In London, secret agents are pursuing a reel of tape with defense information on it. Meanwhile, former OSS officer Alan Holiday is busy fending off requests for tickets on a boat train to Paris. There is no space because it is New Year's Eve.
Holiday is visited by Catherine Carrel. She is a friend of Jules Lemoine, a former OSS officer who served with Holiday during the Korean War. She convinces Holiday to help Lemoine deliver the tape to Paris. The plan is to secret the tape aboard the night train while they travel as assistants and models for the photographer Louis Vernay. Lemoine will remain in London with a decoy reel.
Before they can leave, Lemoine is killed and the fake tape stolen. Holiday rushes to the train with the genuine tape. He poses as Vernay's assistant. On board, they meet Olive Davies who quickly deduces Holiday's identity is false.
A raucous New Year's party provides cover for Holiday as he eludes Lemoine's assassin. At Dunkirk, Catherine incapacitates Olive and pursues Holiday for the tape. After a brief firefight, Catherine is captured by reinforcements Olive has summoned in her capacity as a spy. Holiday is relieved to hand the tape to Olive and be rid of it.[4]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Weak invention, mundane playing and nondescript direction make this a very flat-footed espionage melodrama. The opening scenes in London, and the cat-and-mouse finale, sandwich a lengthy middle section aboard the train, where the setting is not well exploited and the raucous party revelry is allowed to become too repetitive in order to spin out a meagre plot. The more lively climax, with its moderately unexpected twist, is insufficient compensation for the film's prevailing mediocrity."[5]
The Film Daily wrote: "Night Train to Paris is a neat, little suspense film that will be a fine addition to any double bill. Its length probably automatically relegates it to second feature".[6]
In The New York Times, Howard Thompson wrote: "Night Train to Paris — there's an intriguing title. But, believe us, this thumpingly mediocre little suspense melodrama that drifted into neighborhood theaters yesterday can go back to where it came from. There have been worse plots but few more familiar...starchy dialogue is neatly matched by Robert Douglas's flat-footed direction...The most attractive thing about the whole picture is a nifty blonde named Dorinda Stevens. The woman can act, too, which is more than can be said for most of the others."[7]
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