally getting a release and so people are seeing these things and stuff like that.

5:45ChrisAnd also just horror in general goes a bit grimy and a bit more gory and just a bit more, yeah.

5:53AdamOkay. Yeah, I could see that. I suppose.

5:56ChrisAnd it's like a weird, like interesting, sort of transition point.

6:01ChrisBut, yeah. Now I'm, and I think to be honest, it's that element, that sort of 70s element more like Death Line or the say. I think that's probably Lee's least favorite aspect of the film.

6:16AdamYeah, in fact, in fact, I remember when we watched Death Line, Lee was like, I like this a lot more now we've talked about it.

6:22AdamI'm pretty sure that was Death Line.

6:24ChrisI think Death Line, you just need to never take Death Line seriously.

6:28AdamYeah. I reckon if we watched this together, you'd get a lot more from it.

6:32AdamBut like, look, let's let's give you a chance, go on.

6:35LeeI was going to say, funny enough, so this film I've tried to watch the first time, so in the last 10 years, I've tried twice to watch it.

6:43LeeI've got about 15, 20 minutes in and just been bored shitless.

6:47Leeand then last year, I finally managed to make it all the way through because I watched it with Lady Jennifer and we just took the piss out of it all the way through, so I got right to the end.

6:59LeeToday, I'm not exaggerating, it took me five hours to watch this film.

7:05LeeI watched 20 minutes and I was like, oh, thank God I didn't buff the dog yesterday. Right, that's it, I'm going to go out and buff the dog. So I paused it. I went outside and I buffed the dog.

7:15LeeThen I came in, I put it back on for 15 minutes, then I stopped it. I had a bit of lunch, I took the bottles to the bottle bank. I went to the furthest bottle bank I could find, so I could drive drive aimlessly about.

7:27LeeI was like, right, I'm going to sit down, I'm going to finish this. I got maybe another 20 minutes in and I was like, oh, screw this, I'm taking the dog for a walk now. So I stopped it, and I took the dog for a walk. It took me five goes. I watched this film in five segments.

7:40AdamWell, no one can doubt your tenacity, Lee.

7:43AdamThat, that is.

7:44LeeHonestly, it got to the point where I was like, how pissed off are they going to be if I said, I'm happy to talk about this film, but I only watched half of it and I could not finish. But I thought, no, we have listeners, they have requested this movie, so I shall stick it out. But God, I hated every minute of it.

8:02AdamSo look, I'm I'm trying to think the first 20 minutes, not a lot happens, as far as I can remember, but you get hints at what's going on. I liked, straight away, I liked a bit of rivalry between Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee there.

8:14AdamAnd, and yeah, you're seeing the characters. You get an idea about what's going on.

8:18AdamAnd then it somehow it just kept building for me all the way through to the end.

8:22ChrisI think you'd have to agree, Lee, that it's Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are particularly fucking good in this.

8:29AdamOh, they are astonishing.

8:31ChrisThey are really, really good.

8:33ChrisAnd but also their sort of playing off each other is really.

8:38AdamYeah.

8:39ChrisRight.

8:40LeeThey're they're doing the they're playing their perfect roles.

8:44LeePeter Cushing is being absolutely sweet and a lovely darling.

8:49LeeChristopher Lee is being an absolute pompous belly the entire film.

8:54ChrisBut also, but I love the fact, although Peter Cushing is an absolute darling, he's also a bit like, he's like when he's like, I do want to see her, what's in that crate, so I'll bribe the and when he bribes his way onto the train.

9:10LeeYeah.

9:11AdamAnd also, also when he's asked if he's a doctor or something.

9:13ChrisJust corruption.

9:13AdamBut when he's asked if he's a doctor as well, and he's like, well, I'll finish my meal first.

9:19AdamIt's like, is that how things used to be? I kind of don't think they would happen now.

9:23LeeI do like that, I did like the line when they were saying, you know, we need to work out who the monster is, and he said, well, how do I know? He said, you're not a viewer, and he said, we're British.

9:33LeeMonster.

9:34ChrisWe're British.

