The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (1952) is a crime drama film, based on the 1938 novel by Georges Simenon and directed by Harold French. It has an all-European cast, including Claude Rains in the lead role of Kees Popinga, who is infatuated with Michele Rozier (Märta Torén). The film was released in the United States in 1953 under the title The Paris Express. Plot In the Dutch city of Groningen, Kees Popinga (Claude Rains) has worked for 18 years as chief clerk and bookkeeper for a 300-year-old trading company, now run by Julius de Koster Jr. (Herbert Lom). Kees's life is comfortable but stodgy; he loves trains but has never traveled farther than Amsterdam. One day a man named Merkemans (Felix Aylmer), who had managed a company that went bankrupt due to another man's embezzlement, pleads with de Koster for a job. De Koster refuses because his own firm has too impeccable a reputation to be connected with such a scandal, and Merkemans had had the responsibility to prevent the fraud. Then a French police inspector named Lucas (Marius Goring) arrives to talk to de Koster about Dutch money that is turning up illegally in Paris; Lucas suspects the de Koster company, but de Koster invites Kees to show him that the books are sound. That night, Kees happens to see de Koster kissing a woman (Märta Torén) goodbye at a station. Later, Lucas questions Kees and de Koster about the woman, showing a picture. De Koster lies; Kees supports him, but now fears that he too has failed to prevent a crime. That night his fears are confirmed when he goes to the office and finds de Koster burning the books. De Koster says the firm will be bankrupt in the morning. Kees follows de Koster to a canal. De Koster shows him a suicide note. Kees is trying to stop him jumping in the water when De Koster's briefcase comes open, revealing 100,000 Dutch guilders in cash. The suicide note was a fake. Enraged, Kees attacks de Koster, who falls into the water and hits his head on a boat. Also in the briefcase is a train ticket to Paris and the address of the woman, whose name is Michele Rozier. Kees takes the briefcase and boards the train, abandoning his family. On board he is surprised to meet Lucas, who makes it clear he suspects