A man named Jerzy (Leon Niemczyk) is taking a Night Train along the Baltic coast, he wears dark sunglasses and by his body language we can tell he wants to be alone and to this end, he books a sleeping compartment all to himself, .But on entering his compartment he finds a young blonde woman named Marta (Lucyna Winnicka) occupying it, she refuses to leave even when the train inspector is called, but when the inspector threatens her with the police, Jerzy says forget about it and he lets her stay, suspicious behaviour as the very overcrowded train is awash with talk of the local murderer who is on the run from the police, Marta also seems to have something to hide and is being chased by a young suitor travelling in standard classic, in a train full of different character, could the killer be on board?Jerzy calls a truce with Marta and soon their conversation begins to open up, a bond gradually grows between the two but is interrupted when the police hunting for the killer, board the train in a remote area and immediately arrest Jerzy, can he prove his innocence on the remaining journey? Jerzy Kawalerowicz perhaps best known as the director of the superb tale of possession, Matka Joanna od aniolów (1961) here produces a Hitchcockian type thriller set on a train with equally successful results. Set to a jazzy score Andrzej Trzaskowski, which adds immensely to the atmosphere while also perfectly suiting the motion of the train, we are gradually introduced to many of the different characters on board, a large group on a pilgrimage, the desperately flirtatious wife of a Polish solicitor, intent on getting some attention from whoever will listen, the young priest travelling with his elderly Monsiegnor, we even get to know the train staff intimately. Jan Laskowski's cinematography is beautiful and captures the claustrophobia of the overcrowded train, but yet still retains a sense of movement in a confined space. The killer being chased at dawn across cold open fields by all on board is a highlight, it finishes with the killer's capture in a rundown graveyard. The films ending is quite apt and somewhat downbeat as all the travellers return to their own lives at their destination, after the excitement of the previous night.