9:36ChrisIt's, I mean, yeah. And that's kind of what they're offering in a in a lovely way.

9:42ChrisBut I mean, I, I know that I know we want to sort of like, I know we want to crack through this and everything, but I've really got to tell you the sort of tale of Lee and Cushing with this film.

9:54ChrisSo, so Christopher Lee was the first one to come on board with it, and he suggested Peter Cushing to play Dr. Wells.

10:04AdamOh.

10:04ChrisAnd because January 1971, Peter Cushing lost his wife.

10:10ChrisAnd as we've discussed a lot of times on the show, that was absolutely devastating to him.

10:16ChrisHe regularly sort of, all the way for the rest of his life, whenever he was interviewed, he would just describe himself as, well, I'm pottering along until I get to die so I can see my wife again.

10:27ChrisAnd and he's like, you know, he is utterly bereft.

10:31ChrisAnd Christopher Lee's like, oh, well, you know, I want to keep I'll keep him working.

10:36ChrisBecause he thought that was the best method to keep him from further into depression, you know.

10:42AdamYeah, yeah, possibly.

10:42ChrisSo and this was filmed in December of 19, sorry, January '71 was when he lost his wife. This was filmed in January, in December '71.

10:51ChrisSo, in a way, it was like coming up to his first Christmas without her, very, you know.

10:57ChrisAnd I think, yeah, Christopher Lee was like, well, if he's working, he'll be thinking about that and, you know, it'll take his, you know, hopefully helping through it.

11:06AdamYeah, definitely.

11:06ChrisBut then Peter Cushing then did try to pull out,

11:12Chrisand he rang the because obviously this is like a Spanish English co-production.

11:19ChrisAnd so it's mainly Spanish crew and then you've got the two British stars essentially.

11:23ChrisBut the yeah, so Peter Cushing spoke to the agent for the British end of it,

11:34Chrisand said tried to pull out.

11:35ChrisAnd the bloke said, yeah, you can do that, but you've got to you've still got to make the journey and tell the producer to his face there.

11:43ChrisBecause he thought, oh, you know, that'll probably.

11:47AdamWhat he thinks?

11:47ChrisHe he'll put him off, yeah.

11:48AdamYeah.

11:48ChrisSo, so and the producer, Berman Golden, no one told him this was what was happening.

11:57ChrisSo Peter Cushing, he went he went to collect Peter Cushing from the airport, just expecting Peter Cushing's here to start work.

12:04ChrisAnd then Peter Cushing explained to him that he didn't want to, you know, he didn't want to appear.

12:10ChrisSo, so Golden then spoke to Christopher Lee and like asked him to sort of step in and organized a meal for the three of them to resolve the issue, or hopefully encourage Peter Cushing to stay.

12:25ChrisAnd this ended up being like a a monologue of Christopher Lee reminiscing over the previous films that him and Peter Cushing had worked on, and the other two were sort of sitting there not really talking, just eating eating the meal.

12:41ChrisBut apparently it sort of the next day, Peter Cushing arrived on set, ready to begin.

12:50ChrisAnd as you can imagine after some profuse apologies for causing any trouble, he didn't mention it again.

12:56ChrisBut and this is the key bit that gets me and it's it this I thought was just like, because again, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, like you say, they're both fulfilling what you feel they are in real life.

13:09AdamYeah.

13:09ChrisAnd but this is just so lovely.

13:12ChrisSo Peter Cushing was still deeply distressed and began to suffer night terrors.

13:18ChrisSo Christopher Lee took to sleeping in his bed with him.

13:23LeeOh.

13:24ChrisSo I mean, so he would awaken in unfamiliar because he was waking up in unfamiliar surroundings, so he thought, well if I'm there, he knows where he is.

13:32ChrisAnd it's just such a.

13:35LeeThat is a sweet story.

13:37ChrisYeah, it's so sweet. They are just, you know, I think something about Peter Cushing brings out the absolute heart in Christopher Lee, it's just like really lovely.

13:47ChrisBut also, I cannot help but picture them as Eric and Ernie.

