The Train (1964)

A gripping high-contrast black and white film from 1965 The Train, directed by John Frankenheimer pays off in every way. Shot on location in France, there is not a mundane moment in the 133-minute movie.

The Train has as its central conflict the combating wills of a German Officer and middle class worker and these two characters represent the battle between France and Germany during World War Two.

Frankenheimer's direction and coverage of the action is stunning with deep focus night shots, and airplane shots, and multi-camera action, particularly the bombing of a train station with many locomotives going up in smoke. This particular scene is one of the highlights that the director talks about on the commentary track on the DVD.

Nominated for Best Original Screenplay the story in the Train is intelligently simple, focusing on characterization as the basis of the conflict. All of the action follows from the desire of the main players in the story, and although there is a good guy and a bad guy, there are no pure motives. Every character justifies what he does convincingly.

Col. Waldheim wants to take the paintings back to Germany so that the American bombs do not destroy them, whereas Labiche is interested in stopping the train of paintings mainly as a kick in the groin to German political intentions.

It is the rationale of each character that determines where our sympathies lie. We are shown the Germans through Waldheim as lovers of culture but cruel and insensitive to human emotions. We see the French through Labiche as simple, honest hard-working people and their art as an extension of their humanity.

Walter Bernstein, screenwriter for The Train as well as Yanks, understood how this character-driven action psychologically affects and involves the viewer. By having Waldheim voice his emotions in taking the art, and having Labiche voice his determination, the script affects us viscerally by our identification with each character at different levels.

The great high contrast black and white print really allows the drama to come through in the actioner. In more than one instance the stolen art is spoken of as the great treasures of France. Ironically the art in the movie shown in black and white in the first scene is never shown again only spoken of and this makes it a living thing in the characters minds and our own as well.

It is the black and white print used in many night scenes showing simple action that creates such a compelling tale of Labiche and his ability to out-wit the General Waldheim, and divert the paintings of Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, and other artists from being commandeered by the Germans.

Burt Lancaster shows his stuff doing many of his own stunts. The guy was 50 years old when he made this movie! We see the actor fall from trains, slide down ladders, lift large train mechanisms from an Iron-working smelting shop, and climb up and down mountains, actions even the heartiest Baby Boomer will marvel at.

Lancaster's acting is perfectly pitched for the movie. At one point I wondered why there wasn't a French actor in the role, considering that Labiche is a French man but the American accent doesn't really distract.

Scofield as the German General in charge of the train is English and his accent doesn't distract either. In both cases the attitude of the actor is what makes the role successful and each is perfectly cast.

The support cast is excellent and work from a well-written script. Jeanne More

Fmovies: During WWII, in the final day of the German occupation of France, a German colonel and a true art lover, Col. Von Waldheim (Paul Scofield), orders his troops to crate and transport all the great impressionistic paintings (from the Jeu de Paume Museum) that he can possibly get his hands on. These paintings are not only among the best in the world, they are worth millions in Reichsmarks.

The crated paintings are loaded onto a train to be sent to Germany. But, the train must arrive in Germany before the Allies liberate France. While von Waldheim is obsessed with getting the train OUT of France, the French Resistance, represented by Labiche (Burt Lancaster), becomes equally determined to keep the train IN France while waiting for the Allied liberation. Very few in the Resistance understand the artistic value of the cargo, but they know that it represents 'their nation's honor' and see how valuable it must be, based on von Waldheim's determination to have it. And, while the Germans control the trains, the railroad workers form a great network of Resistance fighters.

The Resistance does everything in its power to sabotage their own rail system and lead the Germans away from Germany. Small French towns are 're-labeled' to make the Germans (riding on the train) think that they are going one way when they are really going in another; trains are re- routed by conductors, switchmen, and engineers; and rail cars are separated from engines, used to block tracks and cause train wrecks. Germans, in their frustration, kill many Frenchman in retaliation. However, the battle over the train continues to the bitter end.

Another Frankenheimer black-and-white masterpiece, this action movie is riveting from beginning to end. It pits the wills, skills, and ingenuity of the two principal characters in a seemly ceaseless series of cat-and-mouse ploys to control the train. The cinematography is also great. The constant imagery of trains being twisted and turned, stopped and started, heaving and letting off stem, stand in stark contrast to the art that they carry and the men that try to control them. In this movie, Frankenheimer turns trains and rails into 'living, breathing characters of steam and steel.'

Scofield and Lancaster are both excellent in their opposing roles. I would rank this movie among the best movies I have ever seen!!

I enjoy train films as a whole, my film collection is categorized into themes, such as trains, etc., and this is, by far, the best train film I've ever seen. The wreck scene, as well as the moving train(s) were very real, in fact, as story has it, the equipment used was WW1 vintage locomotives rescued from the scrap heap, and renovated to allow them at least to move, if not under their own power, then off-camera, pushed or pulled by more modern equipment. The elaborate wreck scene was incredibly beautiful in execution. By far the best train wreck scene I've ever seen in any film! Kudos to Frankenheimer for his expertise, as well as the technical special-effects people for their diligent, hard work in bringing this story to life on the screen! Although I cringe at seeing ANY type of machinery destroyed, this was really beautiful! A Real Masterpiece!

