The Train | Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield | WWII Drama-Action at its best

The Train | Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield | What is a Nation?

DVDs:

The Train

	The Train Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield MGM (Video & DVD), 1999 average customer review:based on 86 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

WWII Drama-Action at its best

Mr. Lancaster plays a French train engine expert during the last days of Nazi occupation of France. He helps the resistance but as the war comes to the end is reluctant to take chances. Circumstances and comrades will not, however, allow him to grow complacent and he is forced to make his choice clear. He becomes directly involved in an effort to stop of train loaded with the "heritage of France" from escaping to Germany. Mr. Lancaster is perfect for the role of tough determination and tenacity in the face of impossible odds. The musical score is stirring. The action unabating yet still providing time for drama and character development. This is one you will want to watch again and again.

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What is a Nation?

I think this film is particularly relevant today, although it is one of the lesser-known films of Burt Lancaster, he is present in just about every significant scene.

The issue of this film is NATIONALISM--which in the early 21st century has almost become a profane idea. The setup of this film, that a German Colonel is seeking to steal the "national heritage" of France, which in this case consists of many paintings of French artists--Matisse, Cezanne, and the like. The German Colonel seeks to have a train containing these items sent to Berlin ahead of the advancing Allies, who are days away from entering Paris. Ironically, the generally agreed-upon Public Relations stunt of having a French unit lead the Allied force into Paris (thereby delaying the surge into Germany) is mentioned in passing. Of course, this gave the Germans more time to pillage what was left of international value in France. Although recognizing their value monetarily, the German officer recognizes their inherent artistic value, and feels uniquely suited to appreciate this as well.

Hundreds of co-conspirators are led by Lancaster's 3-man unit in a complicated effort to divert the train from leaving France. The film, in Black and White--is spellbinding, and the details are nearly perfect--down to the small details of the German uniforms and hardware in rural French inns and the like.

Although hundreds of Frenchmen and Frenchwomen are involved in the diversion, it only slows the departure to the point where a personal confrontation between the German Colonel and Lancaster is necessary. After confidently rebuking Lancaster as unable to appreciate the contents of the train--the paintings that are part of France's national heritage and soul, Lancaster kills him--after the Colonel was unable to take over a retreating motorcade to transport his contraband to Germany.

This film is spellbinding, and unlike many films of the period and context (mid 1960s), demonstrates how the defining objects of a national heritage, in this case objects of art, could be worthy of death and martyrdom. How many Americans would, on the say-so of a a fellow American, die in an effort to save, let us say, the original Declaration of Independence or original manuscript of the U.S. Constitution.

Unfortunately, this film does not answer the question...yet it will stimulate the viewer to think about just this enormous issue--at a time when globalism versus nationalism are once again on stage as defining issues of our time, the struggle over which many the course of many, many lives will be determined. In this context, this can only be regarded as one of the most important films of its time, and the present time.

Most highly recommended on this basis alone. Imagine--not a single UNIFORMED person is involved (except railroad personnel, I suppose), the the defense of this nation's identity. Who would even believe it in present day France?

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Excellent. Thrilling. Great Filmmaking

John Frankenheimer said that he wanted to make this as real as possible and that's exactly what he did. The trains and the steam are real. Burt Lancaster works in the shop on some metal parts when the train's wheel bearings become damaged after the engineer tries to sabotage the mission. You see him pour metal, you see him lift the 100+ lbs. wheel connecting rod and use a crane to move it. You see Burt Lancaster get kicked off the train while it's doing at least 25-30 mph. You see Lancaster perform his own stunts like climbing down from his hotel window to the ground, rolling down a steep hill with a german machine gun strapped to his chest after he's been injured. Cinematically this is a gem. The angles and shots show the emotion in the faces of the characters, the sweat, etc. And it catches all of the action like not many movies can. There are many thrilling moments in this movie. My favorite is when the Spitfire heads towards the train and strafes it as Lancaster nervously speeds the train towards the upcoming tunnel for shelter and he tries his best to decelerate the train to a stop before it exits the other side of the tunnel. I also noticed in the train control room there is a large poster on the back of the door that looks like a movie or theatre poster that says "Sabotage" on it. Coincidence.

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An intense suspense War drama from the beginning to the end...

The big star of Frankenheimer's film is the train itself... And the plot is based on the characteristic of railroads--engines and cars all over the tracks, cabs and steam--all shown on enough detail to keep the viewer in great suspense... The aerial strike shots are also wonderfully taken...

The film begins in Paris, August 2, 1944...

It's 1511th day of German occupation... The liberation of Paris seems very close...

Nazi Colonel Von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) decides suddenly to remove by train to Germany the best of Impressionist masterpieces... His objective is clear: "Money is a weapon. The contents are as negotiable as gold and more valuable."

Mademoiselle Villard (Suzanne Flon) informs the Resistance of the shipment...The Resistance reaction is to stop the train without damaging the national heritage... "They are part of France." But stopping the train is not a simple task... You can get killed especially if you are French and the train is German...

Labiche (Burt Lancaster), the Chief Inspector of the French Railway System, is not impressed... However, he never communicates his political, ideological, or nationalistic convictions, "For certain things, we take the risk," he said; "but I won't waste lives on paintings."

When an aged engineer, Papa Boule (Michel Simon), is accused of sabotage in spite of saving the train through the Allied's bombs at the risk of his own life, Labiche is forced into combat...

It begins with a long sequence where an armament train and the art train are both trying to leave the yard in the morning... As they are being moved back and forth across the tracks, the viewer knows that British planes will hit the yard in that moment at exactly 10:00 o'clock...

New complications are introduced, but the central conflict always returns to an obsessive art lover against a man with no appreciation for art... Labiche's only concerns is to slow down the Nazis keeping himself and his compatriots alive...

Now, two forces control the film... The first is Frankenheimer's cleverness to choreograph the real trains... Frankenheimer and his cinematographers capture the heat of the engines, the noise and sound of the cars in motion, the fault in the oil line, the crushing strength implicated when the machines come into collision and the derailment... The second force is Lancaster, the "headache" of the fanatical obsessed Colonel whose desire is to see the priceless paintings in Nazi Germany...

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Von Waldheim's express

John Frankenheimer's 1964 film has always been overlooked for some strange reason, while other sub-par WWII movies are hailed as classics. In fairness it probably is over-rated by some, but that doesn't take away the overall general quality of the film itself. There are strong performances throughout, including a quietly restraint Burt Lancaster as rail master Labiche and a superb Paul Schofield as Colonel von Waldheim. Another nod should go to Wolfgang Preiss as a German major, concerned not with using trains to ship priceless art cargo, but with getting troops to the rapidly failing front.

The story is simple enough, the afore-mentioned priceless art is to be shipped out of France to Germany. Colonel Von Waldheim's obsession with the impressionist pieces (deemed degenerate by the National Socialists) leads him to acquire a train to move the art under the cover-story of their monitary value to the Reich. The resistance are charged to stop the train, without damaging the works of course. This leads to a battle of will between Labiche and Von Waldheim.

Once the film is done with pretensions of art-over-life and the paintings being "part of France" hokum, it settles down into a rather exciting, if somewhat silly, story. But it's made convincing by the driving narrative, suspenseful set pieces (the locomotive being attacked by a Spitfire) and good characters, although it is let down slightly by the usual evil German stereotype which doesn't do the film any favours.

All in all, the suspense is kept throughout and the action scenes are great although the running time is a little too long and could have been trimmed by about 15 mins or so.

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