Nazi Week: The Train

Achtung!  Heh now that I have your attention kids, welcome to Day 2 of Ratzi Week er um I mean Nazi.   Today we will read up on the cinematic amazement that was director John Frankenheimer (The Young Savages, All Fall Down, Birdman of Alcatraz, The Machurian Candidate, The Horsemen and Black Sunday) and keeping up with our Nazi theme; let us suggest a heist has occurred and we need no Transporter of Jason Statham’s nature, we let Burt Lancaster smack some goose steppers about.  So have your papers and passport and make sure your luggage fits in the overhead compartment.  This is The Train.

Hey Fritz, why the long face? Ooo burn.

Spoiler sind unglaublich!!!

As the Allied Forces proceed into Paris liberating the German occupation, Colonel Von Waldheim (Paul Scofield of That Lady, Henry IV, A Man for All Seasons, Tell Me Lies, King Lear, Summer Lightning, When the Whales Came and The Crucible) feels the need to take his ill gotten gains of priceless impressionistic artwork back to Germany during all this chaos arranges a train to transport it.  He forcefully hires (that’s at gunpoint and death threats by the by) Labiche (Burt Lancaster of Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Devil’s Disciple, Elmer Gantry, Judgment at Nuremberg, Birdman of Alacatraz, From Here to Eternity and Airport) a jack of all trades handyman train engineer to make sure the train is secure and runs smoothly.  Unbeknownst to the Colonel, Labiche has connections with the French Resistance and a meager collection of them are planning to overrun the train, stop the jackboots and claim back their heritage that is this artwork.  Sounds easy don’t it?  Well it ain’t.  

Are you drinking my 50 year old scotch??!!!

Papa Boule (Michel Simon of Boudu Saved from Drowning, L’Atalante, Port of Shadows and The Two of Us), an elderly engineer tries to through his own literal monkey wrench into the works is promptly executed on the spot.  Time efficient this ratzis are.   After Boule’s pointless death Labiche reluctantly joins in the effort to take down the train.  A simple matter of rerouting the train to confuse Waldheim to thinking he is in route to Germany when in fact he is heading back to Paris but the plan goes pear shaped and the resistance cell is wiped out leaving Labiche shot in the leg but all the more determined to see Waldheim not get away. 

Now I have just a few comments about this film if you don’t mind.  Firstly, my copy is in glorious black and white which sends this critic’s heart strings all whimsy.   This film could be construed as a dramatic action film due to the impressive lot of gun and fist fights but what really give the film weight is the supporting story, in where Labiche argues against wasting lives on a few crates of paintings he has never seen in his lifetime and gradually it comes around that understands that the Nazis will get away with carving the heart and soul out of France if allowed to flee with these treasures.  In the same mindset imagine Da Vinci’s works stolen and no one was held accountable stabbing Italy in the back.   Oh a little FYI, Lancaster being the complete loopy he was did all his own stunts.  Bet the insurance people had lots of Pepto and paper bags to breathe in.  35 mm of course but in Spherical lens rather than anamorphic so again your characters are well zoomed in on but background gets a bit fuzzy.   This technical process was before Europe developed Eastman spherical in the later 60's.  

Burt! Come back! The movie is pretty good!

Honestly in my humble opinion the villain role for Scofield is where the juicy lines, the heart and soul of the movie is as he spirals into madness and obsession over the paintings you can actually watch him lose what little marbles this man had left after the occupation.  Solid writing, superb casting and phenomenal stunt work although there are some that felt it was a direct insult to the French Railroad battering that many trains.  Cannot say I fault them there.   This is a gem long forgotten and clearly needs dusting off and reappraisal.