13:53LeeYeah.

13:53ChrisBoth sat there in pajamas like Morecambe and Wise and just,

13:56Chrisand just, you know, police car goes, he's not going to sell many ice creams going at that speed.

14:04LeeI just, yeah, it was just such a lovely thing that I had to sort of like, it was of all the sort of background stuff on the film, it was like the most sort of like just really lovely. You know, I just thought, fantastic.

14:17AdamBut has that been enough to turn Lee?

14:19LeeNo, no, definitely not.

14:20LeeBut I mean, but watching it again, I can definitely see why Bobby loves it, because I think I said it when, when we covered this on the what you've been watching and I watched it.

14:28LeeThis is just the thing on a train.

14:31LeeIt's exactly the same as The Thing.

14:33ChrisYeah.

14:34ChrisIt's.

14:34LeeYeah, but badly shot with a terrible score that doesn't go with the film.

14:40AdamYou watch your mouth out.

14:41LeeIt's all shaky cam. It's, oh, yeah, it's just appalling, it's badly paced.

14:48AdamI'll have you, I'll have you know that the composer worked on Columbo.

14:54LeeYeah.

14:54ChrisHe knows how to do a 70s.

14:56AdamThat's that's what adds that extra little mystery element to it.

15:01LeeBut but this is, see, this is what I was thinking earlier as well. It feels like it should have been a mystery, except there was no mystery because we knew who the alien was in at all times.

15:11LeeSo it should have been like a bit like The Thing where you're like, well, who is it? Which one is it?

15:15AdamYeah, yeah, you get that ambiguity. We don't know more than them.

15:18LeeYeah, but with this, you know, And it's like, so there's no mystery to it.

15:23LeeThere's no like, and yeah, and it just yeah.

15:28AdamSo I could I mean, right sometimes that would bother me, but for some reason, with this, it didn't. I felt like it was still interesting to see it play out with all of them.

15:35AdamAnd who who's going to trust who and.

15:39ChrisIt was nice, it's nice to be in that omniscient position.

15:42AdamYeah. Yeah, yeah, I suppose.

15:44ChrisBut also in a weird way, because I was thinking it's a bit like Agatha Christie's The Thing.

15:50AdamYeah.

15:51ChrisBut again, with Agatha Christie, you don't know who's done it.

15:55LeeYeah.

15:55ChrisBut then oddly enough with Columbo, you do, so that's again, that's the connection.

16:00AdamThat's it.

16:00ChrisIt's I'm going to I'm going to mention this because we'll talk about it anyway, we've we've fucking got to.

16:05ChrisOh, and another thing, I never knew this, the two writers of this wrote Psychomania, which is another one that Lee's not keen on, but I know that Bobby fucking is because it's dog mental.

16:18LeeI cannot, cannot abide Psychomania. Oh, I'll gladly watch it and yeah, take what you can friends, but.

16:24ChrisAnd again that soundtrack, but yeah.

16:26Chrisbut yeah, they, but the guy who did the music is a guy called John Kakavas.

16:32Chrishe bumped into Telly Savalas in London and was just sort of like they got talking.

16:41ChrisAnd Telly Savalas was like, right, you're a composer, come and have a listen to these recordings, because Telly Savalas did have a a singing career as well.

16:51ChrisHe's kind of like, he was kind of like Bruce Willis in the 70s.

16:54AdamOkay.

16:54ChrisIn the, also sang.

16:56ChrisBut, you know, but was mainly turning up in action and tough roles and stuff like that, you know.

17:01AdamHe he does look the part for it.

17:04ChrisYeah. But he so he played this he played John Kakavas's, like his solo stuff that he was recording, and he was like, what do you think of it? But not much.

17:15ChrisAnd he was like, well, if you can if you can do better, could you record me?

17:20ChrisAnd it was like, yeah, if you get me a gig on like in the film industry, like if you get me on some project. Yeah, we'll and that's how they cut the deal.

17:28ChrisAnd that's the reason he's the composer on this, because, yeah.

