An English anthropologist has discovered a frozen monster in the frozen wastes of Manchuria which he believes may be the Missing Link. He brings the creature back to Europe aboard a trans-Siberian express, but during the trip the monster thaws out and starts to butcher the passengers one by one.
Written by
Jonathon Dabell
Plot Synopsis:
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Professor Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee) is an anthropologist returning home to Europe via the Trans-Siberian Railway. He brings with him a large crate containing the prize from his expedition to the Himilayas: the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid creature, which Saxton is sure is the missing link in the evolutionary chain. Also on board is Dr. Wells (Peter Cushing), another Englishman and a colleague of Saxton's.
Mysterious deaths occur even before the train sets out. A known thief is found dead on the platform after having looked into the crate. His corpse is discovered bleeding from the eyes, which have turned blank and white. A slightly unbalanced monk named Pujardov (a Rasputin-esque figure, played by the Argentine actor Alberto de Mendoza), claims that the crate is evil. Pujardov is the spiritual adviser for Count Maryan Petrovski (George Rigaud) and his wife, Irina (Silvia Tortosa), and he tries to demonstrate to them that the crate is an omen of evil: in a bizarre rationalization, he claims that where there is evil, there is no place for the sign of the cross, and a piece of chalk fails to make the marking of the cross on the side of the crate. Saxton dismisses it as a trick and discredits the monk.
Saxton is eager to keep his find a secret from everyone, especially Dr. Wells, but Wells pays the baggage man to look into the crate when everyone is gone and tell him what's inside. Later, the man does this and is also killed by the creature, which possesses a glowing red eye. After gazing at the red eye, the man's eyes begin to bleed and turn white until he falls down dead. The ape-man quickly picks the lock of the crate just like the Chinese thief did back at the beginning of the train's voyage. The creature leaves the crate and places the baggage man's corpse inside instead; the others discover it later and Saxton is forced to come clean about his discovery. Inspector Mirov (Julio Peña) represents authority on the train, and he tries to keep the news of the death quiet among the passengers, while simultaneously searching for the creature.
A beautiful woman insinuates herself into Dr. Wells' compartment; she is Natasha (Helga Linè), and she uses her feminine charm to convince Wells she is a lady in distress. In reality she is a jewel thief intent on stealing the Countess's jewels from the train's safe. She is recognized by Yevtushenko (àngel del Pozo), a prominent engineer who knows he has seen her before. Wells dines with the both of them in the dining car, but Mirov summons him and his assistant, Miss Jones (Alice Reinheart) to perform an autopsy on the baggage man. When they remove the top of his skull, they find that his brain is strangely smooth; Wells concludes that the brain has somehow been "drained" of all knowledge and memory. Later, when he sees a boiled fish with a white eye, he decides that this is the reason the eyes of the victims turn white; the memories and information are absorbed through the eyes, causing this reaction.
The fossil continues to haunt the train and kills two guards, eventually overcoming Natasha when she sneaks into the dark baggage compartment and attempts to steal the jewels from the safe. Wells happens upon the murder scene and the fossil tries to attack him, but it is gunned down by Inspector Mirov, who stares at the creature and then collapses into unconsciousness.
In an strange experiment, Saxton and Wells discover images embedded in liquid inside the eye of the dead fossil, images that reveal a prehistoric Earth, as well as a view of the Earth from outer space. They deduce that the real threat is a formless alien creature that was simply inhabiting the body of the fossil, and that it has now transferred itself to someone else on board the train. These fears are confirmed when Miss Jones is found dead in the baggage compartment, attacked by the Inspector and drained of her brain, her eyes white and bleeding. The monk senses the evil presence inside of the Inspector and pledges allegiance to it, considering it Satan. Yevtushenko becomes a victim, too, when the creature learns that he has studied the laws of physics and theories of space travel.
When news of the murders on the train is wired to Siberian authorities, the train is stopped and an intimidating cossack named Captain Kazan (Telly Savalas) boards with a small group of his men. Mirov is discovered to be the creature and is shot down, but not before the alien presence transfers itself to the monk. The passengers all retreat to the caboose, while the monk murders Kazan and his men by draining them of their brains.
The creature attacks Count Petrovski, who is knowledgeable of the formula for creating steel; the creature intends to escape Earth by building a vehicle using the combined knowledge of the intelligent men it has absorbed. When it threatens the Countess, Saxton arrives and confronts it with a rifle and a powerful light, which renders its deadly red eyes temporarily ineffective. Playing for time, the creature tempts Saxton by revealing that it came to Earth millions of years ago and was accidentally left behind by its own kind; it is a formless energy that has survived over all the years by transferring itself to each form of life that has evolved over time. As such, it possesses all of the knowledge that Saxton so desperately wants. It offers to help him cure disease and end hunger, but Saxton decides that it cannot be left alive. Realizing that Saxton cannot be bargained with, it resurrects all of its victims as white-eyed zombies. The zombies chase Saxton and the Countess back to the caboose, where the others are waiting. As they desperately work to detach the caboose from the rest of the train, Russia sends a telegraph to the next station ahead that they are to send the train over a cliff. The operators follow this order, thinking that they may be at war. Just as the surviving passengers manage to separate themselves from the rest of the train, it goes crashing over the cliff into a fiery explosion below. The caboose rolls to a safe stop precariously near the edge, where the survivors watch the fire consume the train and the unnatural inhabitants within it.
