Von Ryan's Express (1965)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

David Westheimer (novel)
Wendell Mayes (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

23 June 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Adventure | War

Tagline:

Why did 600 Allied prisoners hate the man they called Von Ryan more than they hated Hitler?

Plot:

An American POW leads a group mainly British prisoners to escape from the Germans in WWII.

Plot Keywords:

Armistice | Fascist | Nazi Occupied Italy | Gagged And Bound | Colonel

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Oct. 17

6:30 AM

AMC

Cast

Frank Sinatra	...	Colonel Joseph L. Ryan
Trevor Howard	...	Major Eric Fincham
Raffaella Carrà	...	Gabriella (as Raffaella Carra)
Brad Dexter	...	Sergeant Bostick
Sergio Fantoni	...	Captain Oriani
John Leyton	...	Orde
Edward Mulhare	...	Captain Costanzo
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Major Von Klemment
James Brolin	...	Private Ames
John Van Dreelen	...	Colonel Gortz (as John van Dreelen)
Adolfo Celi	...	Battaglia
Vito Scotti	...	Italian Train Engineer
Richard Bakalyan	...	Corporal Giannini
Michael Goodliffe	...	Captain Stein
Michael St. Clair	...	Sergeant Major Dunbar
Ivan Triesault	...	Von Kleist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Daheim	...	American soldier (as John Day)
Domenick Delgarde	...	Italian soldier
Barry Ford	...	Ransom's batman
Gino Gottarelli	...	Gotrz's Aide #2
Peter Hellman	...	Pilot
Robert 'Buzz' Henry	...	American soldier (as Buzz Henry)
Walter Linden	...	German Captain
Eric Micklewood	...	Ransom
John Mitory	...	Oriani's Aide
Ernesto Molinari	...	Italian tailor
Benito Prezia	...	Italian Corporal
Michael Romanoff	...	Italian nobleman
Bob Rosen	...	POW who opens sweat box
James Sikking	...	American soldier
Jacques Stany	...	Gortz's Aide (as Jacques Stanislavski)
Brad Stevens	...	German Sergeant
Al Wyatt Sr.	...	American soldier
Ian Abercrombie	...	English POW (uncredited)
William Berger	...	Man from the Gestapo (uncredited)
Arthur Brauss	...	Lt. Gertel, German Mess Officer (uncredited)
Horst Ebersberg	...	German Pilot (uncredited)
Brian Gaffikin	...	English voices (voice) (uncredited)
Donald F. Glut	...	Extra (uncredited)
Joe Gray	...	Prisoner (uncredited)
Paul Muller	...	Hauptmann Josef Sonneberg (uncredited)
Christopher Riordan	...	Nude POW (uncredited)
Lee Stanley	...	English prisoner (uncredited)
Max Turilli	...	German Officer at Plane Crash Site (uncredited)

Directed by
Mark Robson

Writing credits
David Westheimer		(novel)
Wendell Mayes		(screenplay) and
Joseph Landon		(screenplay)

Produced by
Saul David	....	producer

Original Music by
Jerry Goldsmith

Cinematography by
William H. Daniels		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Dorothy Spencer

Art Direction by
Hilyard M. Brown		(as Hilyard Brown)
Jack Martin Smith

Set Decoration by
Raphael Bretton		(as Raphael G. Bretton)
Walter M. Scott

Makeup Department
Margaret Donovan	....	hair stylist
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist
José Luis Pérez	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Harry Caplan	....	unit production manager (as Harry A. Caplan)
Eduardo García Maroto	....	unit production manager: Spain
Mark Robson	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Eli Dunn	....	assistant director
William Kaplan	....	second unit director

Art Department
José Algueró	....	assistant art director
Ed Graves	....	assistant art director
Lou Korn	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Carlton W. Faulkner	....	sound
Elmer Raguse	....	sound
Don Stern	....	sound editor
Walter Rossi	....	sound effects (uncredited)

Special Effects by
L.B. Abbott	....	special photographic effects
Emil Kosa Jr.	....	special photographic effects

Stunts
John Daheim	....	stunts (uncredited)
Joe Gray	....	stunts (uncredited)
Robert 'Buzz' Henry	....	stunts (uncredited)
Al Wyatt Sr.	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Bill Johnson	....	camera operator
Harold Lipstein	....	photographer: second unit

Music Department
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator
Tommy Tedesco	....	musician: guitar

Transportation Department
Chris Haynes	....	driver (uncredited)

Other crew
Julio Parra	....	production supervisor

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
• P-R Productions Picture

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1965) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (1965) (UK) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1971) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (VHS)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD) (two-disc special edition)
• Fox Video (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (1999) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Norway:11 (DVD rating) (2006) | Iceland:12 | Norway:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Italy

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The first train station, Firenze SMN or Santa Maria Novella, is the end of a spur into Florence. The train wouldn't have gone through it.

Goofs:

Factual errors: During the scene at the beginning of the movie in which Ryan arrives at the POW camp and sees the burial of the British commanding officer, the British regiment is in formation by companies and the right hand marker of each company is holding a guidon (small flag on a staff). As the remains pass each company the guidon in lowered in salute. In the British Army (unlike in the US Army) individual companies do not carry guidons on parade (the only flags in an infantry regiment are the "Queens Colours" and the "Regimental Colours") and flags are not lowered in salute.

Quotes:

Sergeant Bostick: Now we got us a bird-colonel.
Colonel Joseph L. Ryan: A bird-colonel out-ranks a bird-brain, clear?

Movie Connections:

Featured in War Stories (2006) (TV)

Not far off being amongst the best

From a slow start this build into an exciting if somewhat unrealistic war film. However, it was designed for entertainment and not to depict any remotely historical fact.

The cinematography and scenery look good and although no expert on trains, they look from the right period. The characters are not fleshed out but as this is an adventure film this lapse is not too important. Some of the main characters are also casualties by the end thus avoiding the usual Hollywood line from that period of everyone escaping without a scratch.

I'm not a big fan of Sinatra as an actor but he does well here depicting a flawed character who appears both likable and unlikeable. It is established early in the film that Col Ryan is not a career airman and has limited military experience and so it is not surprising that he makes some key mistakes although he does learn from them.

The supporting cast is good although with the exception of John Leyton far too old to have been on military service.

Not up with the very best WW2 films but well above the average.