The Train (1964)

A friend, Daniel St. Vincent, recommended checking out The Train (1964), a black-and-white WW2 action drama directed by John Frankenheimer (Seconds, Ronin) and starring Burt Lancaster. For some reason, with that title, I thought the majority of the movie took place on a train like Runaway Train or Unstoppable. Rather, the train is like a giant game piece that is continually in play. In the final days of Occupied France, Nazi officer Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) wants to transport all of France’s heritage, their priceless art (all the classic masters – Monet, Cezanne, etc) to Germany as currency to be banker and sold for the war effort. The French Resistance (and Allied forces) want to stop the train, keeping it in France. A reluctant hero is train master Labiche (Burt Lancaster, not attempting a French accent) who doesn’t really care about the art and thinks human life isn’t worth sacrificing for it, but then is pulled into action by the amount of people who do believe in preserving the art. With strong wide-screen close ups and placement of characters in the frame, alongside Lancaster’s considerable athleticism and stoic front, this was an engaging thriller, particularly after a measured start. Once a grumpy engineer by the name of Papa Boul (Michel Simon – you don’t see faces like his on the big screen anymore) gets into the mix, there’s a moment where I was emotionally pulled in more, and the film delights in the moves made by both sides to stop and start the train, and the increasing stakes in completing this seemingly impossible mission. This is also a post-war action movie shot in France, so it is amazing to watch the leftover war machines being used for filmimb, actual trains smashing into each other, and a train yard of explosions captured by distant photography. Jeanne Moreau also stars as Christine, a sympathetic, strong-willed hotel owner who is forced to help. Though it is a thrilling ride, the film isn’t all about derring do, and considers the sacrifice of life on the side of the resistance, right up to the sobering, expertly delivered, strong final scenes. Rented on iTunes. Recommended.