17:32ChrisAnd then but this guy then went on to do, like I say, he did like loads, mostly television, but he also did Kojak, which was obviously Telly Savalas's like most famous role, like the cop, who was a cop show from the 70s, Chris.

17:46AdamYeah, where I'd heard of it. I have never seen one.

17:49ChrisBut yeah, it's just it's just Captain Kazaan walking around in shades and a lollipop saying, who loves you baby?

17:55AdamI think I might have to check one of those out.

17:58LeeWhat I love is he just turned up and out pricks Christopher Lee. Christopher Lee is such an obnoxious belly, and then it's like, yeah, but not as much as this massive wanker just turned up.

18:10ChrisIt is, it's like, oh, I've been putting, because I think it's also lovely because you kind of get to this point where they've kind of muddled through.

18:19AdamYeah.

18:19ChrisAnd they're like, they're getting to the point where it's like, right, I've and clearly Christopher Lee has worked out, well if I turn the lights off, we'll punch the guy whose eyes are glowing red.

18:28AdamYeah.

18:29ChrisSo like, but he's just they're sort of kind of just about to do that.

18:34ChrisAnd like I say, up until this point, murder on the Orient Express.

18:38ChrisAnd Chris, have you ever seen Blazing Saddles?

18:42AdamNo.

18:44ChrisRight, because at the very end of Blazing Saddles, the Mel Brooks film,

18:48Christhe the a fight that's taking place in Blazing Saddles crashes through into another set of another film, of like a musical.

19:01AdamOkay.

19:01ChrisAnd like the the director of the musical was going, stop, stop, stop. how dare you come onto my set.

19:08ChrisAnd one of the cowboys just guns up to him and just goes, piss on you, I work for Mel Brooks, and then punches him.

19:17ChrisAnd it's kind of what happens in this.

19:20ChrisIs it's like Telly Savalas was in another film.

19:22AdamYeah.

19:22ChrisAnd he just turned up and thought, oh, I'm going to take care of business in this film for the 16 minutes before I get killed.

19:31AdamI can definitely see how it would look like that if, yeah, if you've seen him playing this kind of role elsewhere.

19:38ChrisNot only that, but it's also I looked, it's dead on an hour.

19:43LeeYeah, I I noticed that as well.

19:45LeeIt's an hour when he turns up.

19:45ChrisIt's dead on the hour that it's like the first time you see Telly Savalas.

19:48ChrisAnd it's just sort of, you know.

19:49LeeAnd he is funny. He turns up and starts slagging all these rich people off and calling them peasants. And it's like, I've just seen you sleeping on the floor next to a fire in a shed with a prostitute. Don't start coming in here and acting the big I am with all these rich people.

20:05AdamI get the impression that he makes his own reality. He does not care what the real one is. It's whatever he says it is.

20:12ChrisI'm I'm now thinking of like having Captain Kazaan just as that, like a sort of metafictional character who creates his own realities and therefore just blips through into other people's films.

20:26ChrisAnd just like, you know, you just be halfway through Four Weddings and a Funeral and they're just doing like, you know, like the wedding speech or whatever like that. And then Kazaan turns in, beats a few people up, steals all their vodka, then fucks off.

20:41LeeBut it wasn't just him, it was Rasputin.

20:44LeeWhy was Rasputin in this film?

20:46LeeWhat was that all about?

20:48LeeThat was definitely Rasputin.

20:49LeeI know they called him something else.

20:50ChrisOh, no, it is purely that is the character that he is there to be.

20:55ChrisIf if they could have called him Rasputin, I think he's probably too, there might be people who could sue.

21:01LeeYeah.

21:02ChrisIt is it is sort of, yeah, he is a very Rasputin-like figure.

21:07Chrisinterestingly enough, because it's a lot of Italian and Spanish films, because they were going to be dubbed for various markets.

21:15ChrisLike they to make money, they had to do an English dub, so they just didn't record the sound and then dub the, dialogue and sound effects afterwards.

21:24Chrisbut for this, Telly Savalas did his own voice, and Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing did their own voices.

