This earliest surviving Romanian horror-thriller is distinctly un-Romanian in several ways: an adaptation of Arnold Ridley’s play of the same name (best known through its 1941 film version starring Arthur Askey), TRENUL FANTOMĂ was shot in Hungary as an alternate-language version of KÍSÉRTETEK VONATA (1933), with both films using footage taken from the 1931 British movie adaptation.
Lelia Cohanovici, a young Jewish woman from the capital falls in love with Matei Frunză, who is a Christian, but her parents, Nissim and Esther, want her to marry their coreligionist Emil Horn. Old Manasse, the girl's grandfather and the spiritual leader of the Cohanovici family comes all the way from Fălticeni to attend the wedding. But on the day of the ceremony the girl runs away to Matei. The relationship between the two young people and their wish to get married are little by little accepted by the Jewish family members, except for the fanatic Manasse who will die of bitterness when he sees that all his efforts to prevent this fail.
