Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

FilmCriticLalitRao As means of transport, trains have a certain mystical quality attached to them. This has a lot to do with the fact that whenever trains fail or succeed in carrying out their tasks of moving passengers from one place to another, it is not only them which fail or succeed as machines as the blame is attributed to a whole range of persons whose jobs are related to trains. It is precisely keeping this thing in mind that Polish director Andrzej Munk set out to direct "Czlowiek Na Torze", a film about the lives of Polish railway workers. His film questions the role of a dead railway worker who went much too far in the course of his job before after having been being fired by the authorities. This film was made possible with the help of Polish Railway employees who are shown to wisely tackle differences at work place. The film begins with a nicely shot sequence of a train driven by a steam engine. It is worth mentioning that the camera has been placed so meticulously that one could see the actual train chugging marvelously on the tracks. The film is replete with nicely shot scenes of this kind which capture each moment of what it is being in a situation related to trains.

allenrogerj An investigation into the death of an old train driver that reveals things about him and Poland. Thre are wonderful shots of steam trains- especially at night- which will delight gricers of the world, but there's also a portrait of an old-fashioned community and industry in the early days of communism. One of the interesting things about Munk's films is his essential fairness and it's especially noticeable in this film; all of the characters have both good features and bad and the tragedy comes partly because they cannot accept or trust one another. Tuszka, the Station-master may be a Party member, promoted quickly, but he's also genuinely concerned about most of his men- he rescues Orzechowski's assistant Marek from arrest for fare-dodging and gives him a job, for example. However, he merely regards Orzechowski as an obstacle to be got rid of at the first opportunity. Marek is grateful to the SM but admires Orzechowski and recognises that some of his arrogance is a cover for illness. Orzechowski's dismissal comes because Marek wants to be on good terms with both. Even the signalman who doesn't double-check his work as Orzechowski would have and causes his death is shown as left bewildered and helpless by his wife's illness and "working on routine", which the SM had identified as one of the faults he had to deal with. Only one man- both an old railwayman and the chairman of the investigating committee- looks closely and finds out exactly what happens. His words close the film- "It's stuffy in here." and he opens the window.It's worth remembering that Munk himself joined the Polish CP and was thrown out for "unsuitable behaviour"; whatever his motives for joining he knew something of the CP's inner workings and the psychology of its members. How far the film is an oblique look at the behaviour of the CP- both internally and as rulers of the country- in the period after it first came to power, I don't know, but I think that that is one aspect of it. Munk's view of heroism is interesting too. His war films debunk it and look ironically at it; only in this film and The Blue Cross does he show unequivocal admiration for bravery and in both films heroism is concerned with saving life, not taking it. When the only way Orzechowski can stop a train crash is by dying himself he does so; a definite statement that the Poland he represented had qualities worth keeping. One possible technical flaw: I don't know about Polish railways, but the procedure on railways is- or should be- that if there is a fault with signalling equipment it will signal stop; thus the "one light, line open; two lights, stop." procedure depicted here is almost certainly not the real one used by the Polish railways but used for dramatic reasons.

Craig_65 While Andrzej Wajda was shooting `Kanal,' a film that beats the viewer over the head with its obvious point but gives us no reason to care for any of the characters as they trudge through the sewers of Warsaw, the less famous Andrzej Munk was making more subtle, individualistic and intelligently-engrossing films such as `Man on the Tracks' and `Eroica.' In `Man on the Tracks,' an older train engineer from the pre-war generation is mysteriously run over by a train and is subsequently remembered by several other characters through flashbacks. While the engineer represents a Poland that has vanished under Communist rule, the film also works as a wonderful character study, and Kazimierz Opalinski is excellent in the role of the engineer who stubbornly refuses to give in to a new Poland that he detests.

nbott This film opens with a gorgeous black and white shot of a train at night journeying to some destination until it is forced to stop because it has hit a man on the tracks. From this point, our story proceeds to unravel the mystery with an ingenious method of telling the story backwards. Different characters who had a relationship with the dead man during his life take part in the investigation of his death and they relate their involvement with the dead man.A fascinating character study and mystery all at the same time. The cinematography is excellent, as good as it gets in black and white. The script is ingenious and the acting is uniformly superb. I am sorry that some enterprising movie company has not seen fit to offer this wonderful film on video. Munk was clearly a great story teller and it is a shame he did not live long enough to create many more great films. This is a masterpiece.