21:31ChrisSo although they weren't recorded, they did go and record their own dubbing.

21:34Chrisbut the guy who plays who dubs for the Rasputin.

21:39Chrisis a guy called Robert Rietti.

21:43ChrisWho basically was indistinct foreign voice for years. He was just he just overdubbed anyone who was basically non-Caucasian in any sort of films or whatever like that.

22:01ChrisBut, and you'll know him because he's very much he's like about eight different fucking Bond villains for a start.

22:09ChrisAnd it's it's, that is what you say, Mr. Bond.

22:14ChrisIt's that voice.

22:15AdamYeah.

22:16ChrisAnd yeah. And suddenly but again, when I'm watching this, I'm like, yeah, I can hear it. I can really hear that through.

22:23ChrisBut yeah, no, Rasputin is an interesting choice.

22:26ChrisAnd I also like the fact that, I mean, this is how deeply I was watching it.

22:30ChrisI was like, so, is the priest following him because although he's a man of God, this character as far as he is concerned is Satan. And so therefore Satan is the only thing that has ever proved to him of supernatural that would imply that there is a God.

22:46ChrisAnd that just takes him to work. And then I was like, no, I think I might be overthinking Horror Express.

22:52AdamPossibly.

22:52AdamBecause there's no plot so you've got loads of time to think because there's this all going on.

22:58LeeI sat like I I the thing is, I got to the end and I've written it down with a big ring around it, why was the alien killing everybody? It was never explained what it was doing, to kill.

23:08AdamWell, wait, wait, wait, look, look, here's in fact, this is where we could have that argument of I might like to try and understand the alien.

23:15AdamAnd you'd be like, no, just kill it. It's killing people, kill it, right?

23:18AdamBut I would say it's a little bit like, you know, we kill things without necessarily seeing that it's important.

23:26LeeYeah, yeah, but you wouldn't be like, I'm on a train, I've inhabited this body, I would like to go without being noticed. So what I'm going to do is boil lots of people's brains.

23:37AdamWell, no, but but it didn't start with a sort of a modern intellect, did it? It essentially, because you if you take a human back, back when it was frozen, humans were useless practically. It's the only reason we're good is because we have we have books and yeah, so we would be primitive if we had no knowledge.

23:55LeeBut once he once he'd killed the guy on the platform, it would have been like.

23:59AdamWell, maybe maybe he was not he was not fully appreciating the complexities of a train filled with.

24:06ChrisIt does mean that you get a Siberian alien snow Yeti picking a lock.

24:14AdamYeah.

24:14ChrisWhich is just.

24:15AdamYeah, well, that's the bit he learned. There you go.

24:17ChrisBut but no, but I love the fact that that is supposedly literally all he's learned from that fate.

24:24AdamYeah.

24:25ChrisThat's why he was so good. He just he never thought about anything else.

24:31ChrisHe was a he was like a sort of top-level athlete of, lock-picking.

24:31LeeAnd and just like, I guess it's a horror film, I guess it's the 70s, there is some shaky science going on in the 70s, in film in general.

24:41LeeBut the idea that everything that the eye has seen is saved in the liquid, and if you look in the eye, you can see everything it's ever seen.

24:52AdamYeah.

24:52AdamYeah.

24:52AdamLike it's ridiculous.

24:53LeeLike it's a human eye. Like I know it's got an alien inhabiting that body, but.

24:59AdamBut but it was quite a nice like it made no sense, but it was quite a nice.

25:05ChrisIt's it's a weirdly enough, it's actually based on a myth.

25:09ChrisThat has been.

25:10AdamWasn't that like homeopathy?

25:12ChrisIt was it was around the like there was this theory because loads of people kept trying to do it.

25:19Chrislike loads of sort of doctors and coroners and stuff were trying to photograph people's eyes because they were convinced that the final image would be recorded on the not not like.

25:30AdamWell, yeah, we had that with the Mark Hamill one that Lee hated as well.

25:35LeeYeah, see shaky science.

25:37AdamYeah. No normally I don't like that, but I completely gave that a free ride in this.