The Train fmovies. Absolutely riveting thriller, an American-French co-production, with a great cast, well-written plot and script - and great stuntwork. As with all of John Frankenheimer's work, it's an instantly classic masterpiece.

Burt Lancaster is Labiche, a French station manager who becomes entangled in efforts to prevent German Colonel Von Waldheim (Scofield) from shipping hundreds of classic pieces of artwork out of Paris before the Allies re-take the city.

John Frankenheimer has done an excellent job putting every aspect of great storytelling together. The most essential part is the characters. Lancaster is absolutely great as Labiche. While the French want him to simply delay the train, Labiche is always more concerned about the human cost. Eventually, so many men are killed in the attempt to delay the train that he takes it upon himself to save the artwork so they did not die in vain. On the opposite side, Scofield makes a very believable, maniacal officer. He is purely obsessed by art. He's not your typical Hollywood "Nazi" officer; here, his one goal is not eradication of the Jews or whatnot - it's to steal millions of dollars worth of paintings for personal gain.

The French are played, for the most part, by young native French actors. Michel Simon plays a grizzled old engineer who tries to take matters into his own hands, at first, when Labiche won't aide the cause. Albert Remy (IS PARIS BURNING?) and Charles Millot (THE BATTLE OF NERETVA) are Labiche's resistance sidekicks, both passionate in their rather minor roles. Jeanne Moreau (THE VICTORS) makes a pretty big impression as a hotel owner who gets caught up the fight and elects to help Labiche, even though it will hurt her business and put her life in danger.

In support, the cast is made up of some very fine young actors who would become mainstream faces in later European war movies. Wolfgang Preiss (THE LONGEST DAY) makes an impression as the German Major commanding a rail yard, who is just simply trying to keep his facility running well and doesn't want to deal with Von Waldheim. The great Richard Munch (PATTON) has one strong scene as a German general, who knows the front line battle is more important than Von Waldheim's art. Howard Vernon (FROM HELL TO VICTORY) is the German captain with glasses in charge of the train; Donald O'Brien (DEADLY MISSION) is a very mean-looking Sergeant keeping Lancaster and Remy in check; and Arthur Brauss plays the German Captain interrogating the stationmaster.

The second essential portion of the story goes to the purely technical side of the production. First of all, there are some truly spectacular action sequences. Most of them were done with real locomotives, on life-size sets with authentic explosions. One huge, three-way head-on-collision is awe-striking and must have marvelous to see on the big screen. Lancaster performs all of his own stunts; jumping from control towers, running and catching moving trains - all, one would think, would be difficult for a man of 51 - but Lancaster doesn't show a bit of strain. A good deal of the action centers around simply moving trains and equipment through railyards, and it's all portrayed with acute attention to authenticity and detail.

At key moments, Frankenheimer uses his typical unorthodox filming technique to give the action a new perspective. The camera zooms in on every day objects, which actually have key importance at that one moment. He follows Labiche down a hallway with a handheld c

John Frankenheimer's "The Train" stars Burt Lancaster as Paul Labiche, a French Resistance member. It is the 1511th day of the German occupation, and Paul is attempting to prevent Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) from transporting French art collections out of France and into Germany.

Throughout the 1960s, Franhenheimer made a series of films which flaunted their audacious cutting and kinetic camera work. "The Train" is no different. Virtually every shot is special, the film packed with logistically complex sequences, fine location photography and beautiful, now-extinct steam engines, ink-black monsters which lend the film an air of techno-romance.

"Beauty belongs to the man who can appreciate it!" Waldheim yells, his words speaking to the misguided exceptionalism of whole nations. Labiche shoots him and walks away. This simple moment of revenge is complicated throughout the picture. No painting is worth a life, Labiche tells us, yet strewn around him are the consequences of his very plan to thwart Waldheim; hundreds dead, all for art which Labiche personally has no interest in. Beauty belongs to the man who appreciates, Labiche perhaps wonders as the film fades to black, so long as he's French?

8/10 - One of Frankenheimer's finest. See "Decision Before Dawn" and "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold".

The movie is about a episode that happened in 1944. When France was still occupied by the Nazis, they decided to steal paintings from the Paris museums. This film is about a shipment that the French has to save before he ends to Germans, but they also don't want to be destroyed in the process.

Burt Lancaster stars as a French train engineer that has to transport the shipment. At first is not a easy task, but he succeeds in the end. Meanwhile he becomes friend with a hotel owner played by French actress Jeanne Moreau (that passed away last year). And the other members of the cast are fine. Paul Scofield as a German general is great (and Scofield also starred in other great movies after this), and it was a treat seeing French comedian Michel Simon in a war movie (just like Bourvil in THE LONGEST DAY).

This movie had great direction by John Frankenheimer, great performances by all the actors, and also great photography in Black and White. Although a bit dragged in some places, it was still great to watch! And as a fan of the history from 1850 until these days, I liked the movie for his accuracy and his action scenes.