by Franco » Sun, 09Jul12 03:19
Arnulf, the version I heard of your story about the train and the girl undressing was about Greta Garbo in the film Anna Karenina (1935). At the end of the film, she takes off her clothes and jumps in front of the train to commit suicide, but of course her body is obscured by the train. (The undressing is symbolic of her wish to escape the confines of her social posibion her marriage, etc.)
In the story, the man kept returning to the theatre hoping that at some point the train would be late and he could see Greta Garbo naked. Probably, there are several versions of the story making the same point.