25:43ChrisAlso shaky, if you want real shaky science, the bumps and creases of your brain are not, the bumps and creases don't disappear.

25:51AdamYeah, I've made a note of that as well. Don't you worry.

25:55AdamBut that's why I felt like this was it was fun enough that I didn't care too much about that.

26:02AdamIt was like, no, this this is not I don't I don't need to take this one too seriously.

26:09AdamIt's a fun alien train romp with a bit of horror and a bit of gore.

26:14ChrisI mean, in terms of the budget as well, for what it is, you know, it's clearly very low budget.

26:21ChrisBut you've got some actually quite good.

26:24ChrisI like the alien eye effects.

26:26AdamYeah, the red eyes looks really good.

26:28ChrisThey work better when they're on the actor who they obviously originally did them for.

26:34ChrisBecause I'm pretty sure they just reuse the same ones on Rasputin, and it was a bit, yeah.

26:40ChrisBut but also like you get that shot at the start of of the train.

26:45ChrisAfter that,

26:46Christhis is all a model.

26:48AdamYeah.

26:48ChrisAll the train, all the train in this is a model after that first shot.

26:53ChrisAnd it was a model left over from the director's previous film, a film called, Pancho Villa, but which had Telly Savalas in it.

27:02ChrisBut yeah, he he just reused that.

27:04ChrisAnd they had, they had a corridor and a carriage, and they just had to redress it for for different parts of the train.

27:13AdamWow.

27:13ChrisSo, and but they had blow-ups of train carriages on rollers. So at the end of each one, they would sort of swing and look like you could see beyond on the train.

27:25ChrisIt's like really quite interesting little false perspective thing they did.

27:29LeeThis was my other thing that I made a note on. Sorry, just to pick more holes in it.

27:35LeeAt the end where they said, Moscow have said, can we change the points? And they said, well, it'll kill everyone. Who was in Moscow? How did they know what was going on in the train? Why did they want to kill everybody?

27:51LeeLike if if they just wanted the the alien dead, but nobody in Moscow knew the alien was on the train. So what was all that about?

28:00ChrisI assumed it was when Christopher Lee goes in and finds the telegraph was not sent.

28:06ChrisI assume that Christopher Lee then telegraphs.

28:08ChrisBecause they sort of just leave that and then nothing happens.

28:12LeeYeah.

28:12LeeI assumed he called for the cops because they got on at the next station. So I assumed somebody had sent the message. But why that message was forwarded to Moscow, who then said, kill everyone on the train, is just a mystery that will never be answered.

28:29ChrisWell, it's a mystery because we're never quite sure, Christopher Lee is clearly funded by the Russian government.

28:36ChrisYou know, that that expedition is on their money. So were they always, is it like when Yutani were like always trying to find like some alien, you know.

28:46AdamTo use as a weapon.

28:48ChrisI'm just going to give you, probably because it's the only time he's going to appear, I will give you a breakdown on Mr. Aristotle Savalas, they'll Telly Savalas.

28:58Chriswho was born to Greek immigrant parents in New York.

29:01ChrisHe was 37 before he started had a an on-screen role.

29:05ChrisHe sort of just drifted into.

29:08ChrisIt sort of been a news, it sort of done loads of stuff and been a news vendor, a radio presenter, a lifeguard.

29:16ChrisDuring this time he tried to save a man who unfortunately drowned while the man's children stood by crying and, telling their dad to wake up.

29:25ChrisSo he, that obviously stuck with him. So he became like a real campaigner on water safety and obviously, make sure he's going to switch.

29:34Chrisyeah, and he basically covered for a friend who couldn't make an audition and got the part.

29:40ChrisAnd that's how he ended up acting.

29:42LeeNice.

29:42ChrisAnd he sort of like so he,

29:45Chrisbut he at one I think they were doing he was playing his pilot in The Greatest Story Ever Told.

29:52ChrisWhich is when he first shaved his head.

29:55ChrisAnd then just stuck with it.

29:57ChrisI think it was like, I'm going fucking bold.

30:00LeeBut.

30:00AdamIt works.

