Lights, camera, adventure! Enter today to win $500 off any Rail tour!
All aboard! Enter today to win $500 off any Rail tour! Every day this week, we’re featuring one trip from our brand-new line-up of Rail journeys—match it up with one of three Hollywood Classics and you’ll be entered into a draw to win! Click here to enter.
What is it about trains that fascinates filmmakers? The thought of speeding through foreign landscapes or alongside mountain passes high above green valleys is nothing less than thrilling. Sexy, fun, and mysterious all at once, train travel brings together strangers in confined spaces for short periods of time, and then releases them into the world to go their separate ways, heightening the capacity for drama, intrigue, romance or adventure!
Check out a few of our favourite Hollywood classics that feature iconic train scenes and learn how you could win $500 off any Rail tour. All aboard!
1. Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Filmmakers love trains and use them to tell stories or simply as exotic backdrops. Sometimes, the train itself is a character in its own right.
Murder on the Orient Express (1974) is a classic (if a bit over-the-top)—an Agatha Christie murder mystery that takes place on the iconic journey between Istanbul and Paris. (Serendipitously, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is on board to solve the crime.)
It’s got a great big cast of exotic characters, but none more so than the beautiful and luxurious train itself. This flick offers some of the greatest train travel inspiration imaginable, and if you haven’t seen it, you really ought to.
2. Skyfall (2012)
Sometimes all we need is a simple scene on a train to make us want to be whisked away, and one of the sexiest and most dramatic ever filmed is the opening scene of Skyfall (2012), in which Daniel Craig’s James Bond fights a villain on top of a train speeding across the Turkish countryside.
Even if you didn’t see the film, you’ll no doubt remember the now-iconic moment from the trailer in which Bond jumps into the rail car from the destroyed roof and smartly straightens his cuffs. This scene wouldn’t – couldn’t work as well if he’d just jumped into the open window of an apartment. It’s the spectacle of the fast-moving train that makes this baby work so well, and so hard.
3. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
And of course, sometimes the train is merely a cinematic vehicle (sorry!) for the real drama that’s playing out between the characters on it. Wes Anderson’s film The Darjeeling Limited (2007) features an unbelievably beautiful rail journey through some of India’s most iconic provinces.
However, it’s the story happening on the train between the three main characters (brothers played by Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman) that matters here. The train merely serves to underline the narrative of loss, change, and reconciliation that’s happening on board, and does so effortlessly.
Enter to win!
This week, we’re celebrating the launch of G Adventures’ new line-up of Rail trips with an amazing contest that’ll give you your own chance to ride the rails with us. Every day this week, we’re featuring a Rail trip the route of which figures prominently in a Hollywood film. Guess correctly which movie the ride figures in and you’ll be entered to win a $500 voucher for use on any of our Rail trips. Come back daily for new questions and more chances to win. So get watching, get Googling, and we’ll see you on the rails! Check out our new Rail lineup and enter here.
What’s your favourite?
Trains and film—what a great combination! Have we missed your favourite train on film? Let us know in the comments below!
