Night Train To Murder
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| Night Train To Murder | |
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 DVD cover for Night Train to Murder |
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| Directed by | Joseph McGrath |
| Produced by | Thames Television |
| Written by | Eric Morecambe, Joseph McGrath |
| Starring | Eric Morecambe, Ernie Wise |
| Distributed by | Thames Television |
| Release date(s) | 1984 |
| Running time | 89 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Night Train To Murder was the last work that Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise worked on together before Eric's death in 1984. It was written as a pastiche of the works of various writers including Agatha Christie and Edgar Wallace and is set in 1946, featuring our two heroes as ostensibly 1940s versions of themselves.
The film is interesting in several ways; the duo's move from the BBC to Thames in 1978 was a much publicised media event, and one of the main reasons for their move was to make films and move away from the format of the Morecambe & Wise Show that had proved so popular in the last decade. It is ironic then, that it took six years (during which time they basically re-hashed a lot of their BBC material) for this film to come to fruition. It was completed in late 1983 but not shown until after Morecambe's death the following year. It was originally made with a laughter track but when shown, and later released on both VHS and DVD this was absent.
The film features an overly-complicated plot of family members dying in strange circumstances and the two leads are drawn into this when their niece Kathy is visited by the family's lawyer, played by Fulton Mackay. There are several well-known character actors mixed into the story, but this does nothing for the creaking plot. As a swansong of a glorious career, it is a very disappointing affair, but as an historical document to the final work of Britain's greatest double act it remains valuable. The fact that their popularity had peaked during their ten-year tenure with the BBC as their "flagship act" had been over for several years is evident in this film. Their later work for Thames Television had largely consisted of re-hashed material from their so-called "glory days" at the BBC owning in part to the fact that their regular writer Eddie Braben had remained under contract and could not immediately follow them to Thames where they were to see out their days as a double act.
The film was made largely on location and produced on video tape, which in some cases does little to enhance the quality look of the finished product; it is clear that Morecambe's heart is not really in the production and despite having some reasonable lines, they are not delivered with the "spark" that he was associated with. Indeed, this is a hallmark of many of their later shows. Wise, on the other hand is still in the peak of health, and gives his usual brisk performance, but the act's energy was always attributed to Morecambe who at the time of making the film was in poor health. The closing moments of the film see Eric and Ernie walking off together, onto the next gig which is quietly touching moment given that it was their final screen image together.
Rarely shown on television, the film remains on sale on both VHS and DVD formats.