Filmed in December 1971, the first Christmas for Peter Cushing since the February 14 death of his beloved wife Helen. Sir Christopher Lee's family made it as warm an affair as possible for Cushing, who would grieve for his lost wife for the remainder of his life, often playing roles that mirrored his own sadness. Despite the freezing working conditions and "abominable" food, this movie provided one of the few co-starring roles where the two actors got to work in unison, rather than opposing one another, with Cushing getting the most amusing lines.
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Peter Cushing arrived in Spain for filming and immediately told Producer Bernard Gordon that he could not do the picture, as he felt it was too soon after his wife's death. Sir Christopher Lee convinced Cushing to stay on by reminiscing with him about the previous movies they'd worked on together, much to the relief of Gordon.
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Frequent airings on television throughout the 1970s and 1980s helped to gain this movie a devoted cult following amongst horror fans.
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Most of this movie was shot without audio recording; the soundtracks and dialogue were all added in post-production. Sir Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Savalas provided their own voices for this movie's English-speaking version.
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This is the second movie adapted from the novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. The first being The Thing from Another World (1951).
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It has been told that Peter Cushing was so devastated because of his wife's recent death by the time this movie was shot, that he would suffer from night panic. In order to make his nights easier, so he would not be alone when the attacks happened, Sir Christopher Lee used to sleep in his same bed.
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During the production, there was only one set available for the interior of the train cars. All of the scenes for each train car had to be shot at once, and then the set would have to be reconstructed for the next train car.
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This movie was released only two days after Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), which also starred Sir Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
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Telly Savalas was paid twenty-two thousand dollars for his short stint on this movie. Producer Bernard Gordon was delighted to get him for such a low price. Savalas was equally delighted, as he used the cash to get a seven-year lease on a West End apartment for his then girlfriend.
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This movie wasn't a success in Director Eugenio Martin's home country of Spain.
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The train interior sets and the train model used for the exterior shots were the same sets used for Pancho Villa (1972), made by the same producer and director, which had just finished production, and which also featured Telly Savalas.
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Various roles are dubbed by Roger Delgado (the Police Inspector), Robert Rietty (Monk), and Olive Gregg (all female voices).
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The German import DVD has a Super-8 version (German language only), as a special feature on the disc.
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The Spanish version, "Pánico en el Transiberiano", attributes the screenplay to Director Eugenio Martín and Arnaud d'Usseau, while the English version mentions d'Usseau and Julian Zimet instead.
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When the telegrapher announces what the government officials want done with the train and its on-board monster, the telegrapher says that the train is to be shunted to a dead-stop side track, further up the line. The interrogator asks, "Upon who's order?" and the telegrapher answers, "Moscow orders it." Until the Bolsheviks gained control of Russia, Petersburg was still the capital. Moscow was restored as capital in 1918.
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The military forces are not correctly dressed. The first one - O'Hagan - is in a blue suit with red epaulets with a star on his service cap. Stars only appeared after the revolt.
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Correction to the first entry. In 1914 the name Saint Petersburg was changed to Petrograd. Moscow became the capital on March 12, 1918, after the first Russian revolution, but before the Bolshevik seizure of power in October/November, 1918.
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The opening credits say the movie takes place in Peking, but all the railroad station sets have signs that say "Shanghai" in Chinese. The cast's dialogue also refers to their train trip starting in Shanghai.
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The cave where the creature is discovered is identified as being in Manchuria, the far north eastern region of China, but is also identified as Szechuan province, which is located far from Manchuria in western China.
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In the opening credits of the English-language VHS version, Christopher Lee's name is misspelled as "Cristopher".
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In a brief panning scene of the train speeding through the night in the snow immediately following the scene where the the guards force open the crate, it can be easily observed that it is actually a small scale toy train and not an actual train.
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After the guards check the room with two sleeping children, we see a door open in the compartment and in the background we can see the quivering eyes of the kids pretending to sleep.
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The ax blows used to break into the crate are much too gentle, and would never have broken the chains and bolts protecting the crate.
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When Saxton speaks with Mirov in his compartment, the view out the window is stationary and not moving as the train is in motion.
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The human brains in the autopsy scene are obviously made of foam rubber, as evidenced by their resilience when touched by the actors.
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