30:01ChrisAnd it it works. It's the, what's his name, Patrick Stewart.

30:05AdamYeah.

30:05ChrisYou know.

30:06ChrisStay bold, yeah.

30:07ChrisYou just don't look any different.

30:09Chrisas well.

30:10ChrisBut yeah, so he's in The Dirty Dozen.

30:13ChrisHe's Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, making him the only American to play the part and the first American Bond film.

30:21Chrishe's then portrayed the role of Lieutenant Theo Kojak in The Marcus Nelson Murders, which was a TV movie that then spun off to Kojak for five seasons.

30:30Chrishe also had a music career as we mentioned earlier.

30:32ChrisHe had a UK number one with If.

30:36Chrisa cover, you know, cover.

30:38AdamI'm going to have to look at this, yeah.

30:42ChrisYeah.

30:42Chris

30:42Chriswhile in in the late 70s, whilst working a great deal in Europe, he provided narration for three UK travelogue shorts.

30:42Chris

30:51ChrisTelly Savalas looks at Portsmouth, looks at Aberdeen, and looks at Birmingham.

30:54ChrisI've seen looks at Birmingham.

30:56Chrisdied the day after his 72nd birthday.

30:59ChrisSo I'm assuming that was a real party.

30:59Chris

31:02Chrisbut yeah, just stuff to check him out in. He's in Cape Fear.

31:07ChrisThe Dirty Dozen, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

31:08ChrisFilm I think you'd love Lee.

31:10ChrisHe's in a film called The Assassination Bureau, him, Oliver Reed, and Diana Rigg, and it's basically like a steampunk adventure across Europe, where

31:20ChrisOliver Reed's the head of a assassin assassination bureau and then decides to get his team to kill him.

31:26LeeNice.

31:27ChrisYeah, it's just yeah, really great film.

31:31ChrisHe's El Sleazo Tuff in The Muppet Movie, Captain Kronos, a film called Bastard.

31:36Chrisand just loads of stuff.

31:38ChrisLook him up.

31:39ChrisBut yeah, and

31:40AdamI've just looked up If, and the top comment is this is the most outrageous song ever, it's pure 70s brilliance.

31:46ChrisIt's very much in the, have you heard, what's his name, William Shatner's stuff?

31:53AdamNo.

31:54ChrisYou need to.

31:54AdamI'm have to look at that as well. No.

31:57ChrisYeah. William Shatner's it's very much in that sort of vein.

32:00ChrisI can't think what his big one was, but sorry, that sounds wrong.

32:04LeeIt was a David Bowie one, wasn't it?

32:06ChrisOh, he did a Common People quite yeah.

32:11ChrisThat was in the 90s though.

32:12ChrisBut yeah, he did, no, it was Rocket Man.

32:16LeeYes, I think it was, yeah.

32:20ChrisAnd he does it as a spoopy.

32:20ChrisYeah.

32:21ChrisI'm not that.

32:21LeeDyer.

32:25ChrisYeah.

32:26ChrisVery much so.

32:27LeeWell, right. So, let's wrap it up, gentlemen.

32:31Leethanks very much for your recommendation, Bobby.

32:34Leelots to talk about there on the positives and negatives.

32:38AdamAbsolutely.

32:39AdamA lot of positives.

32:40LeePositives, Bobby. Don't listen to him.

32:43LeeIt's always more entertaining when we don't agree anyway.

32:46LeeYeah.

32:49Leeso we will be back in a fortnight's time, and we'll be covering our next movie, which is The Pit and the Pendulum, sent to us by Dave.

32:56Leeand then we'll be doing what we've been watching, and then, I believe, we've got one more episode before 150, so we might have something planned for that.

33:06LeeBut we shall have to see.

33:08AdamYes.

33:09LeeSo, thanks very much for listening, everybody.

33:11LeeAnd goodnight.

33:15AdamGoodnight.

33:15ChrisGoodnight.

33:15LeeAnd go and listen to Bobby's podcast, not for everyone.

33:18LeeNinja Dust.

33:18UnknownBo.