The Train (1964)

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

Franklin Coen (screen story) and
Frank Davis (screen story) ...

Release Date:

7 March 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | War | Action

Tagline:

It carried their hopes, their nation's honour!

Plot:

In 1944, a German colonel loads a train with French art treasures to send to Germany. The Resistance must stop it without damaging the cargo.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Art | Sabotage | Painting | Nazi

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Labiche
Paul Scofield	...	Von Waldheim
Jeanne Moreau	...	Christine
Suzanne Flon	...	Mlle Villard
Michel Simon	...	Papa Boule
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Herren
Albert Rémy	...	Didont (as Albert Remy)
Charles Millot	...	Pesquet
Richard Münch	...	Von Lubitz (as Richard Munch)
Jacques Marin	...	Jacques
Paul Bonifas	...	Spinet
Jean Bouchaud	...	Schmidt
Donald O'Brien	...	Schwartz (as Donal O'Brien)
Jean-Pierre Zola	...	Octave
Arthur Brauss	...	Pilzer (as Art Brauss)

Also Known As:

Il treno (Italy)
John Frankenheimer's The Train (USA) (complete title)
Le train (France)

Runtime:

133 min | UK:140 min

Country:

USA | France | Italy

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG | West Germany:16 (f) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1965) | UK:PG | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Acquigny, Calvados, France

Company:

Dear Film Produzione

Trivia:

Lancaster took a day off during shooting to play golf when the shooting was about half completed. On the links, he stepped in a hole and re-aggravated an old knee injury. In order to compensate for the injury, Frankenheimer had Lancaster's character shot in the leg, thus enabling him to limp through the rest of the shooting.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: During the yards bombing scene, several SNCF class 141R steam engines are visible. These engines were manufactured in USA and Canada and were only delivered after the end of World War II.

Quotes:

Resistance leader: London agrees the art is important. Anything we can do to save it... but they leave it up to us.
Labiche: Why not? What can they lose? This morning we had four men left in this group. Now we have three. One, two, three.
Pesquet: Bernard?
Labiche: We started with eighteen. Like your paintings, mademoiselle, we couldn't replace them. For certain things we take the risk, but I won't waste lives on paintings.
Miss Villard: They wouldn't be wasted! Excuse me, I know that's a terrible thing to say. But those paintings are part of France. The Germans want to take them away. They've taken our land, our food, they live in our houses, and now they're trying to take our art. This beauty, this vision of life, born out of France, our special vision, our trust...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

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...