Questions
I've seen this film a half-dozen times over the years; I happen to like the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) version best, which doesn't end abruptly, but has another minute or so of "Exit Music," score by John Cacavas. TCM just got finished airing it again last week, so I had another look.
But there are some things that even repeated viewings have not cleared up for me.
Why did Captain Kazan board the train with his men? What were they looking for?
Why did Moscow give orders to divert the train onto the dead-end track, sending it to its sure destruction?
I've looked for cogent answers to these questions, such as Morse teletype communication from the train. But since the teletype operator was killed and thrown off the train, that would seem to preclude this possibility. I wondered if perhaps (unlikely though it might be) that the body thrown from the train had been discovered, and this was why authorities were boarding and later destroying the train. Or did Moscow give those orders because they knew Captain Kazan's unit had boarded it, and he was their target?
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